A study on DEM generation from Kompsat-3 stereo images

Kompsat-3 is an optical high-resolution earth observation satellite launched in May 2012. In addition to its 0.7m spatial resolution, Kompsat-3 is capable of in-track stereo acquisition enabling quality Digital Elevation Model(DEM) generation. Typical DEM generation procedure requires accurate control points well-distributed over the entire image region. But we often face difficult situations especially when the area of interests is oversea or inaccessible area. One solution to this is to use existing geospatial data even though they only cover a part of the image. This paper aimed to assess accuracy of DEM from Kompsat-3 with different scenarios including no control point, Rational Polynomial Coefficients(RPC) relative adjustment, and RPC adjustment with control points. Experiments were carried out for Kompsat-3 stereo data in USA. We used Digital Orthophoto Quadrangle(DOQ) and Shuttle Radar Topography Mission(SRTM) as control points sources. The generated DEMs are compared to a LiDAR DEM for accuracy assessment. The test results showed that the relative RPC adjustment significantly improved DEM accuracy without any control point. And comparable DEM could be derived from single control point from DOQ and SRTM, showing 7 meters of mean elevation error.