Introduction to Remote Sensing

Dr. Rohit Goyal

Professor, Civil Engineering
Malaviya National Institute of Technology
Jaipur
Topics Covered
 Definition of Remote Sensing
 Is it an Science or Art?
 Schematic Diagram of RS Process
 Major Milestones
 Advantages & Limitations of RS
 Different Resolutions of RS
 Status of Remote Sensing in India
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 Definition of Remote Sensing
 Oxford defines RS as “the use of SATELLITES to
search for and collect information about the earth”.
 Encarta defines RS as “Process of obtaining
information about land, water, or an object,
without any physical contact between the sensor
and the subject of analysis”.
 Further according to Encarta, The term RS refers to
collection of data by instruments carried aboard aircraft or
satellites.
 Remote sensing systems are used to survey, map, and
monitor the resources and environment of Earth.
 They also have been used to explore other planets

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Definition of RS
 Lillisand & Kiefer defines RS as
 Science & Art of obtaining
information about an object, area
or phenomenon through the
analysis of data acquired by a
device that is not in contact with
the object, area or phenomenon
under investigation.
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ASPRS Definition
 American Society for Photogrammetry &
RS defines
 “The measurement or acquisition of
information of some property of an
object or phenomenon, by a recording
device that is not in physical or intimate
contact with the object or phenomenon
under study.
 There are many other definitions
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Is it an Science or Art or both?
 Science is defined as “knowledge about
the structure and behavior of the
natural and physical world, based on
facts that can be proved through
experiments or logic”
 Art is defined as “the use of the
imagination to express ideas or
feelings”. The same thing could mean
different things to different persons.
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RS is Science
 RS is use of sophisticated sensors to
measure the amount of reflected
electromagnetic radiation from a
distance.
 This information is then analyzed using
mathematical & statistical algorithms to
extract valuable information
 As more & more research is being
undertaken the RS scientific discipline is
developing in to higher & higher stage
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RS is art as well
 The process of visual photo or image
interpretation requires not only scientific
knowledge but also depends upon the
background of the person obtained through
the lifetime.
 An analyst who understand the scientific
principals better, is widely traveled and
have seen more landscape & objects first
hand & can syntheses the knowledge to
reach logical and correct conclusion is
better than others
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How Does it Works?
Remote Sensing uses PASSIVE and ACTIVE
sensors to MEASURE ENERGY released or
reflected from objects on the earth (or other
planets)...

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Schematic Diagram of RS

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Major Milestones
 1858: First aerial photograph from a balloon
 1873: Development for near infrared photography
 1914-1918 World War I: Photo reconnaissance
 1939-1945 WW II: Advanced Photo reconnaissance
 1940: Radar invented
 1942: False color composite by Kodak
 1950: Thermal infrared remote sensing
 1957: First satellite, Sputnik by Russia
 1958: First USA satellite Explorer 1
 Till 1960: Mostly Visual Interpretation, start of digital
processing
 1961: Yuri Gagarin in Space
 1970: Digital Image Processing comes of age

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Milestones…
 1972: ERTS-1 (LANDSAT-1) Launched
 70s & 80s: Many RS Satellites, Weather Forecasting
 1981: NASA SIR-A launched
 1986: SPOT Launched
 1988: IRS-1A Launched
 1990s: Hyperspectral and LIDAR Sensors
 1991: ERS-1 Launched
 1995: RADARSAT Launched
 1999: IKONOS Launched
 2000: Quickbird & Orb View 3, 4 Launched
 2001: Envisat
 2002: IRS P-6

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Advantages
 Unobtrusive (Specially for passive RS). Does not disturb
object.
 Systematic data collection with known spatial, spectral
and temporal resolutions. Repetitive coverage
 Near real time data collection
 Coverage of large area, synoptic view (Some features such
as faults are better viewed)
 Could provide fundamental scientific information such as
temperature, spatial location, elevation or depth, biomass,
moisture content etc.
 Cost effective for large area
 Digital processing, less human induced errors
 Applicable for inaccessible areas

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Limitations
 Could not provide all information needed for physical,
biological and social sciences
 Since indirect observation, so must be calibrated, which may
introduce errors
 Very high initial cost
 Powerful active RS systems such as Laser or Radar could be
intrusive
 Requirement of higher expertise for image analysis
 Handling of large amount of data could be a problem
 Phenomena which were not meant to be measured (for the
application at hand) can interfere with the image and must be
accounted for. Examples for land cover classification:
atmospheric water vapor, sun vs. shadow (these may be
desirable in other applications).

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Resolutions of RS
 In order to understand utility of RS data
it is essential to understand different
resolutions of RS Systems
 Resolution is defined as a measure of the
ability of an optical system to distinguish
between signals that are spatial near or
spectrally similar
 Four different resolutions for an RSS are
 Spectral, Spatial, Temporal &
Radiometric
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Spectral Resolution
 Number and dimensions of specific
wavelength intervals in EMR to which a
remote sensing instrument is sensitive.
 Ex. LANDSAT MSS has four bends in
visible & infrared region
 A Hyperspectral RS instrument acquires
data in hundreds of spectral bends.
 Usually Sensitivity of instrument follows
Gaussian distribution

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Spatial Resolution
 Spatial resolution is a measure of the smallest
angular or linear separation between two
objects that can be resolved by the sensor.
 Remote Sensing Systems which operate in
fixed orbits with fixed optical systems have a
constant instantaneous field of view known as
IFOV. In such case Spatial Resolution is
defined as dimensions in meter of ground
projected IFOV
 Ex. Resolution of IRS-1C, LISS III is 23.5
meters

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Temporal Resolution
 Temporal resolution refers to how often a RS
system records imagery of a particular area
 Usually RS satellites are placed in such a orbit
around earth so that they cover the entire
earth in fixed number of days such as 16 or 22
days and repeat the coverage of the same area
after that man days.
 Some systems have capabilities to view off
nadir & so can have repetitive coverage after
only 6-7 days
 Aqua and Terra Satellites have some sensors
(MODIS), which could view the entire earth
every 1-2 days.
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Radiometeric Resolution
 Radiometeric resolution (also known as
quantization or dynamic range) is defined as
the sensitivity of the remote sensing detector
to differentiate in signal strength as it records
the radiant flux reflected or emitted from the
terrain.
 In other words it is defined as number of
discriminable signal levels and is usually
measured as number of bits
 Example LANDSAT MSS records data in 6 bits
(maximum 64 values in each band)
 Usually the data products are converted to 8 bits
radiometric resolution, meaning 256 different values.
 Some recent satellites have 10 bit radiometric
resolution.
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Status of RS in India
 India started developing RS satellites quite early as
compared to many other developed countries
 Now we have fully functional RS system in place
comprising of many RS satellite and plans for many
other satellites
 We are also in process of development of Satellite
launch vehicles to become less dependent on other
countries for our space programme
 NRSA, SAC, IIRS, ISRO are some of the pioneer centers
for development of space technologies in India
 Visit web sites of these agencies to know more about
status of RS in India
 Visit http://www.csre.iitb.ac.in/isro/ website for
information on many past and present Indian satellites.

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