{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,13]],"date-time":"2025-10-13T15:38:51Z","timestamp":1760369931087,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":31,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"14","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,7,21]],"date-time":"2023-07-21T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1689897600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100000016","name":"Canadian Space Agency","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["19FACSHB02","21FACSHC01","287395","285926","195116"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["19FACSHB02","21FACSHC01","287395","285926","195116"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100000016","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100008240","name":"Fonds de Recherche du Qu\u00e9bec","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["19FACSHB02","21FACSHC01","287395","285926","195116"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["19FACSHB02","21FACSHC01","287395","285926","195116"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100008240","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Remote Sensing"],"abstract":"<jats:p>High-sensitivity multispectral imaging sensors for scientific use are expensive and consequently not available to scientific teams with limited financial resources. Such sensors are used in applications such as nighttime remote sensing, astronomy, and night time studies in general. In this paper, we present a method aiming to transform non-scientific multispectral imaging sensors into science-friendly ones. The method consists in developing a calibration procedure applied to digital colour cameras not initially designed for scientific purposes. One of our targets for this project was that the procedure would not require any complex or costly equipment. The development of this project was motivated by a need to analyze airborne and spaceborne pictures of the earth surface at night, as a way to determine the optical properties (e.g., light flux, spectrum type and angular emission function) of artificial light sources. This kind of information is an essential part of the input data for radiative transfer models used to simulate light pollution and its effect on the natural environment. Examples of applications of the calibration method are given for that specific field.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/rs15143634","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,7,24]],"date-time":"2023-07-24T01:12:28Z","timestamp":1690161148000},"page":"3634","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Methods to Calibrate a Digital Colour Camera as a Multispectral Imaging Sensor in Low Light Conditions"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"15","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3271-6738","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Alexandre","family":"Simoneau","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"D\u00e9partement de G\u00e9omatique Appliqu\u00e9e, Universit\u00e9 de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, QC J1K 2R1, Canada"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1063-2154","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Martin","family":"Aub\u00e9","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"D\u00e9partement de G\u00e9omatique Appliqu\u00e9e, Universit\u00e9 de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, QC J1K 2R1, Canada"},{"name":"D\u00e9partement de Physique, C\u00e9gep de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, QC J1E 4K1, Canada"},{"name":"Department of Physics and Astronomy, Bishop\u2019s University, Sherbrooke, QC J1M 1Z7, Canada"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,7,21]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Jechow, A., Kyba, C.C., and H\u00f6lker, F. (2019). Beyond All-Sky: Assessing Ecological Light Pollution Using Multi-Spectral Full-Sphere Fisheye Lens Imaging. J. Imaging, 5.","DOI":"10.3390\/jimaging5040046"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"61","DOI":"10.26607\/ijsl.v19i1.70","article-title":"Night sky quality monitoring in existing and planned dark sky parks by digital cameras","volume":"19","year":"2017","journal-title":"Int. J. Sustain. Light."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"39","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2012.08.008","article-title":"Aerial survey and spatial analysis of sources of light pollution in Berlin, Germany","volume":"126","author":"Kuechly","year":"2012","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"108606","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jqsrt.2023.108606","article-title":"HABLAN: Multispectral and multiangular remote sensing of artificial light at night from high altitude balloons","volume":"306","author":"Simoneau","year":"2023","journal-title":"J. Quant. Spectrosc. Radiat. Transf."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1436","DOI":"10.1086\/505138","article-title":"Toward 1% Photometry: End-to-End Calibration of Astronomical Telescopes and Detectors","volume":"646","author":"Stubbs","year":"2006","journal-title":"Astrophys. J."},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"112611","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2021.112611","article-title":"Colour remote sensing of the impact of artificial light at night (II): Calibration of DSLR-based images from the International Space Station","volume":"264","author":"Zamorano","year":"2021","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"278","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jqsrt.2017.09.008","article-title":"Measuring night sky brightness: Methods and challenges","volume":"205","author":"Posch","year":"2018","journal-title":"J. Quant. Spectrosc. Radiat. Transf."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"649","DOI":"10.1007\/s11340-017-0253-7","article-title":"Color Stereo-Digital Image Correlation Method Using a Single 3CCD Color Camera","volume":"57","author":"Yu","year":"2017","journal-title":"Exp. Mech."},{"key":"ref_9","unstructured":"Bayer, B.E. (1976). Color Imaging Array. (3,971,065), U.S. Patent."},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"173","DOI":"10.1016\/S1076-5670(10)62005-8","article-title":"Chapter 5\u2014Comparison of Color Demosaicing Methods","volume":"Volume 162","author":"Hawkes","year":"2010","journal-title":"Advances in Imaging and Electron Physics"},{"key":"ref_11","unstructured":"Burnett, C.M. (2006). A Bayer Pattern on a Sensor in Isometric Perspective\/Projection, Wikimedia Commons."