Lecture 1

GIS/RS App.
To Civil Engineering (Geo info/Engg)
Lecture No. # 01
Introduction to Remote Sensing
Afed Ullah Khan, PhD

Lecturer
CED, UET Bannu
PhD Thesis Pre-Defense

Learning objectives
o What is remote sensing?
o Types of resolution
o Image classification

What is remote sensing?
 Acquiring information about a

surface without being in contact
with it.
 Recording reflected or emitted
energy and analyzing it.

 Color
 Why do some objects appear
green, and other objects appear
red? Or blue?
 Reflect different amounts of
different colors.

Radiation/Target interactions

Only reflected light is recorded

 Types of remote sensing
 Active Remote Sensing
 Passive Remote Sensing

 Resolution
 The resolution of an image refers to the potential detail provided by the imagery.
 The efficiency (resolution) of a sensor used in remote sensing is expressed in terms

of how large (wide) of a target area is covered by a single pixel.
 A resolution of 30 m means that a single pixel covers an area of 30 square-meters.
 Usually, high resolution refers to a few meters or less,
 medium resolution refers to several dozen meters
 low resolution refers to several hundred meters or more.

 Resolution
 Spatial Resolution
 Temporal Resolution
 Radiometric Resolution
 Spectral Resolution

 Spatial Resolution
 Spatial Resolution refers to the size of the smallest feature that can be detected by a
satellite sensor or displayed in a satellite image.
Distance b/w objects

Landsat 8 data from July 7, 2019 over Reykjavík, Iceland. Courtesy of NASA Earth Observatory.
Spatial Resolution

Spatial Resolution

Spatial Resolution

Spatial Resolution

Spatial Resolution

Scale and Spatial Resolution


 Temporal resolution
 Time interval between measurements

 How often sensor is able to “revisit” an area
 View same area repeatedly to detect changes

 e.g., spread of a forest fire, extent of flooding
 Clouds can affect results.

Orbit types


 Sun-synchronous orbit
 Altitude of ~700 km
 Satellite moves N‐S, earth moves E‐W
 On each pass, a different area is sensed

 KP LULC Map

 KP LULC Map

 Revisit time
 Landsat 7: 16 days
 Landsat 8: 16 days
 Offset by 8 days, so between the two, a location can be revisited every 8 days

 Geostationary orbit
 Altitude ~36,000 km
 Rotate at same speed as earth, so appear stationary
 e.g., weather, communication

 Radiometric resolution
 Radiometric resolution is the amount of information in each pixel, i.e. the number of
bits representing the energy recorded. Each bit records an exponent of power 2.
 A sensor with 8 bit resolution has 256 potential digital values (0-255) to store
information. Thus, the higher the radiometric resolution, the more values are
available to store information, providing better discrimination between even the
slightest differences in energy

 For example, when assessing water quality, radiometric resolution is necessary to

distinguish between subtle differences in ocean color.





 What can you identify?

 What can you identify?

 Landsat 8 (Landsat Data Continuity Mission)
 Landsat 7 measures the amount of reflected light on a scale of 0 to 255 (8 bits), while
LDCM will measure light on a scale of 0 to 4,095 (12 bits).
 This improvement will enable researchers to better characterize LULC on a global

scale.

 Spectral resolution
 Spectral resolution is the ability of a sensor to discern finer wavelengths, that is,
having more and narrower bands.
 Many sensors are considered to be multispectral, meaning they have between 3-10
bands.
 Sensors that have hundreds to even thousands of bands are considered to be

hyperspectral.
 The narrower the range of wavelengths for a given band, the finer the spectral
resolution.
 For example, the Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) captures

information in 224 spectral channels

 Spectral resolution refers to the number and dimension of specific wavelength

intervals of electromagnetic radiation that a sensor is capable of measuring.
 The portions (ranges) of the spectrum to which an instrument is sensitive are

referred to as its bands.
 Note: the resolution of A<C<B


Low resolution


 Extend idea of “colour”
 Objects also reflect, transmit and absorb invisible light
 Different objects have different combinations

 Combinations of “colours”
above are Landsat 7 band numbers

Six versions of the same location


 Spatial vs. spectral resolution
above are Landsat 7 band number

 Spectral signatures
 Measurements of spectral reflectance of a particular objects




 Summary of Resolution

 Displaying multiband images

 Displaying “bands” in ArcMap



 Here’s a rundown of some common band combinations applied to Landsat 8,

displayed as a red, green, blue (RGB):
 https://www.esri.com/arcgis-blog/products/product/imagery/band-combinations-
for-landsat-8/

 Visually Interpreting Images

 What does this cell represent?
 A remote sensor measures light reflected from a square area on the ground
 It doesn’t tell you if the square is covered in grass, or pavement, or water, it just gives
you a number
 You have to turn the data into information:

 Manually……………interpretation
 Automatically ………….classification

 Interpretation vs. Classification
 Interpretation
 Manual, using visual pattern recognition
 Your brain can recognize a clump of trees, but you then would have to manually trace
that and map it out
 Classification
 Automatic, using math and software
 Software recognizes number patterns, groups them and creates a thematic map, but
then you still have to identify what each theme represents

 Shape

 Size

 Tone

 Texture

 Pattern

 Shadow

 Association

 Image classification
 Goal:
 Automatically group cells into land cover classes
 Different land cover types have different combinations of numbers based on inherent
spectral reflectance properties
– Identify spectral pattern
 Create a thematic map from original data.










