News Archive

Archived News Alerts

September 21st, 2012:: ATCOR - new releases of ATCOR-4 version 6.2 and ATCOR-3 version 8.2 now available

Improvements in this version release:

The fine spectral resolution ("monochromatic") database of atmospheric correction functions is updated with MODTRAN5.2.1 using the HITRAN-2009 database and the Fontenla 2011 solar irradiance spectrum. For the thermal region (7 - 14 $\mu m$) the spectral sampling distance is improved by a factor of 2.
In mountainous terrain the height resolution of the radiative transfer functions is improved from 100 m to 20 m.
The water vapor retrieval can now be performed with channels in the 820 nm atmospheric absorption region, useful for VIS/NIR spectrometers covering the spectrum from 400 - 900 nm.
Water vapor retrieval allows now extrapolation to elevations of 3.5 km.
An external water vapor map is accepted for instruments that have the capability i.e., necessary spectral bands) to derive the water vapor map.
The correction of dark areas caused by topographic/building shadows has been improved.
New image based cast shadow correction and shade artifact filtering routines have been introduced.
Radiometric cast shadow correction based on external illumination has been allows by introducing the support for external floating point illumination files.
The tiling capability for large scenes is improved: the visibility is now determined for the tile with the lowest percentage of background pixels.
The IRC (Integrated Radiometric Correction) method of combined atmospheric / topographic correction in rugged terrain is included as one additional option.
A filter is provided for the HySpex and AVIRIS cameras reading the navigation file and radiometric scaling factor to calculate the solar geometry and radiometric calibration file.
The processing of FODIS (Fiber Optics Downwelling Irradiance Spectrum) data is supported.
Processing of thermal data: the temperature-emissivity separation (TES) algorithm of Gillespie et al. (1998) is supported.
The modulation transfer function (MTF) or point-spead function (PSF) can be evaluated for user-defined line or edge features in the image.

June 7th, 2012:: ReSe Applications and Headwall Photonics Partner For Airborne Spectral Imaging Solutions

ReSe's Remote Sensing Software Combined with Headwall's Hyperspec® Airborne Sensors Offers Orthorectification of Airborne Hyperspectral Data

Fitchburg, MA, June 7, 2012 - Headwall Photonics, a worldwide designer and manufacturer of hyperspectral imaging instruments, has announced that the PARGE® remote-sensing software by ReSe Applications Schläpfer is available for Headwall's family of Hyperspec® airborne hyperspectral sensors.

In offering commercial remote sensing customers a complete airborne hyperspectral solution, Headwall is able to take advantage of ReSe's PARGE® software that provides orthorectification and direct geocoding for airborne imagery data acquired with Headwall's hyperspectral imaging sensors. The PARGE® software provides a reconstruction of the scanning geometry of airborne data cubes on a pixel-by-pixel basis using the position and attitude of the airplane and can be used in conjunction with terrain elevation data.

Headwall's Hyperspec® family of hyperspectral sensors have been deployed extensively by earth scientists around the world for commercial and civilian remote sensing applications. With a long history of leadership in the deployment of military and defense sensors, Headwall has utilized the patented, aberration-corrected reflective Hyperspec® design to offer civilian customers and researchers superb spectral and spatial imaging performance with a very wide field of view for flight swath efficiency.

"Providing a complete airborne solution comprising both sensor hardware, GPS/INS assembly, processing subsystems, and orthorectification software is a prerequisite for successful use of airborne remote sensing technology," stated Dr. Daniel Schläpfer, owner and managing Director of ReSe Applications Schläpfer. "ReSe Applications is pleased to partner with Headwall Photonics to offer this software capability. Headwall has been a leading provider of airborne sensors going back many years to the US Navy's Ocean PHILLS program, which was already supported by ReSe."

According to Headwall CEO David Bannon, the company will take advantage of the ReSe remote sensing software to complement its family of Hyperspec and Micro-Hyperspec airborne imagers. "Airborne remote sensing applications represent a key strategic initiative for Headwall; the software capabilities offered by ReSe Applications are important to provide complete imagery solutions for hyperspectral data sets," stated Bannon.

About Headwall Photonics: Headwall Photonics is a leading designer and manufacturer of hyperspectral imaging spectrometers and spectral instrumentation for industrial, commercial, and government markets. Headwall's high performance instruments have been selected by military/defense departments, OEMs, and end-user customers around the world for use in critical application environments. Headwall enjoys a market leadership position through the design and manufacture of spectral instrumentation that is customized for application-specific performance. For information contact: Mr. Chris Van Veen, Headwall Photonics, Inc.; Tel: +1 978-353-4051; www.headwallphotonics.com; mail: cvanveen@headwallphotonics.com

