The Photogrammetry and Image Analysis department focuses on developing image processing procedures which yield geometric (photogrammetry) and semantic (image analysis) information from digital remote sensing images obtained from satellites and aircraft. The primary science goal is to develop generic image processors with which remote sensing data from satellite and aircraft missions can be operationally processed into geoinformation.
It is intended to integrate these processors into the infrastructure of ground segments and generic program tools both within DLR (DIMS, DELPHI) and, e.g., ESA (MMI), and to utilize them for national missions and projects (TerraSAR-X, ENMAP, ARGOS) and for the Copernicus services. Using image series (several images per second) acquired with airborne cameras, traffic dynamics are evaluated and parameters like vehicle numbers and velocity as well as traffic density are derived. A further research emphasis is on the generation of digital elevation models and the derivation of 3D information from optical stereo satellite data. Work directed towards these goals is performed by interactive working groups in the research areas generic processor development, image information mining, 3D information extraction and traffic monitoring.