TELEDETECCION

Leccion 1
LA PERCEPCION REMOTA O TELEDETECCIÓN

La Percepción Remota (‘Remote Sensing’ o Teledetección (‘Teledetection’), en el

dominio electromagnético consiste en medir la evolución en el transcurso del
tiempo de las diversas características de la radiación electromagnética emitida por
el planeta y que contiene información sobre la superficie, o mas exactamente, sobre
la interfase suelo-atmosfera y el subsuelo.
Una experiencia en percepción remota comprende en general tres fases:
1. Fase de adquisición de datos: a veces en tres niveles y de manera síncrona; in-
situ, a bordo de un avión, a bordo de un satélite.

2. Fase de tratamiento de datos: análisis numérico, deconvolución, modelización,

clasificación, …

3. Fase de control in-situ y de investigación de modelos in-situ: estudio de la

interacción de la radiación electromagnética y del medio natural.
• Teledetección activa: la escena es irradiada por un
emisor. Un receptor registra la luminancia retrodifundida
por la escena. En este tipo de medida la emisión es en la
mayor parte del tiempo coherente, lo que representa una
ventaja pues es posible realizar correlaciones entre
emisor y receptor.

• Teledetección pasiva: las únicas fuentes utilizadas

son las naturales (Sol, Tierra, atmósfera). Tienen la
ventaja de ser gratuitas pero el inconveniente de no ser
coherentes.
 Geomatics
• Term originally created in Canada
• Geomatics is the science and technology of gathering,
analyzing, interpreting, distributing and using geographic
information. Geomatics encompasses a broad range of
disciplines that can be brought together to create a detailed
but understandable picture of the physical world and our
place in it. These disciplines include:
– Mapping and Surveying
– Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
– Global Positioning System (GPS)
– Remote Sensing
 REMOTE SENSING
Wavelengths:
* Visible Light & Reflectance Infrared
* Radar

Platforms:
* Spaceborne
* Airborne
 Remote Sensing - A Definition
Indirect (remote) observations (sensing)
Remote sensing is the science (and to some extent, art) of
acquiring image data and deriving information about the
Earth’s surface without actually being in contact with it.
Remote sensing will give information about an object called
a target
Who could give me two common sensors?

Our eyes A camera

 How does remote sensing work?
Far away from the target, on what we call a platform.
Here are some types of platform

• Satellite • Balloon

• Space shuttle
• Ground base tower

• Aircraft
 Orbits
• Geostationary Near-polar
sun-synchronous
 Swath
• Total field of view
• Width of the image in
ground distance
• For satellites, varies
between 10s to 100s
of kilometres
 Electromagnetic Energy
• Electromagnetic energy is used to illuminate
the target in remote sensing
• Electromagnetic spectrum:
Shorter wavelength Longer wavelength
Ultra-Violet
Gamma Ray

Microwave
Infrared
Visible

Radio
X-ray

0.003nm 0.03nm 0.3nm 3nm 30nm 0.3 µm 3 µm 30 µm 300 µ m 0.3cm 3cm 30cm 3m 30m
 Visible Spectrum

Visible Wavelegths
• Violet: 0.4 - 0.446 µm
• Blue: 0.446 - 0.500 µm
• Green: 0.500 - 0.578 µm
• Yellow: 0.578 - 0.592 µm
• Orange: 0.592 - 0.620 µm
• Red: 0.620 - 0.7 µm
 IR and Microwaves

• Reflected IR:
0.72 µm to 3.0 µm

• Thermal IR:
3.0 µm to 15 µm

• Microwaves:
1 mm to 1 m
 Passive Sensor
• Passive sensors detect or “sense” reflected
solar radiation
What does a passive sensor need
to sense the earth?
 Active Sensors
• Active sensors produce and receive their own
electromagnetic energy

They produce their own illumination and they

operate in the microwave region
REMOTE SENSING PROCESS
 Absorption
• Some substances absorb certain
wavelengths of energy
• UV rays absorbed by ozone
•LW IR and SW microwaves absorbed
by water vapour
•These wavelengths are not suitable
for remote sensing

Scattering
•Occurs when molecules are larger or
equal to wavelength

•Rayleigh scattering - selective

scattering (UV, Blue sky)

•Non-selective - scatters all visible

wavelengths (clouds)
Atmospheric Windows
 Terrain Interactions
• Radiation that reaches the
Earth’s surface can be:
Absorbed (A);
Transmitted (T); and
Reflected (R).
• This will vary with the type
of object. The type of
interaction will depend on
the wavelength of the
energy and the material and
condition of the feature.
• Look at different objects, for
example an egg, a green
apple and a tomato.
Diffuse and Specular Reflectors

Diffuse Specular
rough surface smooth surface
 IR and Microwaves

• Reflected IR:
0.72 µm to 3.0 µm

• Thermal IR:
3.0 µm to 15 µm

• Microwaves:
1 mm to 1 m
 Spectral Response
• Different objects reflect, absorb and
transmit energy in differing amounts
• An object also transmits, reflects, and
absorbs each wavelength differently
• Spectral responses enable us to identify
different objects on images
• An object’s spectral response may change
over time
 Spectral Response - Leaves
• Chlorophyll absorbs
red and blue
• Reflects green
• Greenest in summer
• Internal leaf structure
reflects near IR
 Bands or Channels
• Each sensor has a purpose (vegetation,
ocean, ice, weather)
• Certain wavelengths provide more
information about certain targets
• To perform their tasks, sensors on satellites
detect energy in very specific, narrow
bands or channels of electromagnetic
energy
 Spectral Bands
• Band placement determines
which “colors” are imaged
• Bandwidth is the range of
“colors” that are imaged for each
layer (band)
• The number of bands determines
how many different colors are
imaged
• Multispectral = a few/several
bands
• Hyperspectral = several dozen or
more bands
• Get advice from others –
experience is invaluable