January 5th, 2012:: ATCOR-3 version 6.1 and ATCOR-4 version 8.1 have been released. Information about this update:

improvements to hcw outputs
allowed illumination file input for tiling and batch
added support for external water vapor map input
added support for empty background also in first tile
improved behaviour of the 'output' keyword for batch processing routines
fixed problems with the background in scan angle creation routine
more consistent logging
added new DDV output
added new pushbroom polishing/destriping and PRNU detection routine
inhibited negative outputs after polishing routines.
improved suppression of artefacts in BRDF correction over shadows

August 31st, 2011:: PARGE version 3.1 has been released. Information about this release:

Added completely revised ENVI file display routines including the display of BIP/BIL imagery, enhanced image export capabilities, true color display, coordinate selection, exact cursor placement, spectral data display and export, and more,
added integrated processing for dual sensors, i.e., the data from any two sensors flown from the same aircraft may be integrated into one rectified output file,
added mosaicing output option as part of the integration processor (restricted to two image scenes),
added automatic generation of scan angle file in rectification process,
included possibility to import GCP coordinates from Google Earth KML,
added support for Resonon-PIKA System,
improved support for Hymap and Hyspex system,
added option for flagging missing columns in sensor file,
added support for spatial binning in resampling routines, i.e. the original data can be binned spatially if the target resolution is more than a factor of 2 below the acquisition resolution,
fixed problem with rgb creation in bilinear interpolation and updated the direct RGB display routine,
revamped amd fixed scan angle creation routine,
added ENVI GLT export function,
added illumination calculation in ATCOR preparation routine,
improved and fixed atcor preparation routine for raw geometry processing,
bug fixes: Swiss coordinate conversion fixed, removed artifacts for tiled processing and when creating background mask,
updated the free TRAFO software for file display and final georectification, and
updated PARGE User Manual to reflect recent changes in GUI and in the routines.

April 8th, 2011:: ATCOR-3 version 6.0 and ATCOR-4 version 8.0 have been released. Information about this versions:

The high resolution atmospheric database was re-compiled with the MODTRAN®5 code using a 0.4 nm spectral grid instead of the previous 0.6 nm based on MODTRAN4. This improves the accuracy of the atmospheric look-up tables and expands the applicability of ATCOR to hyperspectral instruments with bandwidths as small as about 2 nm. A high accuracy is also obtained by performing the calculations with the correlated k algorithm in atmospheric absorption regions.
A tool is provided to convert the monochromatic atmospheric database from one extraterrestrial spectral solar irradiance to another irradiance source. This enables the utilization of user-supplied spectral irradiance files if the spectral coverage, increment, and irradiance unit agree with the template irradiance. The delivered (0.4 nm) database uses the Fontanla-2011 solar irradiance spectrum for a quiet or low activity sun instead of the former Kurucz-1997 irradiance. This feature is of interest for the hyperspectral version or for user-defined sensors with a narrow spectral bandwidth.
For sensors affected by the "spectral smile" effect a new postprocessing tool is available which interpolates the surface reflectances to a common user-specified wavelength, such that the pixel reflectances for each channel finally belong to the same center wavelength.
A new algorithm has been included to remove haze over water using a separate water map. The algorithm for haze removal over water is also able to eliminate sunglint over water (ihaze=4).
The surface reflectance ratio of the blue-to-red band for the dense dark vegetation (DDV) algorithm is included in the '.inn' file. The default is (blue) / (red) = 0.5$. The value was fixed in previous versions, but can now be specified by the user.
The size of the low pass filter box for the water vapor map is now specified in meters (instead of the previous choices of no filtering or fixed filter size), see the menu for the "preference parameters".
There is an option for rugged terrain imagery to reduce over/under-correction in cast shadow areas, see the "preference parameters" menu.
A new derivate filter for polishing hyperspectral data has been indluced.
The integration of new sensors is eased by a new sensor definition panel.
The ENVI image display routine has been improved including the ability to select and export image spectra and profiles from BSQ imagery.
A new parameter in the ".inn" file allows the calculation of the global solar flux image (flat terrain) as well as images of the direct and diffuse solar flux on the ground (rugged terrain).
The sensors GeoEye-1 and WorldView-2 are included for atmospheric correction in ATCOR-3.

February 27th, 2011:: MODO version 5.0 has been released. Information about this version:

Data structure to fully support MODTRAN® 5.
Included Simple Atmospheric Correction Routine (SACO) for ENVI imagery
Added ENVI file display and Spectrum Analysis routine
Updated plotting and display routines,
Integration with existing MODTRAN® 5 installation, and
New spectral shift calculation routine.

September 23rd, 2010:: MODO version 4.0 has been released. Information about this version:

Revised and extended internal data structure for an improved user experience,
Updated plotting and display routines,
New spectral shift calculation routine,
Introduced build number display and personal preferences,

September 23rd, 2010:: RESE opens a new Web Store

Secure ordering is now possible through PayPal (accepting credit cards and other payment options).
Online registration for MODO and Modtran functionality added.