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1420","DOI":"10.1086\/323894","article-title":"Cosmic-Ray Rejection by Laplacian Edge Detection","volume":"113","year":"2001","journal-title":"Publ. Astron. Soc. Pac."},{"key":"ref_13","unstructured":"McCully, C., Crawford, S., Kovacs, G., Tollerud, E., Betts, E., Bradley, L., Craig, M., Turner, J., Streicher, O., and Sipocz, B. (2018). Astropy\/Astroscrappy: v1.0.5, Zenodo."},{"key":"ref_14","unstructured":"Desiati, P., Gaisser, T., and Karle, A. (2021). Proceedings of the 36th International Cosmic Ray Conference, Proceedings of Science."},{"key":"ref_15","first-page":"193","article-title":"Temperature dependence of dark current in a CCD","volume":"Volume 4669","author":"Sampat","year":"2002","journal-title":"Proceedings of the Sensors and Camera Systems for Scientific, Industrial, and Digital Photography Applications III"},{"key":"ref_16","unstructured":"Siew, R. (2023, May 01). Breaking Down the \u2018Cosine Fourth Power Law\u2019. Available online: https:\/\/vertassets.blob.core.windows.net\/download\/dce476fc\/dce476fc-4372-41ad-a139-eab35d11ec85\/03052019_rs_cos4th_final__002_.pdf."},{"key":"ref_17","unstructured":"Deserno, M. (2004). How to Generate Equidistributed Points on the Surface of a Sphere, Max-Planck-Institut f\u00fcr Polymerforschung. Technical Report."},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3730","DOI":"10.1093\/mnras\/stab997","article-title":"Synthetic RGB photometry of bright stars: Definition of the standard photometric system and UCM library of spectrophotometric spectra","volume":"504","author":"Cardiel","year":"2021","journal-title":"Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc."},{"key":"ref_19","first-page":"89","article-title":"Nachweis der Ver\u00e4nderlichkeit von \u03b1 Ursae minoris","volume":"189","author":"Hertzsprung","year":"1911","journal-title":"Astron. Notes"},{"key":"ref_20","first-page":"317","article-title":"Algorithms for CCD Stellar Photometry","volume":"Volume 172","author":"Mehringer","year":"1999","journal-title":"Proceedings of the Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems VIII"},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1854","DOI":"10.1175\/1520-0426(1999)016<1854:ORODC>2.0.CO;2","article-title":"On Rayleigh Optical Depth Calculations","volume":"16","author":"Bodhaine","year":"1999","journal-title":"J. Atmos. Oceanic Technol."},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"31333","DOI":"10.1029\/1999JD900923","article-title":"Wavelength dependence of the optical depth of biomass burning, urban, and desert dust aerosols","volume":"104","author":"Eck","year":"1999","journal-title":"J. Geophys. Res. Atmos."},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"169","DOI":"10.5194\/amt-12-169-2019","article-title":"Advancements in the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) Version 3 database\u2014Automated near-real-time quality control algorithm with improved cloud screening for Sun photometer aerosol optical depth (AOD) measurements","volume":"12","author":"Giles","year":"2019","journal-title":"Atmos. Meas. Tech."},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2501","DOI":"10.1093\/mnras\/staa2113","article-title":"Restoring the night sky darkness at Observatorio del Teide: First application of the model Illumina version 2","volume":"497","author":"Simoneau","year":"2020","journal-title":"Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc."},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"4735","DOI":"10.1364\/AO.28.004735","article-title":"Revised optical air mass tables and approximation formula","volume":"28","author":"Kasten","year":"1989","journal-title":"Appl. Opt."},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"359","DOI":"10.1086\/130991","article-title":"An Investigation of the Ancient Star Catalog","volume":"94","author":"Rawlins","year":"1982","journal-title":"Publ. Astron. Soc. Pac."},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1782","DOI":"10.1088\/0004-6256\/139\/5\/1782","article-title":"Astrometry.net: Blind Astrometric Calibration of Arbitrary Astronomical Images","volume":"139","author":"Lang","year":"2010","journal-title":"Astron. J."},{"key":"ref_28","first-page":"380","article-title":"Des lois g\u00e9om\u00e9triques qui r\u00e9gissent les d\u00e9placements d\u2019un syst\u00e8me solide dans l\u2019espace, et de la variation des coordonn\u00e9es provenant de ces d\u00e9placements consid\u00e9r\u00e9s ind\u00e9pendants des causes qui peuvent les produire","volume":"5","author":"Rodrigues","year":"1840","journal-title":"J. Math. Pures Appl."},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"261","DOI":"10.1038\/s41592-019-0686-2","article-title":"SciPy 1.0: Fundamental Algorithms for Scientific Computing in Python","volume":"17","author":"Virtanen","year":"2020","journal-title":"Nat. Methods"},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"107162","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jqsrt.2020.107162","article-title":"Introducing the dark sky unit for multi-spectral measurement of the night sky quality with commercial digital cameras","volume":"253","author":"Cool","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. Quant. Spectrosc. Radiat. Transf."},{"key":"ref_31","unstructured":"(2023, May 01). Aeronet Technical Document. Lunar Aerosol Optical Depth Computation, Available online: https:\/\/aeronet.gsfc.nasa.gov\/new_web\/Documents\/Lunar_Algorithm_Draft_2019.pdf."}],"container-title":["Remote Sensing"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2072-4292\/15\/14\/3634\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,10]],"date-time":"2025-10-10T20:16:29Z","timestamp":1760127389000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2072-4292\/15\/14\/3634"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2023,7,21]]},"references-count":31,"journal-issue":{"issue":"14","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,7]]}},"alternative-id":["rs15143634"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/rs15143634","relation":{},"ISSN":["2072-4292"],"issn-type":[{"type":"electronic","value":"2072-4292"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2023,7,21]]}}}