PE&RS Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor,
I have to thank Cliff Mugnier (his letter to the Editor in the May
2008 issue of PE&RS regarding the article “A Generic Model for
Along-track Stereo Sensors Using Rigorous Orbit Mechanics”)
for jogging my memory regarding my own work in utilizing
orbital constraints in photogrammetry. My work goes back
another seven years, to my article, “The Utilization of Constraints
in Analytical Photogrammtry,” published in the December 1961
issue of Photogrammetric Engineering (pp. 766-779). A subsection
of Camera Station Constraints in that article, i.e., Orbital
Constraints, specifi cally outlines a methodology for utilizing
Kepler’s equation as an orbital constraint. Needless to say, I
based the method entirely on a 1960 unpublished paper by
Duane Brown (the father of modern analytical photogrammetry)
titled Introduction of Orbital Constraints into Adjustment of Satellite
Photogrammetric Net. Thus, Duane Brown’s contribution
goes back still eight more years.
Jim Case
95 S. Columbia Way
Cedar City, UT 84720-2854
Tele. 435-586-4720
E-mail jimcase@netutah.com
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