January 19th, 2010:: PARGE version 3.0 has been released. Updates and new features:

Revised and extended internal data structure to allow more consistent data logging and batch processing,
Introduced method for orthorectification to ENVI-compatible rotated geometry to reduce output data size substantially,
Substantially reduced memory demand for nearest neighbour processing in IGM workflow by full tiling capabilities,
Introduced build number display and personal preferences,
restructured the help menu and updated the user manual, and
added a result definition panel.

January 12th, 2010:: ATCOR 2/3, version 7.1 and ATCOR 4, version 5.1 have been released. Updates and new features:

The set of haze termination criteria is augmented. This improves the performance of batch jobs to terminate the haze removal if the haze option is set, and if the haze removal is probably not successful.
Cloud shadow is included as an additional class in the ”scene out hcw.bsq” file containing haze, cloud, water, land, snow, and saturated pixels.
The ”scene atm.log” file includes the percentage of cloud cover, cloud shadow, water, and snow.
An optional new quality file is added to the output. The previous hcw file is created if the corresponding flag in the preference parameter file is set to 1. If the flag is set to 2, this quality file ”scene quality.bsq” is created additionally. Currently, it consists of three bands with a probability map for cloud, water, and snow, and there are three probability levels (low, medium, high, coded 30, 60, 90, respectively). More quality indicators for other classes might be added in future releases.
Start/stop wavelengths for interpolation in the 940, 1130, 1400, 1900 nm regions can now be defined for hyperspectral instruments. The previous version employed fixed settings. Now there is more flexibility in the definition of those interpolation regions.
The file extension ’.ini’ is changed into ’.inn’ to avoid conflicts in Windows operating systems. Old ’ini’ files are still valid, but will automatically be copied to the corresponding ’.inn’ file.
If the ’gain setting’ parameter (line 6 of the ”sensor*.dat” file) is set to 1, then the gainset=g value (line 5 of the ’.inn’ file) is used to update the radiometric calibration c1 with c1/g, where g is the same for all channels. This feature is convenient if the basic calibration c1 applies but a common re-scaling factor is sufficient, e.g. due to a change of the system integration time. In these cases, the same radiometric calibration file (”*.cal”) can be used, and only factor g is updated in the ’.inn’ file. In the past, gain setting was also supported: a vector of re-scaling factors was accepted (on line 5 of the ’.inn’ file), but only up to 10 channels. In general, we have g=1.0 and the complete radiometric calibration is provided in the ”.cal” file.
The spatially varying visibility mode now employs a finer aerosol optical thickness grid of 0.006 in the visibility index (visindex) file instead of the former 0.01. In addition, the visindex file now has only one channel, the second channel that included the haze / cloud classification is omitted. The haze/cloud mask can be found in the ”* hcw.bsq” file (haze, cloud, water, land). The haze / cloud classification is also removed from the aerosol optical thickness (AOT) file (”* atm aot.bsq”).
The algorithms and output messages for the buttons ”Aerosol Type” and ”Visib. Estimate” are improved. ”Aerosol Type” works only with DDV pixels, while ”Visib. Estimate” consists of three steps: (a) DDV pixels (red band), (b) non DDV but dark pixels (red band), and (c) water pixels (NIR band). The previous version tended to overestimate the visibility for scenes with water bodies.
For pushbroom imaging spectrometers the spectral ”smile” effect often needs to be corrected. This optical aberration causes the spectrometer entrance slit to be projected as a curve on the rectilinear detector array. The shift of the center wavelength of a channel in across- track direction is specified as a 4th order polynomial function. A tool was provided by ReSe to calculate this polynomial from image data for a set of channels located in atmospheric absorption regions.
A change in the file format of the 4th order smile polynomial coefficients was necessary. While the previous format (”smile poly ord4.dat”) had 5 columns for the polynomial coefficients,the new format requires 6 columns with the wavelength or band number in the first column followed by the five polynomial coefficients.
The calculation of cast shadows has been significantly improved by allowing sub-pixel terrain analysis (avoiding linear artefacts due to pixel resolution).

Specific to ATCOR-4 is the following updates:

The monochromatic atmospheric database contains new look-up tables for a minimum flight altitude of 100 m above sea level. With the previous versions the minimum altitude LUTs were calculated for a flight level of 1 km, and LUTs for flight altitudes below 1 km were extrapolated using the 1 km and 2 km LUTs. Now the LUTs for flight altitudes below 1 km can be calculated more accurately using interpolation. Note: to comply with the 1000 m grid of the database file names, the names of the 100 m LUTs are listed as height 0.
The creation of scan angle files from parameter is now consistent with the image data formats.

