Introduction

Remote Sensing Systems  In remote sensing resolution means the resolving power

➢ Capability to identify the presence of two objects

➢ Capability to identify the properties of the two objects

Resolutions
 An image that shows finer details is said to be of finer resolution

compared to the image that shows coarser details

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Types of Resolution Resolution…

❖ Spatial resolution
 4 types of resolutions are defined for the remote sensing systems • Size of the smallest dimensions on the earth’s surface over which an
independent measurement can be made by the sensor
❖ Spatial resolution
❖ Spectral resolution
❖ Spectral resolution • Ability of a sensor to define fine wavelength intervals
❖ Temporal resolution ❖ Temporal resolution
❖ Radiometric resolution ❖ Radiometric resolution

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Spatial Resolution Instantaneous Field of View

 Spatial resolution: Size of the smallest dimension on the Earth’s surface  IFOV: Instantaneous Field of View

over which an independent measurement can be made by the sensor ❖ Angular cone of visibility of the sensor
➢ Expressed by the size of the pixel on the ground in meters ❖ Area on the Earth’s surface that is seen at one particular moment of time
➢ Controlled by the Instantaneous Field of View (IFOV)
❖ IFOV depends on

➢ Altitude of the sensor

above the ground level

➢ Viewing angle of the

sensor

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Instantaneous Field of View… Ground Resolution Cell

 A narrow viewing angle produces a smaller IFOV  Ground Resolution or Ground Resolution Cell : Size of the area viewed by the

 IFOV increases with altitude of the sensor sensor on the ground at one particular moment of time

 Depends on

 Altitude of the sensor

 IFOV of the sensor

 Obtained by multiplying the IFOV (in radians) by the distance from the ground to

the sensor.

 It is also referred as the spatial resolution of the remote sensing system

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Spatial Resolution and Feature Identification Spatial Resolution and Feature Identification…

Example
 For a feature to be detected, its size generally has to be equal to or larger than
Signature from the “house”
the resolution cell dominates for the cell and hence the
entire cell is classified as “house”
 If more than one feature is present within ground resolution cell, the signal

response is a mixture of the signals from all the features

➢ From the average brightness recorded, any one particular feature among them may not
Shape and spatial extent of the feature is
be detectable better captured. However, some
discrepancy is present along the boundary
➢ Smaller features may sometimes be detectable if their reflectance dominates within a
particular resolution cell

Feature shape and the spatial extent

is more precisely identified

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Classes of Spatial Resolution Spatial Resolutions and Scale of Applicability

 Low resolution systems

• Spatial resolution > 1km
• MODIS, AVHRR

 Medium resolution systems

• Spatial resolution is 100m – 1km
• IRS WiFS (188m), Landsat TM–Band 6 (120m), MODIS–Bands 1-7 (250-500m)

 High resolution systems

• Spatial resolution approximately in the range 5-100m
• Landsat ETM+ (30m), IRS LISS-III (23m MSS, 6m Panchromatic), IRS AWiFS (56-70m),
SPOT 5(2.5-5m Panchromatic)

 Very high resolution systems

• Spatial resolution less than 5m
• GeoEye (0.45m for Panchromatic, 1.65m for MSS), IKONOS (0.8-1m Panchromatic),
Quickbird (2.4-2.8 m) (Courtesy: Morisette, 2002)

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Scale of an Image Spectral Resolution

 Scale : Ratio of distance on an image or map, to actual ground distance • Spectral resolution

 Maps or images with small "map-to-ground ratios" are referred to as small scale ❖ Ability of a sensor to define fine wavelength intervals
(e.g. 1:100,000), and those with larger ratios (e.g. 1:5,000) are called large scale. ❖ Ability of a sensor to resolve the energy received in a spectral bandwidth to
characterize different constituents of earth surface

 Example
 Depends on
What is the actual length of an object which is 1cm long in a map of scale
➢ Spectral band width of the filter
1:100,000?
➢ Sensitiveness of the detector
Scale = 1:100,000

Object length in map = 1cm  The finer the spectral resolution, the narrower the wavelength range for a

Actual length on the ground = 1 cm x 100,000 = 100,000 cm = 1 km particular channel or band

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Spectral Resolution… Spectral Resolution…

Finer the spectral resolution, the narrower the wavelength range for a particular
❖ Most of the remote sensing systems are multi-spectral, using more than one
channel or band
spectral band

❖ Spectral resolution of some of the remote sensing systems

• IRS LISS-III uses 4 bands: 0.52-0.59 (green), 0.62-0.68 (red), 0.77-0.86 (near IR) and
1.55-1.70 (mid-IR).

• The Aqua/Terra MODIS instruments use 36 spectral bands, including three in the visible
spectrum.

