INTRODUCTION

TO
REMOTE SENSING
BY:
DR. NOR AIZAM ADNAN/ DR AINON NISA OTHMAN
Centre of Studies Surveying Science and Geomatics
Faculty of Architecture Planning and Surveying
UiTM Shah Alam
Selangor
1
 Outline

• Remote Sensing Definition

• Types of Image Resolution
• Electromagnetic Energy (EMR)
• Types of remote sensing data
• Applications of remote sensing imageries

2
 Remote Sensing Defined
Remote Sensing is:

 The art and science of obtaining information about

an object without being in direct contact with the
object” (Jensen 2000).
 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.
This is done by sensing and recording reflected or
emitted energy and processing, analyzing, and
applying that information".
3
 Remote Sensing Defined
• Environmental Remote Sensing:

– … the collection of information about Earth surfaces and

phenomena using sensors not in physical contact with the
surfaces and phenomena of interest.

4
Source: Jensen (2000)

5
 Remote Sensing Defined

• Remote Sensing Includes:

– A) The mission plan and choice of sensors;

– B) The reception, recording, and processing of the

signal data; and

– C) The analysis of the resultant data.

6
 Remote Sensing Process Components

Source: Canadian Centre for Remote Sensing

Energy Source or
Illumination (A)

Radiation and the

Atmosphere (B)

c
Interaction with the Target

c
(C)

Recording of Energy by the

Sensor (D)

Transmission, Reception, and

Processing (E) c
Interpretation and Analysis
(F)

Application (G)

7
 Resolution
• All remote sensing systems have four types of
resolution:

– Spatial

– Spectral

– Temporal

– Radiometric
8
Spatial resolution

High vs. Low? 9

Source: Jensen (2000)
Spectral resolution

Source: Jensen 10
(2000)
 Temporal resolution

July 2 July 18 August 3

16 days

Time

11 days

July 1 July 12 July 23 August 3

11
 Radiometric resolution

6-bit range
0 63

8-bit range
0 255

10-bit range
0 1023

12
Electromagnetic Radiation

13
Electromagnetic Spectrum

14
Signature Spectra curve

15
 Types of Remote Sensing
• Aerial Photography/ Recent: UAV, DRONE

• Multispectral

• Active and Passive Microwave and LIDAR

16
 Aerial Photos
• Balloon photography
(1858)
• Pigeon cameras (1903)
• Kite photography (1890)
• Aircraft (WWI and
WWII)
• Space (1947)
Images: Jensen (2000)

17
18
 DRONE Image Applications

Oil palm tree detection

Forest inventory, monitoring

Major Satellite Imagery Products

Landsat TM
ASTER
SPOT
IKONOS
Quickbird
SENTINEL
NOAA
 Multispectral
• NOAA-AVHRR (1100 m)
• GOES (700 m)
• MODIS (250, 500, 1000 m)
• Landsat TM and ETM (30 – 60 m)
• SPOT (10 – 20 m)
• IKONOS (4, 1 m)
• Quickbird (0.6 m)
• SENTINEL (20m)
21
AVHRR (Advanced Very High Resolution
Radiometer) NASA

22
GOES (Geostationary Operational
Environmental Satellites) IR 4

23
MODIS (250 m)

24
 Landsat TM
(False Color Composite)

25
SPOT (2.5 m)

26
QUICKBIRD (0.6 m)

27
IKONOS (4 m Multispectral)

28
IKONOS (1 m Panchromatic)

29
 RADAR
(Radio Detection and Ranging)

Image: NASA 2005

30
 LIDAR
(Light Detection and Ranging)

Image: Bainbridge Island, WA

courtesy Pudget Sound LIDAR
Consortium, 2005

31
 Landsat

Introduction
First started by NASA in 1972 but later
turned over to NOAA
Since 1984 satellite operation and data
handling are managed by a commercial
company EOSAT
LANDSAT-1 launched 1972 and lasted
until 1978.
LANDSAT-2 launched 1975
Three more satellites were launched in
1978, 1982, and 1984 (LANDSAT-3, 4, and 5
respectively).
LANDSAT-6 was launched on October
1993 but the satellite failed to obtain orbit.
LANDSAT-7 launched in 1999
Landsat -8 launched in 2014
Only 8, 7 and 5 are still working
Landsat

Characteristic
LANDSAT is sun-synchronous, and is about 8 degrees off a polar orbit
Its repeat cycle is about 16 days and always crosses equator at
around 10 AM.
Orbit takes about 99 minutes (14.5 per day)
Distance between ground tracks of consecutive orbits is 2752 km
at equator because of the earth’s rotation
By following earth’s rotation with each
pass, it can keep crossing the equator
at the same time
Swath is 183 km wide, although that
includes overlap, since data frame
is 170 km
233 orbits, for each 16 day cycle
Landsat

