Atmospheric Correction Software for Airborne and Satellite Imaging

ATCOR® is a software product developed and maintained by ReSe Applications LLC. It was originally created by R. Richter at the German Aerospace Agency DLR and is further maintained by ReSe.

Two versions are available:
ATCOR-3 for satellite sensors and
ATCOR-4 for airborne optical and thermal scanner data.

Ask for our free trial version for 30 days.

Features

ATCOR® can be used for various supported satellite and airborne sensor systems to retrieve physical parameters of the earth’s surface, i.e. surface spectral reflectance, emissivity and temperature. ATCOR-3 for satellite sensors and both, flat and rugged terrain, and ATCOR-4 for airborne systems. All ATCOR versions support multispectral, hyperspectral as well as thermal infrared remote sensing data.

Physical surface reflectance retrieval method

Radiation parameters from MODTRAN® radiative transfer model

Temperature and emissivity retrieval for TIR sensors

Aerosol optical thickness estimate by enhanced dark object analysis and dark dense vegetation methods

Topographic illumination correction based on digital surface model

Image-based cirrus and haze removal

Optional nflight radiometric calibration

Built-in standard vegetation products and unsupervised classification

Data visualization, evaluation and basic processing using the build-in GLIMPS tools

De-shadowing of cloud/building cast shadow areas using image-based shade detection routines

Batch processing and mosaicking support

Spectral recalibration for VNIR and SWIR using oxygen band positions

Model based BRDF correction (BREFCOR)

Value added products, e.g. LAI, Albedo, or heat flux

About ATCOR®

During the last decades, space-and airborne sensors have been widely used in different fields such as agriculture, meteorology, Earth sciences, geology, or exploration. Image acquisition is possible for clear and cloudy conditions and in areas difficult to access. Data acquisitions, however, are almost always conducted under conditions which require to thoroughly account for sensor calibration, atmospheric and illumination effects prior to a meaningful retrieval of geo-physical parameters such as surface spectral reflectance*, emissivity and temperature. Our physical approach of atmospheric correction software provides a practical solution to this problem. It improves the analysis of series of images since ground brightness variations caused by varying illumination conditions and atmospheric influences can be compensated.

* Surface spectral reflectance definitions

ATCOR® is the atmospheric compensation program of choice for scientific data processing and analysis for satellite and airborne remote sensing systems. ATCOR® supports a wide range of spaceborne sensors such as Worldview, Pleiades, Planet-Scope, Venus, EnMAP, EMIT, PRISMA, Landsat, SPOT, ASTER, Sentinel, – and airborne sensors such as AVIRIS-NG, AISA, CASI, HyMap; HySpex, and many more.  

Advantages of ATCOR®

  • Usable without expert knowledge about atmospheric compensation
  • Reflectance retrieval consistent over time and solar position
  • Enables meaningful time series analyses through coherent reflectance and temperature retrievals
  • Allows quantitative index analysis using absolute reflectances
  • Supports a wide range of different sensors:
    • Spaceborne: Landsat, SPOT, ASTER, Worldview, Pleiades, Planet-Scope, EnMAP, EMIT, PRISMA, Gaofen, Ikonos, Quickbird, RapidEye, VENuS, Sentinel, and many more
    • Airborne: AVIRIS-NG, Itres CASI, Specim AISA, NEO Hyspex/Mjolnir, Headwall Hyperspec, Resonon Pika, HyMap, and many more
  • Easy definition and addition of new sensors
ATCOR® allows to compensate for atmospheric and radiometric effects in the remote sensing data in a purely physical, reproducible and user-friendly way.

Alternatives to ATCOR®

ATCOR® is optimized for satellites and higher flight altitudes (i.e. > 2 km above ground). For lower flight altitudes, like typical for drones, DROACOR® can be used.

In comparison to similar software tools (e.g. FLAASH) for atmospheric compensation ATCOR® offers:

  • Terrain topographic and illumination correction
  • Haze-, cirrus-, and shadow-removal
  • Batch processing
  • Spectral and radiometric calibration
  • model based BRDF correction (BREFCOR)
ATCOR® is the software of choice for satellite and airborne images in the UV/VIS/NIR/TIR wavelength regions. For drone data acquired at lower flight altitudes DROACOR® is available.

Use Cases

Prices

Teaching

ATCOR® Education

from EUR 900.- / year

Get a free evaluation license to try out this new software application at no cost for 20 days. A trial version may be issued once per person upon request. It contains all the functionality of the regular version.

Request free trial
Please note: 1Educational licenses are sold to universities and schools only, to be used for educational purposes at limited support (no operational processing of data). Different prices apply for ATCOR®-2/3 and ATCOR®-4. Please ask for a specific quotation.
Non-Commercial

ATCOR® Research

from EUR 1’450.- / year

Get a free evaluation license to try out this new software application at no cost for 20 days. A trial version may be issued once per person upon request. It contains all the functionality of the regular version.

Request free trial
Please note: Research licenses are sold to universities and schools only, to be used for research purposes and regular, but non-commercial processing of research data. Different prices apply for ATCOR®-2/3 and ATCOR®-4. Please ask for a specific quotation.
Professional

ATCOR® Commercial

from EUR 2’100.- / year

Get a free evaluation license to try out this new software application at no cost for 20 days. A trial version may be issued once per person upon request. It contains all the functionality of the regular version.

Request free trial
Please note: Commercial licences are valid for operational processing of any kind of data and include extended support (e.g., data type dependent interface customisation). Different prices apply for ATCOR®-2/3 and ATCOR®-4. Please ask for a specific quotation.

Testimonials

Thank you very much. I’ve been rather enjoying ATCOR these days, excited to get back into it.
Adam
Spectral Imaging Expert
I’m looking forward to getting into ATCOR® and DROACOR®. Thanks for all your prompt and attentive help thus far.
Mike
Consultor / Environmental solutions
Our team has been delighted with the results of the topographic and atmospheric correction of ATCOR®-4!
Francisco
Researcher / University

About Us

ReSe Applications LLC provides Remote Sensing Software Applications for processing of multispectral and hyperspectral images. The provided software applications PARGE®, DROACOR®, ATCOR® and MODO are designed to process remote sensing data derived from airborne sensors like NEO’s Hyspex, Specim’s AISA, Headwall Photonics Hyperspec, Resonon Pika, Itres’ CASI, Hymap, APEX, AVIRIS, and more. It builds upon IDL technology to extend remote sensing software packages like ENVI.

News

02. April 2024

ATCOR®-4 version 7.5 is released!

We are happy to release today the newest version of our airborne atmospheric correction software ATCOR-4 including new features and highlights such as an improved BREFCOR correction for better masking and generic model together with consolidated and updated topographic correction methods. Try now the updated version and enjoy the advantages of this software application in your […]
16. September 2023

ATCOR®-3 version 9.5  is released!

We’re happy to release our newest version of ATCOR-3 for satellite remote sensing. This release focuses on the processing of the new hyperspectral satellites such as ENMAP and EMIT and PRISM, with various further improvements and bug fixes.
03. July 2023

New website for ATCOR® launched.

We are delighted to announce that our new ATCOR.COM website has been launched. Thanks to the amazing people behind the effort. It looks fantastic! With better navigation and more product information, we hope that this will ease our customers’ experience with us. Please take a look and share with your colleagues!

Contact us

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