Presentation by: 624/08 625/08 626/08 627/08

REMOTE SENSING History

Some Historical Notes
Remote sensing began in 1840 when balloonists used new camera technology to take pictures. At the turn of the century there was a pigeon fleet in Europe.

REMOTE SENSING in India

The Satellite for Earth Observetions (SEO), now called Bhaskara, was the first Indian remote sensing. It was launched by a soviet launch vehicle from USSR into a near circular orbit in June 1979.

SEO-II was launched in 1981 from soviet cosmodrome.

Some of the remote sensing satellites launched by India: Rohini Series : 1980-1983 SROSS series : 1985-1992 IRS-1A : 1988 IRS-P1 : 1993 IRS-1B : 1991 IRS-P2 : 1994 IRS-P4 : 1999

What is REMOTE SENSING?

Satellite remote sensing involves gathering information about features on the Earth's surface from orbiting satellites.

Remote sensing is the science (and to some extent, art) of acquiring information about the Earth's surface without actually being in contact with it.

What is REMOTE SENSING? (contd)

REMOTE SENSING includes all methods and techniques used to gain qualitative and quantitative information about distant objects without coming into direct contact with these objects.
Look-Look, NO Touch

Geostationary Satellites remain over the same point above the Earth, traveling at the same speed as the rotation of the Earth. Polar Orbiting Satellites circle/orbit round the Earth in a polar direction, and with each orbit pass over the equator about 30 degrees west of the previous orbit. This is because the Earth continues to rotate below the satellite.

What is REMOTE SENSING? (contd)

Remote Sensing is a much wider field than we will discuss in this Vision Medical Imaging presentation. We will concentrate on the basic meaning of RS, its Sound and Radio Wave Detection principles & its applications.

What is REMOTE SENSING? (contd)

Source of Force Field Sensor System eg. Camera

DATA ACQUISITION Reflection

Object (generic)

What is REMOTE SENSING? (contd)

DATA PROCESSING
Interpretation (secondary) Measurements Data Processing & Mapping (geometric) Presentation of Processing Results Explaining deduced OBJECT INFORMATION

RS Data Set e.g. Image

Why do we collect Remotely Sensed Data for Earth Observations?

Regular revisit capabilities Broad regional coverage

Good spectral resolution Good spatial resolution Ability to manipulate/enhance digital data Ability to combine satellite with other digital data Cost effective data Map-accurate data

Satellite Remote Sensing Satellite sensors detect electromagnetic energy and thus, acquire data on the way various earth features emit and reflect electromagnetic energy. Energy radiates in accordance with basic wave theory: electromagnetic energy travels in harmonic, sinusoidal manner at the speed of light, (c). The distance from one wave peak to the next is the wavelength (l) and the number of peaks passing a fixed point in space per unit time is the wave frequency (n). Waves obey the general equation c= nl. Since the speed of light is essentially constant, frequency and wavelength are inversely related.

Electromagnetic Spectrum

Visible (VIS) : Infrared (IR): Microwave :

0.4 m to 0.7 m (400 to 700 nanometers) 0.7 m to 14 m 1 mm to 1 m

In the visible, features are observed by virtue of reflected solar energy. By contrast, in the infrared portion, sensing of emitted energy predominates. The dividing line between sensing reflected and emitted radiation is the wavelength of ~3 m.

Electromagnetic Spectrum
Continuum of all types of electromagnetic radiation in which each type of radiation is ordered according to its wavelength. Note: 1 micrometer (m)= 10-6 meters (m).

Atmospheric Windows

Atmospheric windows define wavelength ranges in which the atmosphere is particularly transmissive of energy. Visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum resides within an atmospheric window with wavelengths of about 0.3 to 0.9 m Emitted energy from the earth's surface is sensed through windows at 3 to 5 m and 8 to 14 m. Radar and passive microwave systems operate through a window region of 1 mm to 1 m.

Atmospheric Windows
The dominant windows in the atmosphere are in the visible and radio frequency regions, while X-Rays and UV are very strongly absorbed and Gamma Rays and IR are somewhat less strongly absorbed.

Features of REMOTE SENSING

Remote Sensing (RS) methods try to answer four basic questions:

MUCH of WHAT is WHERE? What is the SHAPE and EXTENT of ...? (Area, Boundaries, Lineaments, ...) Has it CHANGED? What is the MIX of Objects?