October 12th 2009:: SpecTIR Announces Exclusive Delivery of 5 nm Hyperspectral Reflectance Data using ATCOR-4 Atmospheric Modeling Software.; SpecTIR (Reno, NV) announces that it has incorporated ATCOR-4 software into the processing of airborne hyperspectral data from radiance to reflectance files, and is the only commercial firm to deliver 5 nanometer (nm) reflectance files. ATCOR-4 originates from the German Aerospace Center and is available through ReSe Applications Schläpfer. It is used to make atmospheric corrections to the hyperspectral data and produces 5 nm spectral channels. Previously, 10 nm reflectance channels were the best resolution available to the remote sensing industry. The ATCOR-4 software is used to correct small and wide FOV airborne reflective and emissive systems. It derives surface reflectance, emissivity, and temperature from calibrated images by atmospheric correction. This information can be used for monitoring, change detection, surface-vegetation atmosphere transfer (SVAT) modeling, and surface energy balance investigations for modeling. SpecTIR’s President, Mark Landers, said “This is a significant step in our ability to understand and model hyperspectral data. We are now the only firm able to provide clients with 5 nm atmospherically corrected reflectance files, which is a much richer data source, and ultimately a superior product for exploitation and analysis.”

March 1st 2009:: ATCOR 2/3, version 7.0 and ATCOR 4, version 5.0 have been released. Updates and new features:

A new compilation of the monochromatic database of atmospheric LUTs was generated with the features:
(a) a higher accuracy in atmospheric absorption regions (use of correlated-k algorithm of Modtran^®)
(b) a narrow equidistant wavelength grid of 0.6 nm suitable for sensors with bandwidths > 3 nm (instead of the former > 10 nm bandwidth) covering the spectrum from 340 to 2550 nm.
(c) a separate database was compiled for CHRIS/Proba covering the smaller wavelength range 380 to 1080 nm, containing results for the nadir as well as the 35◦ and 55◦ oﬀ-nadir geometries. Automatic tilt angle interpolation is performed if necessary.
An additional ﬁle with a water vapor grid point at W=4.0 cm is included in the atmospheric database, providing better accuracy for scenes with high water vapor columns up to W = 5 cm.
Spectral ”smile” can be accounted for during the surface reﬂectance retrieval in case of imaging spectrometers with pushbroom area detectors, using a column-by-column water vapor retrieval and atmospheric correction algorithm,
Water vapor retrieval: a wavelength range can be speciﬁed for each window and absorption region to achieve an improved regression over several channels. Note: this implies a change to the ”.ini” ﬁle, and ﬁles from ATCOR releases of 2007 or earlier are no longer compatible. Furthermore, efficiency and accuracy of band regression-based APDA technique for water vapor retrieval has been improved.
The water vapor map can be calculated without a surface reﬂectance retrieval. This facilitates runs with diﬀerent channel combinations to determine which channels are most suitable for the water vapor retrieval.
Some plausibility checks are included for the haze removal. The haze removal algorithm is switched oﬀ if these criteria are not fulﬁlled. However, there is also the possibility to set a flag to ignore the termination criteria and to enforce de-hazing.
The water mask for the haze / cloud / water map is improved, implying better results for the haze removal. In addition, a new class ”cloud over water” is introduced.
A graphical user interface is now available for the calculation of the radiometric calibration coefficients (offset and gain) for the case of an inflight calibration with multiple ground targets. It supplements the older keyword-driven module that calculates these coeﬃcients using a linear regression analysis. The former module is retained and will also be available in future releases.
The sensor-specific radiometric calibration ﬁle (.cal ) can be located in any directory, e.g. in the image folder. Additionally, the former location in the ATCOR folder (’cal’ or ’sensor’ ) is still valid. Keeping temporary and test calibration ﬁles in a non-ATCOR folder may facilitate a handling of these ﬁles, which is an advantage if multiple users work simultaneously on images of the same sensor.
ATCOR3: The phase function dependent path radiance files for tilt sensors have been re-compiled. Please make sure to download these files ”phasefct *.bin” and replace the old files in the atcor/bin folder.
Users of SPOT and ALOS/AVNIR-2 data should read the updated deﬁnition of the tilt geometry parameters (chapters 8.5.2, 8.5.3, p. 103, 104) and 55◦
support for preference settings regarding upper limit of reflection and saturation level,
added direct access to ATCOR manual, release notes, build number, and web ressources from main help-menu,

May 14th 2008:: ATCOR capabilities - updated compilation of differences to other atmospheric correction codes including comments about accuracy and validity of the results.