Characteristic
Layer Stacking
Band Combination
Landsat

Landsat TM
Thematic Mapper: more bands, better spatial and radiometric resolution(256 DNs instead of 64)
Both resolution improvements, plus the fact that the green and red bands are narrower make it
better for vegetation discrimination than MSS; also near IR in TM is narrower and centered in a
region that is highly sensitive to plant.
TM is also whiskbroom scanner, but collects data during both west to east and east to west sweeps
of the scan mirror, unlike MSS, which only does the former
7 scans per second; that slow rate limits acceleration of mirror, which improves geometric integrity
and boosts signal relative to noise.
TM uses 16 detectors per band, except thermal (four)
TM uses 16 detectors per band, except thermal, which uses four: 100 detectors, versus 16 for MSS
At any instant all 100 detectors view a different area on the ground due to spatial separation of
detectors.
 Landsat TM : Applications
Band Nominal Spectral Applications
location
1 Blue Water body penetration, soil-water discrimination, forest
type mapping, cultural feature ID
2 Green Green reflectance peak of veg, for veg ID and
assessment of vigor, cultural feature ID
3 Red Chlorophyll absorption region, plant species
differentiation, cultural feature ID
4 Near infra red Veg types, biomass content, dilineating water bodies,
soil moisture assessment
5 mid infra red (1.55- Veg moisture, soil moisture, diff of soil from clouds
1.75 mm)
6 Thermal infra red Veg stress analysis, soil moisture, thermal mapping

7 mid infra red(2.08- Discriminating mineral and rock types, veg moisture
2.35 mm)
 Landsat 7 ETM+
Uses a new sensor called Enhanced
Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+)
Stresses continuity with LANDSAT 4 and 5
in that uses similar orbit and repeat patterns, as
well as a similar 185 km swath width for
imaging
 Landsat 7 ETM+
Spatial resolution of bands

LANDSAT-7 ETM+ BAND CHARACTERISTICS

Nominal Ground
Band Spectral Range Data Lines Data Line
spectrum Resolution
Number (µ) Per Scan Length (bytes)
(m)
1 Blue .450 to .515 30 16 6,600
2 green .525 to .605 30 16 6,600
3 red .630 to .690 30 16 6,600
4 Near IR .775 to .900 30 16 6,600
5 mid IR 1.550 to 1.750 30 16 6,600
6 Thermal IR 10.40 to 12.50 60 8 3,300
7 mid IR 2.090 to 2.35 30 16 6,600
8 panchromatic .520 to .900 15 32 13,200
Example of Landsat 7 ETM+ image
Ipoh City and Surrounding

Ipoh

Combination of Bands 5,4,3

SPOT

Introduction

Launched by France
SPOT stands for Satellite Pour l'Observation de la
Terre
Operated by the French Space Agency, Centre
National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES).
SPOT 1 launched 1986, decommissioned and the
reactivated in 1997
SPOT 2 launched 1990, still on going
SPOT 3 launched 1993 and stopped functioning 1996
SPOT 4 launched in 1998, still on going
SPOT 5 launched in April 2002
SPOT

Characteristic
SPOT satellites are in sun-synchronous orbit
The satellite passes over the same part of the Earth
at roughly the same local time each day
The fact that the earth is not perfect sphere makes
the orbital plane rotate slowly around the earth (this
would not happen if it were perfectly polar)
The slow motion of that orbital plane matches the
latitudinal motion of the sun in the sky over the year
Maintains similar sun angles along its ground trace
for all orbits
That means that the area the sun flies over always
get the same sunlight angle, which gives constant
lighting
SPOT
Example of SPOT 4 & 5 image
Resolution 20 m Resolution 10 m

Ipoh

Resolution 2.5m
Combination of Bands 4,1,2
SENTINEL

Introduction
Sentinel-2 is an Earth observation mission
from the EU Copernicus Programme that
systematically acquires optical imagery at
high spatial resolution (10 m to 60 m) over
land and coastal waters. The mission is a
constellation with two twin satellites
(Sentinel-2A and Sentinel-2B).
The design of the Multispectral
First launch: Sentinel-2A; 23 June 2015
Instrument (MSI) on-board
Last launch: Sentinel-2B; 7 March 2017
SENTINEL-2 has been driven by
Dimensions: 3.4 × 1.8 × 2.35 m (11.2 ×
the requirement for large swath
5.9 × 7.7 ft)
high geometrical and spectral
Spacecraft type: Satellite
performance of the measurements.
The MSI measures the Earth's
reflected radiance in 13 spectral
bands from VNIR to SWIR (Table
1). The Bandwidth (nm) is
measured at Full Width Half
Maximum (FWHM).
SENTINEL

Characteristic
SENTINEL

Examples
EARTH OBSERVING SYSTEM - TERRA

Terra Instruments
ASTER - Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection
Radiometer
CERES - Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System
MISR - Multi-angle Imaging Spectroradiometer
MODIS - Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer
MOPITT - Measurement of Pollution in the Troposphere

Orbit Sun Synchronous

Time of Day 10:30 am

Altitude 705 km

Inclination 98.2o

Repeat Cycle 16 days

EARTH OBSERVING SYSTEM - TERRA

Land Land Cover/Land Use Change MODIS, MISR, ASTER

Vegetation Dynamics MODIS, MISR, ASTER
Surface Temperature MODIS, ASTER
Fire Occurrence MODIS, ASTER
Volcanic Effects MODIS, MISR, ASTER
Surface Wetness