 Data Pathfinders
https://earthdata.nasa.gov/learn/pathfinders

 Types and Uses of Satellites

• Open Data Satellites
• Commercial Satellites
• Weather satellites
• Geodesy Satellites
• Ocean Satellites
• https://gisgeography.com/earth-satellite-list/

 Principal of remote sensing

• The source of remote sensing data is the electromagnetic radiations which
are emitted or reflected by the object, which then helps in their
identification and classification.

 Elements Involved in Remote Sensing

 Elements Involved in Remote Sensing

 Components of Remote Sensing
1. Platform
2. Sensors

1. Platform
• A platform is defined as the carrier for remote sensing sensors.
• There are three major remote sensing platforms:
• Ground-level platform (towers and cranes),
• Aerial platforms (Helicopters, low altitude aircraft, high altitude aircraft), and
• Spaceborne platforms (space shuttles, polar-orbiting satellites, and geostationary
satellites)

1. Platform
Ground-Based Platform Airborne Platform Space-Based Platform

1. Sensors
It is a device that receives electromagnetic radiations and converts it into a signal

that can be recorded and displayed as either numerical data or an image.

 Basic Processes in Remote Sensing
• Data acquisition (energy propagation, platforms)

• Processing (conversion of energy pattern to images)
• Analysis (quantitative and qualitative analysis)
• Accuracy assessment (radiometric and geometric correction)
• Information distribution to users

• Data acquisition (energy propagation, platforms)

• Processing (conversion of energy pattern to images)
• Analysis (quantitative and qualitative analysis)
• Accuracy assessment (radiometric and geometric correction)
• Information distribution to users

Geometric correction
radiometric correction
 Remote Sensing Applications
• Land Use Mapping

• Weather Forecasting
• Environmental Study
• Study of Natural hazards
• Resource exploration

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GIS/RS App.

To Civil Engineering (Geo info/Engg)

Afed Ullah Khan, PhD

PhD Thesis Pre-Defense

o What is remote sensing?

PhD Thesis Pre-Defense

 Acquiring information about a

PhD Thesis Pre-Defense

PhD Thesis Pre-Defense

PhD Thesis Pre-Defense

Only reflected light is recorded

PhD Thesis Pre-Defense

 Types of remote sensing

 Active Remote Sensing

 Passive Remote Sensing

PhD Thesis Pre-Defense

 The efficiency (resolution) of a sensor used in remote sensing is expressed in terms

 A resolution of 30 m means that a single pixel covers an area of 30 square-meters.

 Usually, high resolution refers to a few meters or less,

 medium resolution refers to several dozen meters

 low resolution refers to several hundred meters or more.

PhD Thesis Pre-Defense

PhD Thesis Pre-Defense

Distance b/w objects

PhD Thesis Pre-Defense

PhD Thesis Pre-Defense

PhD Thesis Pre-Defense

PhD Thesis Pre-Defense

PhD Thesis Pre-Defense

PhD Thesis Pre-Defense

Scale and Spatial Resolution

PhD Thesis Pre-Defense

PhD Thesis Pre-Defense

 Time interval between measurements

 View same area repeatedly to detect changes

 Clouds can affect results.

PhD Thesis Pre-Defense

PhD Thesis Pre-Defense

PhD Thesis Pre-Defense

 Satellite moves N‐S, earth moves E‐W

 On each pass, a different area is sensed

PhD Thesis Pre-Defense

PhD Thesis Pre-Defense

PhD Thesis Pre-Defense

PhD Thesis Pre-Defense

 Rotate at same speed as earth, so appear stationary

 e.g., weather, communication

PhD Thesis Pre-Defense

PhD Thesis Pre-Defense

 For example, when assessing water quality, radiometric resolution is necessary to

PhD Thesis Pre-Defense

PhD Thesis Pre-Defense

PhD Thesis Pre-Defense

PhD Thesis Pre-Defense

PhD Thesis Pre-Defense

 What can you identify?

PhD Thesis Pre-Defense

 What can you identify?

PhD Thesis Pre-Defense

 Landsat 8 (Landsat Data Continuity Mission)

 This improvement will enable researchers to better characterize LULC on a global

PhD Thesis Pre-Defense

 Sensors that have hundreds to even thousands of bands are considered to be