# Directional Polarization Camera
*sensor . products*

Multi-angle, multi-polarization VIS/NIR camera on GF-5 for aerosol and cloud microphysical parameters and BRDF, with 8 wavelengths, three polarization directions at selected bands, 2400 km swath, and 3.5 km resolution.

## Specifications
- **product status**: operational
- **deployment context**: orbital
- **manufacturer**: cnsa
- **sensor**: {"instrument_family":"passive-optical","measurement_principle":"passive","spectral_range_nm":{"min":443,"max":910},"spectral_band_count":14,"gsd_m":{"native":3.5},"swath_km":2400,"notes":"WMO OSCAR records 8 VIS/NIR wavelengths, three polarisations at three wavelengths, up to nine viewing directions, and 14 total channels."}
- **entity type**: sensor
- **last verified date**: 2026-06-16
- **verified by**: agency-doc
- **claim status**: agency-sourced
- **provider**: cnsa
- **attributes**: {"kind":"sensor","product_status":"operational","deployment_context":"orbital","manufacturer":"cnsa","description":"Multi-angle, multi-polarization VIS/NIR camera on GF-5 for aerosol and cloud microphysical parameters and BRDF, with 8 wavelengths, three polarization directions at selected bands, 2400 km swath, and 3.5 km resolution.","sensor":"{\"instrument_family\":\"passive-optical\",\"measurement_principle\":\"passive\",\"spectral_range_nm\":{\"min\":443,\"max\":910},\"spectral_band_count\":14,\"gsd_m\":{\"native\":3.5},\"swath_km\":2400,\"notes\":\"WMO OSCAR records 8 VIS/NIR wavelengths, three polarisations at three wavelengths, up to nine viewing directions, and 14 total channels.\"}"}
- **relevance**: in-scope

## Editorial
Directional Polarization Camera (DPC) is an operational passive VIS/NIR camera on GF-5 for multi-angle, multi-polarization observations of aerosol properties, cloud microphysical parameters, and bidirectional reflectance distribution function measurements.[^wmo-dpc][^dpc-li-2018] It measures 8 VIS/NIR wavelengths across 443-910 nm, with 14 total channels because selected wavelengths include three polarization measurements.[^wmo-dpc][^dpc-li-2018] Its non-polarized bands are 443, 565, 763, 765, and 910 nm, and its polarized bands are 490, 670, and 865 nm.[^dpc-li-2018] The instrument paper reports at least 9 viewing directions, which is central to its multi-angle polarimetry use case over land and cloud scenes.[^dpc-li-2018]

The swath and sampling figures remain an unresolved discrepancy between sources: WMO OSCAR records a 2400 km swath with 3.5 km sub-satellite sampling, while Li et al. 2018 reports a 1850 km swath with 3.3 km nadir sampling, so the published figures disagree.[^wmo-dpc][^ceos-gf5][^dpc-li-2018] Multi-angle polarimetry is demonstrated on Gaofen-5 for DPC.[^wmo-dpc]

## Compositional position
- gaofen-5 (missions) --[mission_payloads]--> Directional Polarization Camera

## Sources
- [wmo-dpc] | WMO OSCAR instrument record: DPC | https://space.oscar.wmo.int/instruments/view/dpc | tier=agency-doc | accessed=2026-06-16
- [dpc-li-2018] | Directional Polarimetric Camera (DPC): Monitoring aerosol spectral optical properties over land from satellite observation | https://arroma.uiowa.edu/docs/publication/paper_pdf/2018/1-s2.0-S002240731830253X-main.pdf | tier=peer-reviewed | accessed=2026-06-16
- [ceos-gf5] | CEOS MIM mission summary: GF-5 | https://database.eohandbook.com/database/missionsummary.aspx?missionID=959 | tier=agency-doc | accessed=2026-06-16

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Source: https://eo-atlas.org/products/sensor/dpc
Maintainer: SpectraWorks B.V. (CC-BY 4.0)