Module 7

Introduction to Remote Sensing

 Definitions
• Observation and measurement of an object
without touching it.
• Remote sensing is ‘the science and art of
obtaining information about an area, object
or phenomenon through the analysis of data
acquired by a device that is not in contact
with the area, object or phenomenon under
investigation’.
Examples:
Physical quantity
Radar systems, thermal devices, (light) from
screen: Source of

seismographs, magnetometers etc. radiation

Capture by
sensors (eyes)

Signal to
processor (Brain)

Record the data &

interpret into the
information

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Elements of Remote Sensing

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Electromagnetic Energy

• Remote sensing relies on measurement of EM energy.

• EM energy – waves
- photons (energy bearing particles)
• Most characteristics are explained by wave theory.
• The photon theory is useful to quantify the amount of
energy measured by sensors.
• EM radiation that varies from high to low energy levels
comprises the electromagnetic spectrum.
• When any target material is excited by internal processes
or by interaction with incoming EM radiation (EMR), it
will emit photons of varying wavelengths whose
radiometric quantities differ at different wavelengths in a WAVELENGTH - Distance from one wave crest to another.
way diagnostic of the material. Measured in meters or fractions of meters.
FREQUENCY - Number of wave crests passing a fixed point
• The plot of variation of power with wavelength gives rise in a given period of time. Measured in hertz (1 cycle per
to a specific pattern or curve that is the spectral signature second)
for the substance or feature being sensed. AMPLITUDE - Height of each peak. Measured as spectral
irradiance (watts per square meter per micrometer) or (energy
level per wavelength interval)

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• Photons thus show a wide range of discrete energies. The amount of energy
characterizing a photon is determined using Planck's general equation:

Q = hv
v = c/
Q = hc / 

where h is Planck's constant (6.6260... x 10-34 Joules-sec)*

v is frequency.
c is velocity of light 3 x 108 m/s
 is wavelength
• Photons traveling at higher frequencies are therefore more energetic.

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Electromagnetic Spectrum

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 Visible light Spectrum

• The wavelengths that are of greatest interest

in remote sensing are visible and infrared
radiation and microwave radiation.
• Visible (ROYGBIV) – 0.4 – 0.7 µm
• Infrared- i) Near IR – 0.7-1.3 µm
ii) Mid IR – 1.3-3 µm
iii) Thermal IR – 3-14 µm
• Microwave – 1mm – 1m.
• Each individual wavelength within the
spectrum of visible light wavelengths
represent a particular colour.

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RS Application for spectral bands

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Aerial Photograph

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Energy Interactions in the Atmosphere

• Irrespective of its source, all radiation detected by remote sensors

passes through some distance or path length of atmosphere. The
path length involved can vary widely based on the type of
technique.

• The net effect of the atmosphere varies with these differences in

path length and also varies with the magnitude of the energy signal
being sensed, the atmospheric conditions present and the
wavelength involved. These effects are caused principally through
the mechanisms of atmospheric scattering and absorption.

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Energy Interactions
Upon striking the land and ocean surface (and objects, there on), and atmospheric targets, such as
air, moisture, and clouds, the incoming radiation (irradiance) partitions into three modes of energy-
interaction response:
(1) Transmittance (τ) - some fraction (up to 100%) of the radiation penetrates into certain surface
materials such as water and if the material is transparent and thin in one dimension, normally
passes through, generally with some diminution.
(2) Absorptance (α) - some radiation is absorbed through electron or molecular reactions within
the medium; a portion of this energy is then re-emitted, usually at longer wavelengths, and some of
it remains and heats the target;
(3) Reflectance (ρ) - some radiation (commonly 100%) reflects (moves away from the target) and
scatters away from the target at various angles, depending on the surface roughness and the angle
of incidence of the rays.
Following the Law of Conservation of Energy:
τ + α + ρ = 1.
When a remote sensing instrument has a line-of-sight with
an object that is reflecting solar energy, then the
instrument collects that reflected energy and records the
observation.
Most remote sensing systems are designed to collect
reflected radiation.
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 Absorption

• Process by which radiant energy is absorbed and converted into other form
of energy.
• Water vapor, carbon dioxide, and ozone are the main atmospheric
constituents to effective loss of energy.
• The area of spectrum which is not severely influenced by atmospheric
absorption and useful to remote sensors are called atmospheric windows.

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BITS Pilani, Dubai Campus (Dr. Brij K Pandey)
Scattering
• Atmospheric scattering occurs when particles or gaseous
molecules cause EM waves to be redirected from their original
path.
• Depends on wavelength, amount of particles in atmosphere and
distance travelled by radiation in atmosphere.
• Two Classes: Selective & non Selective
• Three types: Rayleigh Scattering; Mie Scattering & Raman
Scattering

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 Rayleigh scatter: Upper atmosphere scattering
• Molecular scattering
• Occurs when size of matters (dia of molecules N2, O2 and dust)
are many times smaller than wavelength of the incident EMR
• The amount of scattering inversely proportional to the
wavelength of EMR ( 4th power). Eg. 0.3μm b/w 0.6 μm (16
times).
• Dominant at elevations of 9 to 10 km (more than 4.5 km) above
the surface.
• Blue light is scattered about four times as much as red light and
UV light about 16 times as red light.
• Causes the blue color of the sky and the brilliant red colors at
sunset.
• Primary cause of haze in the image
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MIE SCATTERING: Lower atmosphere scattering

• Non-molecular scattering
• Caused by dust, pollen, smoke and water droplets.
• Particles have a diameter roughly equal to the incident
wavelength.
• Effects are wavelength dependent and affect EM radiation mostly
in the visible portion.
• Occurs in the lower part (less than 4.5 km) of the atmosphere
• Dominates in overcast sky conditions
NON-SELECTIVE SCATTERING
• Particles much larger than incident radiation
• Scattering not wavelength dependent
• Caused by water droplets and larger dust particles
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Energy Interactions with Earth Surface
Features

• Various fractions of the energy incident on an element

are reflected, absorbed, and or transmitted
EI()= ER() + EA() + ET()
• Proportions of energy reflected, absorbed, and
transmitted will vary for different earth features,
depending on their material type and condition
• The wavelength dependency means that, even within
a given feature type, the proportion of reflected,
absorbed, and transmitted energy will vary at
different wavelengths.

