ARPS version 1.2.0 introduces the red-edge band as a new 5-band product option, reduces delivery latency for the 4-band product, and includes radiometric refinements and a cloud mask improvement that reclaims clear pixels previously over-masked.
New Feature: Red-Edge Band (5-Band Product)
ARPS now offers a 5-band product (the standard blue, green, red, and NIR bands plus red-edge) as an option alongside the existing 4-band product. The 5-band product is delivered at approximately 43 hours of latency in ongoing-subscription mode.
Latency Improvements
Data for ongoing 4-band subscriptions will now be delivered approximately 17 hours sooner than before. Imagery acquired on a given day is now typically available early the following morning (around 4 a.m. local solar time at the imaged location), instead of late the following evening. For reference, the new 5-band product's delivery timing is similar to the 4-band product's previous timing.
Radiometric Improvements
- Illumination Correction Update: Resolves an infrequent issue where terrain correction was omitted on exceptionally clear days with high sun angles. Proper illumination processing is now applied to these scenes.
- Improved Vegetation Radiometry: Reduces a radiometric bias in regions with dense vegetation and multiple quick growth/harvest cycles per year, where radiometric normalization had inappropriately decreased NDVI at growth peaks.
- Reduced Gibbs Artifacts: Further reduced “ringing” artifacts near boundaries and sharp, bright features caused by geometric shifts, building on the reduction introduced in v1.1.0.
Cloud Mask Improvements
Buffering is now applied only around bright clouds and cloud shadows, rather than around all cloud-contaminated classes (such as haze or suspect pixels). This reclaims clear pixels that were previously over-masked: measured on our multi-climate cloud validation dataset, pixels mislabeled as “adjacent cloud” dropped ~20% from 6% to 5% of all pixels, and correctly labeled ”clear” pixels increase from 88% to 89% of all pixels.
Availability & Rollout
The 5-band product is available for new subscriptions only, and includes access to archive imagery. The 4-band latency and radiometric/cloud mask improvements apply automatically to existing 4-band subscriptions for new deliveries starting October 14, 2026; archive imagery from existing subscriptions is not reprocessed.
