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AN IDEAL REMOTE SENSING SYSTEM

In this section you will investigate constraints on the design of remote sensing systems.

1 An ideal remote sensing system


In their textbook, Lillesand et al. (2004) designed their ideal remote sensing system.
What do you think are the main operational limitations on each component of their
system?

System The 'ideal' system


component
A uniform energy This source would provide energy over all wavelengths, at a
source constant, known, high level of output, irrespective of time and
place.

A non-interfering This would be an atmosphere that would not modify the


atmosphere energy from the source in any manner, whether that energy
were on its way to the Earth’s surface or coming from it.
Again, ideally, this would hold irrespective of wavelength,
time, place and sensing altitude involved.

A series of unique These interactions would generate reflected and/or emitted


energy / matter signals that not only are selective with respect to wavelength,
interactions at the but also are known, invariant, and unique to each and every
Earth’s surface surface type and subtype of interest.

A super sensor This would be a sensor, highly sensitive to all wavelengths,


yielding spatially detailed data on the absolute brightness (or
radiance) from a scene as a function of wavelength,
throughout the spectrum. This supersensor would be simple
and reliable, require virtually no power or space, and be
accurate and economical to operate.

A real-time data- In this system, the instant a signal over a terrain element was
handling system generated, it would be processed onto an interpretable format
and recognised as being unique to the particular terrain
element from which it came. This processing would be
performed nearly instantaneously (`real-time’), providing
timely information. Because of the consistent nature of the
energy/matter interactions, there would be no need for
reference data in the analysis procedure. the derived data
would provide insight into the physical - chemical - biological
state of each object of interest.
System The 'ideal' system
component
Multiple data users These people would have knowledge of great depth, both of
their respective disciplines and of remote sensing data
acquisition and analysis techniques. The same set of data
would be transformed into various forms of information for
different users. This information would be available to them
faster, at less expense, and for larger areas than information
collected in any other manner. With this information, the
various users would make profound, wise decisions about
how best to manage the earth resource under scrutiny, and
these strategic management decisions would be implemented
– to everyone’s delight !

And they all lived happily ever after....

2 BUT...
BUT there are problems encountered in the design and operation of real sensing
systems and it is obvious that an ideal remote sensing system does not and cannot
exist. Real remote sensing systems fall far short of the ideal at virtually every point
in the sequence outlined.

Let us consider some of the basic shortcomings common to all real remote sensing
systems in order to better understand their general operation and utility. The
following section is based on Lillesand and Kiefer (1994), 32-35.

● The energy source. All passive remote sensing systems rely on energy that
is either reflected and/or emitted from Earth surface features. As already
discussed, the spectral distribution of reflected sunlight and self-emitted
energy is far from uniform. Solar energy levels obviously vary with respect to
time and location, and different Earth surface materials emit energy to
varying degrees of efficiency.

While you have some control over the nature of sources of energy for active
systems, the sources of energy used in all real systems are generally non-
uniform with respect to wavelength and their properties vary with time and
location. Consequently, you normally must calibrate for source
characteristics on a mission-by-mission basis, or deal with relative energy
units sensed at any given time and location.

● The atmosphere. The atmosphere normally compounds the problems


introduced by energy source variation. To some extent, the atmosphere
always modifies the strength and spectral distribution of the energy received
by a sensor. It restricts “where we can look” spectrally - atmospheric
windows - and its effects vary with wavelength, time and place. The
importance of these effects is a function of the wavelengths involved, the
sensor used, and your intended application. Eliminating, or compensating
for, atmospheric effects via some form of calibration is particularly important
in those applications which involve repetitive observations of the same
geographical area.

● The energy / matter interactions at the Earth’s surface. Remote sensing


would be simple if every material reflected and/or emitted energy in a unique,
known way. Although spectral response patterns (signatures) play a central
role in detecting, identifying, and analysing Earth surface materials, the
spectral world is full of ambiguity. Radically different material types can have
great spectral similarity, making differentiation difficult. Furthermore, our
understanding of the energy/matter interactions for Earth surface features is
at an elementary level for some materials and virtually non-existent for
others.

● The sensor. At this point, it should come as no surprise to you that an ideal
“supersensor” does not exist. No single sensor is sensitive to all
wavelengths and all real sensors have detectors with fixed limits of spectral
sensitivity. They also have a limit on how small an object on the Earth’s
surface can be and still be “seen” by a sensor as being separate from its
surroundings. This limit, called the spatial resolution of a sensor, is an
indication of how well a sensor can record spatial detail. Thus, depending on
the spatial resolution of the sensor and the heterogeneity of the ground area
being sensed, digital images comprise a range of “pure” and “mixed” pixels.
In general, the larger the percentage of mixed pixels (mixels), the more
limited is the ability to record and extract spatial detail in an image – and
empirical evidence suggests that most pixels on most images are mixels.

● The choice of a sensor for any given task always involves tradeoffs.
For example, photographic systems generally produce images of very fine
spatial resolution, but they lack the broad spectral sensitivity obtainable with
non-photographic systems. Many digital imaging systems are quite complex
optically, mechanically, and/or electronically and may have restrictive power,
space and stability requirements. These requirements often dictate the type
of platform from which a sensor can be operated. Platforms can vary from
stepladders to space stations. Depending on the sensor/platform
combination needed for a particular application, the acquisition of remote
sensing data can be a very expensive endeavour.

● The data-handling system. The capability of remote sensors to generate


data far exceeds our capacity to handle these data. This is generally true
whether we consider “manual” image interpretation procedures or computer-
assisted analyses. Subsequently, your task of preparing data requires
considerable thought, instrumentation, time, experience, and ground (and
atmospheric) reference data. While much data handling can be done by
computers, your personal intervention in data processing is and will continue
to be essential to the productive application of remote sensor data.

● The multiple data users. Central to the successful operation of any remote
sensing system are the users of the data. The “data” generated by remote
sensing procedures become “information” only if and when you understand
their acquisition, know how to interpret them, and know how best to use
them. A thorough understanding of the problem at hand is paramount to the
productive application of any remote sensing methodology. Also, no single
combination of data acquisition and analysis procedures will satisfy the
needs of all data users (Lillesand and Kiefer, 1994).

Whereas the interpretation of aerial photography has been used as a


practical resource management tool for nearly a century, newer forms of
remote sensing have had relatively few satisfied users until recently.
Increasing numbers of users, however, are becoming aware of the potentials,
as well as the limitations, of remote sensing techniques.

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