ASTER - Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer

Spectral Range VNIR 0.4 - 14.4 mm, SWIR 1.6 - 2.5 mm, TIR 8 - 12 mm
Spatial Resolution 15 m (VNIR : 3 bands)
30 m (SWIR: 6 bands)
90 m (TIR: 5 bands)
Swath 60km

MODIS - Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer

Spectral Range 0.4 - 14.4 mm

Spectral Coverage +55˚, 2330 km swath
Spatial Resolution 250 m (2 bands), 500 m (5 bands), 1000 m (29 bands)
EARTH OBSERVING SYSTEM - TERRA
IKONOS

Introduction

High resolution satellite developed by Space Imaging,

launched September 24, 1999
Has sun-synchronous orbit and crosses equator at
10:30 AM
Ground track repeats every 11 days
Highly maneuverable: can point at a new target and
stabilize itself in seconds, enabling it to follow
meandering features
11 km by 11 km image size, but user specified strips
and mosaics can be ordered
Employs a linear array scanner
IKONOS

Introduction
IKONOS collects panchromatic band (.45 to .90 mm) at 1 m resolution
Collects four multispectral bands at 4 m resolution
Bands include blue (.45 to .52 mm) , green (.51 to .60 mm) , red (.63 to .70 mm), near IR
(.76 to .85 mm)
Spectral resolution is 11 bits, or 2048 values
The high resolution data sets are broken into several products, based on the processing
steps. The more steps, the more expensive. Each has different level of error. Lowest error is
the “precision plus” line of products
All IKONOS data are available as a single pan BW image, as multispectral layers or as
“pan-sharpened” multispectral imagery
Pan sharpening process adds pixel color to 1 m pan data by combining the pan and
multispectral data. Ground control is used for precision products.
Regular multi-spectral comes without pan sharpening
IKONOS

Sample of IKONOS 1m (Pan-sharpened)

National Zoo

Midd
le R
ing
Road
II

Giant Taman
Permata
QUICKBIRD

Introduction
High resolution satellite developed by Space
Imaging, launched October 18, 2001
Has sun-synchronous orbit and crosses
equator at 10:30 AM
Ground track repeats every 11 days
Highly maneuverable: can point at a new target
and stabilize itself in seconds, enabling it to
follow meandering features
The entire spacecraft moves, not just the
sensors
Pancomatic – 0.6 m and Multispectral –2.5m
imagery
Swath width 22 km
Bands include blue (.45 to .52 mm) , green
(.53 to .59 mm) , red (.63 to .69 mm), near IR
(.76 to .90 mm)
QUICKBIRD

Sample image of Quickbird

Others Satellite

IRS

Series began with IRS-1A in March 1988 -

not in use
IRS P- 3 Launched March 21, 1996
IRS-1D Launched Sept. 29, 1997

140,000 scenes of India obtained

Ground stations at Bangalore and Hyderabad

4 bands - (G, R, nIR, SWIR) resolution -

23.5 m
70.5 m resolution in SWIR band (IRS-1C,D
is 5.8 m)
Swath width - 145 km (has a wide FOV mode
like AVHRR)
Repeat cycle - 22 days

IRS-P4 Oceansat launched - May 26,

1999
High resolution PAN sensor - 2.5 m
NOAA

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

orbit: sun-synchoronous, 833 km altitude

swath width: 2400 km
resolution: 1.1 km at nadir
NOAA

Sample of NOAA images

 LIDAR-Light Detection and Ranging

Introduction
 Helicopter or aircraft-mounted laser system
 Utilizes differential GPS technology
 Flown at 100 m AGL and higher
 Narrow swath (<1 km) at high resolution (1 - 3 m)
 Sub-meter horizontal and vertical accuracy

1. Sensor Type Laser

2. Commercially Available Multi Source

3. DEM Spacing 0.5 - 3 meters

4. Vertical Accuracy 6 cm and up

5. Product Delivery 2 - 3 weeks

LIDAR

Sample of LIDAR image

IN SUMMARY….
IN SUMMARY….
IN SUMMARY….
IN SUMMARY….
IN SUMMARY….
IN SUMMARY….
IN SUMMARY….
 ASSIGNMENT 1
1) If you are given Landsat Operational Land Imager (OLI) and Quickbird
remotely-sensed imageries explain which imageries suitable for water
depth classification and urban area detection. Justify your answer (15
marks).
2) Justify the use of remote sensing technology and data in the following
applications:
– Oil palm plantation management
– Forest species detection
– Land Surface temperature
(15 marks)
Instructions:
• Each essay should have valid reference (minimum 5 recent articles) with
appropriate format
• Prepare your assigment using Arial Font Size 11 and single spacing not more
than 10 pages.
• Submit not later than 12 SEPTEMBER 2019 () before 5pm.
 DIGITAL IMAGE PROCESSING SYSTEMS
Commercial Software

4.3

10.1