Chief Ray

Photogrammetric and Mapping Software

Chief Ray develops precision photogrammetry and mapping software based on rigorous, accurate, and accepted "gold standard" algorithms.

Our Excel "addin" products are sets of Excel functions that access library routines—written in  C/C++ for speed and portability. When embedded into Excel spreadsheets, these functions are useful for design, analysis, and checkout of satellite photogrammetry algorithms that operate on terrestrial or celestial observations. The underlying library routines can also be incorporated into stand-alone applications.

Why put this capability into Excel? Because Excel is a good environment for many engineering needs. It is familiar, flexible, and interactive. It supports fast prototyping and has built-in tools for analysis and graphing. It supports array formulas, which are the basis of RayTools vector and quaternion operations. Finally, Excel is already available on many computers, so its use results in low additional software cost.

Excel "addin" Products:

RayTools for Excel

• General vector operations

• General quaternion operations and 3D rotations

• Atmospheric refraction and velocity aberration corrections

• Ray-ray and ray-surface intersections

StarTools for Excel

• Support for stellar catalogs

• Conversions from mean place to apparent place,  topocentric place, and local horizon coordinates

• Time conversions among UT1, UTC, TAI, TDT, and TDB

• ECF ↔ ECI conversion

For more information, contact Chief Ray .

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