April, 2nd 2008:: PARGE, version 2.4 has been released. Updates and new features:

Tiled processing and other measures for more efficient memory handling
Preferences for temporary directory and memory management
Imports synchronization information from file
Improved batch processing and logging
Support for new systems (AISA Eagle, HYSPEX)
Automatic DEM-data preparation for raw geometry-based ATCOR processing
Resizing and creation of DEMs at arbitrary resolutions.
Scan angle file creation from MAP or parameters
Quality control (QC) tools for image-to-image geometric analysis, SNR calculation, and data loss evaluation
Improved IGM workflow with tiling capability and MAP creation directly from IGM
Fast nearest neighbour resampling for IGM workflow

5th February 2008:: ATCOR 2/3, version 6.4 and ATCOR 4, version 4.3 have been released. Updates and new features:

Variable visibility / aerosol optical thickness (AOT): enhanced resolution of 0.01 in AOT instead of the former 0.02 resolution.
The linear regression ratio (LIRR) of the APDA algorithm was added as an option for the water vapor retrieval. The regression is able to reduce sensor noise and might yield a better water vapor map.
The accuracy of surface reflectance retrieval in atmospheric absorption regions is improved: the fit functions are evaluated over the smaller scene-dependent range of water vapor columns instead of the maximum possible range of the atmospheric LUT database.
Improved cloud shadow algorithm: ”holes” in a shadow map are eliminated, and filled with shadow values from the surrounding area, usually yielding a much better performance.
Haze removal: during batch processing the haze removal is switched off if the scene contains only a small percentage < 2% of haze pixels. It is not switched off in the interactive mode to be able to check results for scenes with a small haze percentage.
Detection and removal of cirrus clouds if a narrow spectral band around 1.38 μm exists.
Attention: this requires a high radiometric accuracy and signal-to-noise ratio (e.g., AVIRIS 1992 and later), it does not work for data from the Hyperion sensor!
The number of empirical BRDF options for rugged terrain is reduced and simplified.
An optional output file can be created containing the ”haze/cloud/water/land” mask pertain- ing to a scene. The algorithm also flags snow and saturated pixels. The saturation threshold is set at 90% of the data encoding, e.g., at 0.9*255 = 230 for 8 bit data, which is checked for the green or blue channel. No saturation threshold is set for 32 bit input data. The map is a 1-channel false-color ENVI file. It may especially be useful if the calculated haze / cloud / water mask shows ma jor artifacts. For example, if the water mask is not cap- tured adequately, the de-hazing and de-shadowing algorithms will yield products of reduced quality. Then the standard water thresholds (in the NIR and 1.6 μm region) might be raised (in the ”preference parameters.dat” ) to account for very turbid water bodies. A subsequent calculation can be performed, the updated water mask can be checked, and it might yield much better results. If ”image.bsq” is the file name of the scene, the output file with up to four classes (haze, cloud, water, land) is named ”image out hcw.bsq”. It could also be edited (e.g., with ENVI) to modify the masks. Then it can be copied to ”image hcw.bsq”, because the masks of this file will overwrite the internal mask calculation, see Fig. 1.1. The option for creating the file ”image out hcw.bsq” can be enabled/disabled in the file ”preference parameters.dat”. An input file ”image hcw.bsq” will always be used. If this is not intended, the file has to be renamed or moved to another directory.

March, 5th, 2007:: ATCOR 23, version 6.3has been released. Updates and new features:

Automatic calculation of the aerosol type (rural, urban, maritime, desert) for sensors with at least a blue or green band, a red and a NIR band, provided the scene contains dark reference (coniferous vegetation) pixels.
A visibility estimate is provided if the scene contains vegetation and/or water bodies. The estimate requires a red and/or a NIR band and yields a lower bound for the visibility. The estimate can be used before entering the SPECTRA module or before starting the image processing.
Water vapor retrieval: automatic choice of bands and interactive user interface to select water vapor bands.
Map of aerosol optical thickness, in addition to the previous visibility index map.
SPECTRA module: the target location can now be specified in x/y coordinates (in addition to the previous mouse click operation).
SPECL (spectral reflectance classification) : this has been generalized so it is applicable to any sensor with at least a green, red, and NIR band. The process can be executed in the interactive, batch, and batch- tiling modes.
Single thermal band sensors: surface emissivity can be defined by user.
Multiple thermal bands: normalized emissivity method (NEM), adjusted normalized emissivity method (ANEM), and in-scene atmospheric compensation (ISAC) were added.
Add-on for user-defined (e.g., hyperspectral) sensors
Sensor simulation tool:
-TOA radiances can be simulated from existing surface reflectance images for different atmospheric and/or solar geometries.
-Hyperspectral radiance or reflectance cubes can be resampled to multispectral cubes including sensor noise (noise equivalent radiance or noise equivalent reflectance).
Improvements to log file:
-Contains relative time per ma jor processing module and total execution time.
-Information (I), warnings (W), and error (E) messages are included which can be parsed.
-Reflectance statistics per band is included if sensor has less than 30 bands.
-A warning is included if a channel contains negative reflectance pixels for more than 1% of the scene.
-Percentage of saturated pixels per band is included if greater than 1 percent.

