Multi-spectral imaging systems are required for global monitoring of land and ocean. In order to design a new multi-spectral spaceborne system developed in flop, and optimize physical parameters, theoretical analyses were performed. The system consists of twelve narrow spectral bands in the visible spectrum. Each spectral band was selected according to the information required for agriculture and water monitoring. NE Deltap is the principal driver for system design. NE Deltap refers to the change in target spectral reflectance, which produces a signal in the sensor equal to the noise level in that sensor. This paper describes the NE Deltap sensitivity to different kinds of scenarios such as vegetation, water and soils. Sensitivity to spectral bands into the 390-965nm spectrum, sun elevation angles and different atmospheric conditions are also presented. The system performance calculations are based on a new simulation tool developed in-house and on the Modtran code (by AFL - USA) for radiance calculations. Along with Ne Deltap, other performance parameters are presented such as Signal to Noise Ratio and NE DeltaL. From the analyses presented in this paper, it can be shown that the system design of a multi-spectral imager has to take into account both scenario and physical parameters. The performance of the Multi-spectral imager is strongly dependent on the scenario and the atmospheric conditions during photography.