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Specular Vs Diffuse Reflectance

• Specular: mirror like reflection obtained from flat

surfaces where angle of reflection equals angle of
incidence.
• Diffuse: obtained from rough surfaces that reflect
uniformly in all directions.
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• Spectral signature is defined for a particular material (land-cover,
mineral) as the percent reflected energy in different regions
(bandwidth) of the spectrum.
• Spectral reflectance curve (Wavelength vs Reflectance) is used to
categorize the earth surface features.

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Sensors

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 Passive and Active Sensors

Active - Record reflected radiation from targets illuminated

by man-made electromagnetic energy. Own sources of light.
Eg:- Radar
Passive - Record naturally occurring electro-magnetic
radiation reflected from the terrain of interest.
Eg:-Cameras and Video recorders-Visible Multi-spectral
scanners–Thermal Infrared
Selection of sensor
• Spectral sensitivity of the sensors available
• Presence or absence of atmospheric windows in the spectral range(s)
• Source, magnitude and spectral composition of the energy available
in these ranges.
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 Geometry of Remote Sensing

Orbit : Path followed by satellite in space:

Orbital Period : Time taken to complete one revolution around
Earth
Swath: Width of the area on the ground covered by the scanner

Image Referencing System

• Worldwide Reference System (WRS)

unique for each satellite mission.
• Scheme is designated by path and rows.
• Ground trace of the orbit is path where
as row refer to the latitudinal central line
of an imagery.
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Nadir & Off-nadir viewing
• Nadir line: Imaginary lines on the ground directly beneath the scanner’s
detectors.

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Instantaneous Field of View
• The Instantaneous Field of View
(IFOV) is the surface of the earth that
is recorded at any given time.

• The higher the sensor from the

surface, the larger the IFOV.

• The IFOV data is subdivided into regions

of equal size and shape, called pixels.

• Sensors record Electromagnetic Radiation

(EMR) and transform it into a digital
number (DN).

• This DN value represents the amount of

reflected EMR received by the sensor.

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High DN values are portrayed as
light pixels and low DN values are
portrayed as darker pixels.

The range of the numbers recorded

depends on the type of sensor used.

For example, many images are

recorded as 8-bit data of 28. 28 =256,
therefore the range of DN values for
8- bit data is 0-255 (zero is counted
as a number)

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 Bands or Layers

Every image is composed of bands or layers.

Each band is a set of data file values for a

specific portion of the electromagnetic
spectrum of reflected light or emitted heat.

Every band is viewable as a separate image.

Panchromatic : 0.4-0.7μm (visible range)

Multispectral band: can detect less no. of
broader wavelength.
Hyperspectral: collect image data
simultaneously in hundreds of narrow of
narrow (0.01μm).

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Resolution
• Resolution (or resolving power) is a measure of the
ability of an optical system to distinguish between
signals that are spatially near or spectrally similar.

• Four types of resolution of a sensor

• Spatial
• Temporal
• Spectral
• Radiometric

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Spatial Resolution

Spatial resolution is a measure of the

smallest object that can be resolved by
the sensor, or the size of the area on
the ground represented by each pixel.

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BITS Pilani, Dubai Campus (Dr. Brij K Pandey)
Spectral Resolution
• Dimension and number of specific
wavelength intervals in the
electromagnetic spectrum to which a
sensor is sensitive

• The narrower the bandwidth, the

better the spectral resolution.

• size of the interval or band may be

large (i.e., coarse), as with
panchromatic black-and-white aerial
photography (0.4 to 0.7 μm) or
relatively small (i.e. fine), as with
band 3 of the Landsat 5 thematic
mapper sensor system (0.63 to 0.69
μm).

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Temporal resolution

• Temporal resolution of a sensor system refers to how often a given

sensor obtains imagery of a particular area
• Each satellite has its own unique revisit schedule for obtaining
imagery of a particular area.

• The frequency at which the sensor revisits an area is known as

temporal resolution.

• For example, if a satellite imaged the same area every ten days,
then its temporal resolution would be ten days.

• Temporal resolution is an important factor to consider in change

detection studies.

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BITS Pilani, Dubai Campus (Dr. Brij K Pandey)
Radiometric resolution

• Radiometric resolution defines the sensitivity of a detector to

differences in signal strength as it records the radiant flux
reflected or emitted from the terrain.
• It defines the number of just-discriminable signal levels;
consequently, it may be a significant element in the
identification of scene objects.
• The multi-spectral scanner on Landsats 1 to 5 initially
recorded the reflected radiant flux in 6 bits and then expanded
the data in three of the bands to 7 bits (values ranging from 0
to 127).

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Data formats for digital image
1. Band Interleaved by Pixel (BIP): A set of multi-band data
with respect to each pixel arranged spatially by pixel
number and line number
2. Band Interleaved by Line (BIL): Line data are arranged
in the order of band number.
3. Band SeQuential ( BSQ): Image data of each band are
separately arranged

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