February, 22nd, 2007:: ATCOR 4, version 4.2 has been released. The updated version supports the following new features:

Automatic calculation of the aerosol type (rural, urban, maritime, desert) for sensors with at least a blue or green band, a red and a NIR band, provided the scene contains dark reference (coniferous vegetation) pixels.
A visibility estimate is provided if the scene contains vegetation and/or water bodies. The estimate requires a red and/or a NIR band and yields a lower bound for the visibility. The estimate can be used before entering the SPECTRA module or before starting the image processing.
Water vapor retrieval: automatic choice of bands and interactive user interface to select water vapor bands.
map of aerosol optical thickness, in addition to the previous visibility index map.
SPECTRA module: the target location can now be specified in x/y coordinates (in addition to the previous mouse click operation).
SPECL (spectral reflectance classification) : generalized to be applicable for any sensor with at least a green, red, and NIR band. Can be executed in the interactive, batch, and batch-tiling modes.
Single thermal band sensors: surface emissivity can be defined by user.
Multiple thermal bands: normalized emissivity method (NEM), adjusted normalized emissivity method (ANEM),and in-scene atmospheric compensation (ISAC) were added.
Sensor simulation tool:
1. TOA radiances can be simulated from existing surface reflectance images for different atmospheric and/or solar geometries.
2. Hyperspectral radiance or reflectance cubes can be resampled to multispectral cubesincluding sensor noise (noise equivalent radiance or noise equivalent reflectance).
3. Similar calculations can be performed for thermal cubes: surface emissivity images can be resampled to a new set of multispectral thermal bands including the sensor noise in terms of NEDT (noise equivalent delta temperature).
Improvements to log file:
1. contains relative time per major processing module and total execution time.
2. information (I), warnings (W), and error (E) messages are included, in comprehensive (parsable) standard.
3. reflectance statistics per band is included if sensor has less than 30 bands.
4. A warning is included if a channel contains negative reflectance pixels for more than 1% of the scene.
5. Percentage of saturated pixels per band is included if greater than 1 percent.
Inclusion of a scan angle file generation tool (from GLT or from flight parameters)
New user-specific preferences to allow for multiple users to access the ATCOR installation (in a floating license environment).
Various bug fixes (e.g.: Interactive panels can be closed with the Windows 'x' symbol without causing a widget ID error (as an alternative to using the exit/return/done buttons).

7th February 2007:: MODO PRO including the fully functional Modtran^® executables is now available for Mac OS X intel machines in its current version (3.0.8). No upgrade is required for current users.

20th October 2006:: The MODO manual has finally been completed and released. At the same time, modo has moved to version 3.0.8. Despite of some bug fixes, this version adds a new small linear spectral unmixing tool for evaluation of spectra.
The manual itself is downloadable from here (PDF, 1.6 MB).

July 8th, 2006:: PARGE, version 2.3 has been released.

The major extension of this release is the support of orthorectification in raw scan geometry ('IGM-based'). This allows avoidance of any resampling, even for atmospheric/topographic correction. A built-in tool is used to invert ancillary data layers or DEM information to scan geometry prior to subsequent processing.

Other enhancements are:

improved image masking procedures,
Tiled triangulation/interpolation for large data sets,
increased accuracy for triangulation coding,
fixes and updates to the image display tool,
support for the AISA system,
various bug fixes and minor updates, and
.. a completely revised and extended PDF User Manual.

20th February 2006:: ATCOR 4, version 4.1 has been released. The updated version supports the following new features:

tiling: large scenes with RAM exceeding available memory can be processed in sub-scenes ("tiles")
all modules are machine-independent (no external calls of C codes)
enhanced BRDF options for rugged terrain
DDV (dense dark vegetation) algorithm was modified to be applicable for sensors with only VIS/NIR bands, e.g. CASI. It enables the automatic calculation of the visibility (aerosol optical depth) map for DDV areas.
a specified constant-scene visibility is automatically updated if it leads to more than 1% negative reflectance pixels in the scene in the red or NIR band. This update is also done for the visibility map derived from the DDV reference areas.
radiometric saturation of pixels is checked and saturated pixels in the blue-to-red region are classified as "cloud" (mainly a problem for 8 bit data),
spectral classification of surface reflectance improved (concerning cloud and water bodies),
improved de-shadowing,
added helper routines for display of ENVI images, ATCOR system files, response functions, and calibration files.

16th January 2006:: ATCOR 2/3, version 6.2 has been released. The updated version supports the following new features:

tiling: large scenes with RAM exceeding available memory can be processed in sub-scenes ("tiles")
all modules are machine-independent (no external calls of C codes)
enhanced BRDF options for rugged terrain
the DDV (dense dark vegetation) algorithm was modified to be applicable for sensors with only VIS/NIR bands, e.g. Ikonos, DMC, SPOT-3. It enables the automatic calculation of the visibility (aerosol optical depth) map for DDV areas.
a specified constant-scene visibility is automatically updated if it leads to more than 1% negative reflectance pixels in the scene in the red or NIR band. This update is also done for the visibility map derived from the DDV reference areas.
radiometric saturation of pixels is checked and saturated pixels in the blue-to-red region are classified as "cloud" (mainly a problem for 8 bit data)
arbitrary tilt geometry supported for tilt sensors, geometry no longer restricted to a discrete set of sensor tilt and azimuth angles
spectral classification of surface reflectance improved (concerning cloud and water bodies)
improved de-shadowing
synthetic blue channel can be created for sensors without a blue spectral band, e.g., SPOT, DMC, for atmospherically corrected surface reflectance data
new sensors included: CHRIS modes, IRS-P6
Input TIFF format supported. Restrictions:
- (a) band order must be wavelength increasing in the TIFF file (i.e. SPOT DIMAP format with band order 3,2,1,4 not supported)
- (b) If each band is stored as a separate TIFF file the band number must be the last character of the file name, e.g. image_band1.tif, image_band2.tif, etc.
- (c) Number of spectral bands must be less than 10.