HOW

Features of REMOTE SENSING (contd)

HOW MUCH of WHAT is WHERE? WHAT: a. Type: eg. water, vegetation, land. b. Characteristic: eg. temperature, concentration, state of development. c. Properties of object: eg. subtype, species, character and property as well as its abstract meaning. => DATA INTERPRETATION

Features of REMOTE SENSING? (contd)

MUCH of WHAT is WHERE? HOW MUCH: determine by simple COUNTING, measuring AREA covered or percentage of total area coverage. WHERE: Relate locations and area covered to either a standard map or to the actual location on the ground where the object occurs. NOTE: WHERE also refers to a moment in time

HOW

Requirements of REMOTE SENSING

RS

requires a SENSOR which can detect changes in the carried Signal. Apart from our own eyes and ears, technology has provided us with a multitude of sensors operating in the detection of force fields: microphones, geophones, photographic film, video cameras and photo detectors, radio wave receivers, gravimeters and magnetometers.

Active & Passive Sensors

An "active" system propagates its own electro-magnetic radiation and measures the intensity of the return signal.

A "passive" system generally consists of an array of small sensors or detectors which record the amount of electro-magnetic radiation reflected and/or emitted from the Earth's surface. e.g. sun
rays is called a passive system, such as taking photographs on a clear bright day. e.g. taking photographs in dark places with the help of a flash bulb.

The digital data acquired by the satellites is transmitted to ground stations and can be used to reconstitute an image of the Earth's surface not too dissimilar to an aerial photograph.

Active & Passive Sensors

Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) Sea Surface Temperature Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-View Sensor (SeaWiFS) Ocean Color

TOPEX/POSEIDON Altimeter SeaWinds Scatterometer

Ideal & Real RS systems

An ideal remote sensing system is,wherein electromagnetic energy of all wavelengths and of known uniform intensity is produced by an ideal source; the energy propagates from the source without loss to a homogeneous target; and the energy of various wavelengths selectively interacts with the target, resulting in a return signal of reflected and emitted energy.
The basic components of an ideal remote sensing system include the following: A uniform energy source A noninterfering atmosphere A series of unique energy/matter interactions at the earth's surface A super sensor A real-time data handling system Multiple data users

Ideal & Real RS systems (contd)

Unfortunately, an ideal remote sensing system does not exist. Regarding the elements of ideal system we have adopted, the following general shortcoming of real systems should be recognized:

The energy source: All passive remote sensing systems rely on energy that is either reflected and/or emitted from earth surface features. The atmosphere: To some extent, the atmosphere always modifies the strength and spectral distribution of energy received by the sensor. The sensor: No single sensor is sensitive to all wavelengths. All real sensors have fixed limit of spectral sensitivity.

Resolution concept in remote sensing

Resolution refers to the ability of a remote sensing system to record and display fine details. Remote sensing image systems, whether analog of digital, possess four major resolution characteristics viz. spatial resolution, spectral resolution, radiometric resolution, and temporal resolution. These characteristics determine the type of geographic data that can be detected.

Spatial Resolution
Spatial resolution is by far the most important characteristics of a remote sensing system. It determines the ability of a remote sensing system in recording spatial detail. In analog photography, the spatial resolution of photograph refers toThe sharpness of the image. This is the combined result of camera lens and the film used.

Radiometric Resolution
Radiometric resolution is the smallest difference in radiant energy that can be detected by a sensor, and it is applicable to both photograph and digital images. In photography, radiometric resolution is inversely proportional to the contrast of the film, so that a higher contrast film will be able to resolve smaller differences in exposure.

Temporal Resolution
Temporal resolution is the frequency of data collection. Obviously, more frequent remote sensing data acquisition will capture changes in environmental phenomena that occur daily, monthly, seasonally, and yearly. These environmental phenomena can be physical and cultural in nature. Remote sensing of vegetation and crops can benefit from a high temporal resolution.

Spectral Resolution
Spectral resolution refers to the electromagnetic radiation wavelengths to which a remote sensing system is sensitive. There are two components - the number of wavelength bands (or channels) used and the width of each wave band. A larger number of bands and a narrower bandwidth for each band will give rise to a higher spectral resolution.

What information can be remotely sensed?

Fundamental Variables Planimetric (x,y) location and dimensions Topographic (z) location Color (spectral reflectance) Surface Temperature Texture Surface Roughness Moisture Content Vegetation Biomass

Some of the REMOTE SENSORS

non imaging non-scanning Passive imaging Sensor type scanning imaging Object plane scanning non-scanning Microwave radiometer Magnetic sensor Gravimeter Fourier spectrometer Monochrome Natural Color Infrared Color Infrared Others Image plane scanning TV camera Solid scanner Optical mechanical scanner Microwave radiometer

Others (Resistivity) Camera

non-imaging

Microwave radiometer Microwave altimeter Laser water depth meter Laser distance meter Image plane scanning Object plane scanning

Active scanning imaging

Passive phased array radar Real aperture radar

Synthetic aperture radar

Change : Deforestation in Brazil

Broad Area Coverage

Different ages of sea ice

A Sample of a Remote Sensing Application - Altimeter

Mainly used for ocean and ice studies. Identifies a change of the sea level with precision of 2 to 3 cm