Chapter7Examples of Large-Scale Digital Airborne CamerasIn the preceding chapters,we have investigated and explained all known theories and technologies which need to be well understood in order to develop and produce digital cameras,and to market and maintain them on a worldwide scale.The rea-sons for the transition from analogue to digital airborne cameras are explained in Chapter1,especially such aspects as•areas of application in photogrammetry and remote sensing,•complementarity of airborne and spaceborne sensor systems,•matrix and line sensor concepts.All the information given in Chapter1and the succeeding chapters leaves open the question of which basic concept(matrix or line sensor)and which implementa-tion variant are to be used.This decision is to be according to the main application areas addressed and the available technologies.This chapter gives selected exam-ples of different implementations.As explained in Section1.5,this book focuses its attention on large format cameras.The three examples selected–ADS40/ADS80, DMC and UltraCam–are representative of the variations available on the market today.These cameras may be briefly as follows:•The ADS40/ADS80is a multiple-line sensor,which generates continuous image strips for all channels(pixel carpet type).•The DMC generates high-resolution panchromatic images from four images with slightly divergent optical axes(butterfly type).•In the UltraCam,the high resolution image is composed in patchwork manner from nine matrices acquired by four cameras(patchwork type)All three cameras are being successfully marketed worldwide.7.1The ADS40System:A Multiple-Line Sensorfor Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing7.1.1IntroductionThe realization of the project ADS40,which is considered the1st generation, spanned a time period of20years the phases of which can be summarized in the following manner:279 R.Sandau(ed.),Digital Airborne Camera,DOI10.1007/978-1-4020-8878-0_7,C Springer Science+Business Media B.V.2010