12th April 2005:: MODO, version 3.0 has been released. The updated version supports the following new features:

full support for Modtran4^®, version 3.1 outputs,
eased installation of MODO - no more external scripts required,
full support for Solaris, Windows, X86-Linux, and MacOSX,
includes Modtran^® executables (no separate installation required),
fast at sensor radiance simulation,
sensitivity analysis tool for creation of parameter series,
surface reflectance series based on ENVI spectral libraries,
broad collection of sensor response functions,

10th January 2005:: The revised ATCOR software family (ATCOR4 version 4.0 / ATCOR2/3 version 6.1) is released - what's new:

selection of 940 nm or 1130 nm channels for wv correction (or combination 940 & 1130) ; previous version only allowed combination 940 & 1130,
improved water vapor algorithm (scan angle dependence accounted for more accurately),
stand-alone batch mode (requires new *ini file format),
autonomous cloud/building cast shadow removal algorithm,
calculation of a TOA (top-of-atmosphere) radiance cube from an airborne surface reflectance cube (airborne ATCOR-4),
improved value-added products (map of global radiation, separate heat flux models for rural and urban areas),
slope/ aspect, skyview, and DEM shadow calculation based on DEM file (batch jobs),
satellite ATCOR: new sensors supported: IRS-P6 Liss-3, Liss-4, AWiFS; DMC (disaster monitoring constellation),
spectral calibration using atmospheric absorption features
(the center wavelength of all channels are shifted by the calculated value, independent calculation for each spectrometer of a sensor; airborne ATCOR-4 model only),
extended input file formats:
byte, unsigned 16 bit integer, signed 16 bit integer, long (32 bit) integer, float,
extended output file formats for surface reflectance cube:
byte, (default scale factor 4.0), 16 bit integer ((scale factor >= 10.0, typically 10 or 100), float (scale factor=1.0),
user control over spectral reflectance thresholds for cloud and water, options for on/off switching of interpolation for bands in oxygen and water vapor regions, and
user manuals completely revised.

14th February 2004:: The revised ATCOR software family (ATCOR4 version 3.1 / ATCOR2/3 version 6.0) is released - what's new:

Enhanced water vapor retrieval algorithms for airborne and satellite systems.
Now supports the new IDL virtual machine (no more IDL license required!).
Updated spectral polishing routines.
New automatic haze removal algorithm.
Full batch capability using a text control file.
Improved user interface and updated manuals.

20th September 2003:: The PARGE maintenance release 2.0.7 is available. It includes various bug fixes and minor enhancements to the processor. Also, preliminary import filter for the MIVIS and AISA sensor have been included.
An upgrade to the ATCOR programs is now in Beta testing stage and will be available by January 2004. It will contain an improved water vapor retrieval and correction scheme. Furthermore, batch processing capabilities will be improved and more sensors are included.

28th February 2003:: The completely revised ATCOR4 software (version 3) is released - what's new in Version 3.0:

A separate Modtran^® license is no longer required (all Modtran^®-4 radiative transfer calculations were done off-line and results are stored in a 'monochromatic' atmospheric database).
Added compatibility with Windows and Mac OSX operating systems.
the atmospheric database covers the same wide range of atmospheric conditions as the satellite database, i.e. different aerosol types, water vapor columns, terrain elevations from 0 - 2.5 km above sea level, and solar zenith angles of 0 - 70 degree. In addition, different flight altitudes are provided with altitude-interpolation.
ATCOR 4 (airborne) now includes all capabilities of ATCOR 3 (satellite ATCOR), i.e. automatic masking of dark reference pixels, spatially varying aerosol and image based water vapor retrieval.
new spectral polishing algorithm.
enhanced empirical BRDF correction: normalizing reflectance cube to nadir reflectance, works with geocoded or non-geocoded imagery.
combined atmospheric / topographic correction or quick topographic correction (without atmospheric correction).
improved inflight calibration.