• Recent development is the hyper-spectral sensors, which detect hundreds of very

narrow spectral bands

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Spectral Resolution and Feature Identification Spectral Resolution in Remote Sensing

 Generally surface features can be better distinguished from multiple narrow  Different features are identified from the image by comparing their responses

bands, than from a single wide band over different distinct spectral bands

 Broad classes, such as water and vegetation, can be easily separated using very

broad wavelength ranges like visible and near-infrared

 For more specific classes viz., vegetation type, rock classification etc, much finer

wavelength ranges and hence finer spectral resolution are required

Using the broad wavelength Spectral reflectance of A

band 1, the features A and B and B are different in the
cannot be differentiated narrow bands 2 and 3, and
hence can be differentiated

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Difference in the spectral responses of an area in different bands of
Landsat TM image Spectral Resolution…

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Spectral Resolution… Radiometric Resolution

Forest Fire (Yellowstone NP)

Radiometric resolution: Sensitivity of the sensor to the magnitude of the
electromagnetic energy
❖ How many grey levels are measured between pure black (no reflectance) to
pure white (maximum reflectance)

❖ The finer the radiometric resolution of a sensor the more sensitive it is in

detecting small differences in the energy

❖ The finer the radiometric resolution of a sensor the system can measure
more number of grey levels

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Radiometric Resolution… Radiometric Resolution and Number of Grey Levels

 Radiometric resolution is measured in Bits  Tones in an image vary from black to white

➢ Each bit records an exponent of power 2  Black → Digital Number = 0 → No reflectance

 Maximum number of brightness levels available depends on the number of bits  White → Digital Number is the maximum

used in representing the recorded energy =1 for a 1-bit data

=255 for a 8-bit data

Radiometric resolution and the corresponding brightness levels available

Radiometr Number of levels Example

ic
Poor
resolution resolution
1 bit 21 – 2 levels
High 7 bit 27 – 128 levels IRS 1A & 1B
resolution
8 bit 28 – 256 levels Landsat TM
11 bit 211 – 2048 levels NOAA-AVHRR 1/23/2024 1/23/2024
Radiometric Resolution and Level of Information Radiometric Resolution and Digital Number

 Finer radiometric resolution  Digital number (DN) depends on the number of brightness levels
➢ More the number of grey
levels ➢ Lower DN value in a coarse resolution image
➢ More details can be captured ➢ Higher DN value in a fine resolution image
in the image

Example
• DNs recorded by the 3-bit system range from 0 to 7
 Finer radiometric resolution • This range is equivalent to 0-63 for the 6 bit system
➢ Increases the data storage
requirements 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 (3 bit)
0 9 18 27 36 45 54 63 (6 bit)

DN of 45 (6-bit) → 5 (3-bit)

To compare two images, their radiometric resolution should be the same

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Temporal Resolution Swath Overlap and Latitude

 Temporal resolution ❖ Sidelap in the swaths of the adjacent orbits

Number of times an object is sampled increases the frequency of imaging

or ❖ Sidelap increases with latitude, increasing
How often data are obtained for the same area the frequency of images available for the
❖ The absolute temporal resolution of a remote sensing system to image the same area polar region
at the same viewing angle a second time is equal to the repeat cycle of a satellite.

❖ The repeat cycle of a near polar orbiting satellite is usually several days

Example: 24 days for IRS-1C and Resourcesat-2, 18 days for Landsat, 14days for
IKONOS
Towards the polar region, satellite orbits
❖ Actual temporal resolution ( or revisit period) of a sensor depends on come closer to each other. More frequent
➢ The satellite/sensor capabilities images are available for the polar region
➢ Swath overlap and Latitude

Paths of a Typical Near-Polar Satellite

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Satellite Capabilities and Temporal Resolution Importance of Temporal Resolution

 More frequent imaging is possible by off-nadir viewing capabilities  Images at different time periods show the variation in the spectral characteristics

of different features over time

 Applications

➢ Land use/ land cove classification

➢ Temporal variation in land use / land cover

Example : IKONOS ➢ Monitoring of a dynamic events like

 Cyclone
Sensor characteristics: Pointable
optics  Flood

 Volcano
Repeat cycle : 14 days
 Earthquake
Revisit period : 1-3 days

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Flood Studies Land Use/ Land Cover Classification

 Satellite images before and after the flood event help to identify the aerial  Temporal variation in the spectral signature can be estimated

extent of the flood during the progress and recession of a flood event  Presence of features over time can be identified

 Continuous change in the vegetation characteristics can be monitored

Landsat TM images of the Mississippi River taken during a normal period and during the great flood of 1993
 Used to classify the crop types viz., perennial crops, long or short duration crops

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Land Use/ Land Cover Classification:

MODIS data product for the Krishna River Basin Signal-to-Noise Ratio

❖ Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) depends on strength of signal and the noise of the system

➢ Signal (say reflectance)

➢ Noise from aberrations in the electronics, moving parts or defects in the scanning system

❖ Higher the SNR → Differentiation of the noise from the actual signals is easier

January, 2001 March, 2001 May, 2001

❖ Finer spatial, spectral and radiometric resolutions of a system may decrease the SNR to

such an extent that the data may not be reliable

➢ Higher spectral and spatial resolution reduces the energy (signal strength) → reduces
the SNR

➢ Finer radiometric resolution →larger number of grey levels

July, 2001 September, November, • If the difference in the energy level between the two levels is less than the noise, reliability of
2001 2001
the recorded grey level diminishes.
FCC (RGB): 2,1,6 (NIR, red, MIR1) Krishna river basin, India
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Trade-off Between Resolutions

Fine spatial resolution → small IFOV → less energy

• Difficult to detect fine energy differences → Poor radiometric resolution
• Poor spectral resolution

Narrow spectral bands →High spectral resolution → Less energy

• Difficult to detect fine energy differences → Poor radiometric resolution
• Poor spatial resolution

Wide spectral band → Poor spectral resolution→ more reflected energy

• Good spatial resolution
• Good radiometric resolution

These three types of resolutions must be balanced against the desired

capabilities and objectives of the sensor

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