27th February 2003:: The upgraded versions 5.5 of the ATCOR2/3 software products is released. What's new in Version 5.5:

new supported sensors: SPOT-5, Quickbird, Hyperion, MERIS, SAC-C/MMRS, including a first hyperspectral sensor (i.e. Hyperion).
visibility index (optical depth) map with improved resolution (equidistant optical depth increment of 0.022) covering the visibility range 4.3 - 190 km.
improved automatic masking of dark reference pixels (1.6 or 2.2 um band required).
triangular interpolation for visibility map
empirical BRDF correction: normalizing reflectance cube to nadir reflectance, intended for wide-FOV imagery (e.g., MERIS, IRS-1D WiFS). Works with geocoded or non-geocoded imagery.
improved inflight calibration, regression for multiple targets
new spectral polishing (hyperspectral sensors only)
redesign of GUI panels, almost same appearance for satellite and airborne ATCOR.
combined atmospheric / topographic correction,
quick topographic correction (without atmospheric correction)

1st February 2003:: PARGE Version 2.0.3 is now available and includes the following improvements:

Improved image display and export capabilities
Better handling of side outputs in main processor
Full DEM processing capabilities (incl. skyview and cast shadow calculation for compatibility to ATCOR4 radiometric processing)
Improved auxiliary data synchronization accuracy
full support for IDL5.6 (includes support for Mac OSX)
support for Probe-1 Sensor
various minor bug fixes

20th August 2002:: PARGE Version 2 is now available to licensed users. This version includes a large amount of upgrades including higher sub-pixel accuracy, improved plotting and printing capabilities, consistent coordinate conversion, history tracking, support for pushbroom and generic sensor models, comprehensive resampling options, and much more bug fixes and enhancements...

25th April 2002:: First Beta Version of PARGE Version 2 is available to interested users. Further development of Version 1 is ceased.

18th January 2002:: MODO Version 2.4.4 is released. This update finally includes compatibility to the Windows Version of Modtran^® 4 (great thanks to Vittorio Brando from CSIRO for providing the required link).

1st January 2002:: ATCOR2/3, version 5.4 are released as IDL-based stand alone applications. The software provides atmospheric correction to state-of-the-art satellite imagery for retrieval of surface reflectance. It is available as stand-alone application for UNIX/Windows on IDL 5.4 and later.

20th December 2001:: ATCOR4, version 2.1 is released. The update includes a new empirical BRDF correction method, improvement of the online help system, and a better calculation of emissivity coefficients using thermal data.

15th November 2001:: PARGE Version 2 is currently under development. A Beta-Version will be available in January 2002. The major planned improvents are: Full support for airborne pushbroom sensors, vastly enhanced plotting capabilities, improved support for various coordinate systems, support for CASI and ROSIS data, enhanced internal data format, history-tracking and UNDO capability.
Please send requests for improvements NOW to be included in this first major revision of PARGE since Version 1.

1st September 2001:: PARGE Version 1.3.4 has been released. The upgrade includes improved coordinate conversion support. This version is the last version for PARGE V1. Version 2 is currently in preparation.

1st September 2001:: MODO Version 2.4.3 has been released. The upgrade includes some bug fixes and improved plotting routines.

5th July 2001:: ANNOUNCEMENT: ReSe Applications will be distributing the ATCOR2/3 applications for atmospheric correction of satellite images in the near future. The Programs will be available by the end of this year. Please ask if you need further information.

28th June 2001:: PARGE upgrade 1.3.3 has been released including the following improvements:

more flexible import and synchronization options for non-standard attitude and GPS data
no more artefacts at image borders when processing
improved compatibility for flat terrain coding options
full support of linear interpolation on final image

14th February 2001:: MODO Version 2.4.1 has been released. The upgrade includes some bug fixes for selecting spectra in evaluation mode and for the tape7-plotting routine.

9th February 2001:: Version 1.3 of the parametric orthorectification and geocoding software PARGE is available now!
The new version includes the following new features:

Support of Hymap data, year 2000,
Import filters for Hymap .out and .log files,
Direct UTM conversion of navigation data to user defined zones,
Creation of TIFF/JPEG single band and RGB outputs,
Fast BIL/BIP to BSQ conversion,
Interpolation of the geocoded outputs using linear, bilinear or multilinear approaches,
Updated User Manual and online help files
Support of IDL 5.4/ENVI 3.4, IDL 5.3, and IDL 5.2

Users with valid support contracts are entitled for a free upgrade to the software. An updated software key is available upon request (as far as required).

December 2000: MODO Version 2.4 has been released. This completely revised new version of the popular interface to Modtran4^® includes Full Support of Modtran^® 4.0, Full Surface reflectance support, Adjacency effect support, Aerosol layer support, and much more,...

November, 2000: PARGE Version 1.2 is available for download. Major new features are: Improved handling of GCPs, more cancelling options, various bug fixes, better writing of ENVI headers, new BIP conversion tool.

November, 2000: ATCOR 4 Version 2.0 is available for download to registered users. This is the first version of ATCOR4 featuring a direct link to PARGE, distributed by ReSe through a special contract with DLR.

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