Spectroscopy, Bands,

& Sensors
Spectroscopy:
• The science of investigating and measuring spectra
produced when matter interacts with or emits
electromagnetic radiation.

Chemical NIR
spectroscopy uses
spectral signatures to
look at liquids and
understand their
composition.

We borrow techniques
from them, but in 2-D!
Imaging Spectroscopy

AVIRIS Concept
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0034-4257(98)00064-9
Imaging Spectroscopy
• But in real life we are limited by technology and
money. So we don’t currently have an imaging
spectrometer (== hyperspectral imager) on a
satellite.
• The two (current) proposed spaceborne imaging
spectrometers are HyspIRI (USA NASA JPL -
proposed) and HISUI (Japan’s METI – will go on the
ISS in 2019)
• But we have LOTS of multispectral sensors!
Sensors vs Platforms
• Terminology
• Sensor: device that record reflected or emitted radiance
• Platform: the structures or vehicles that support or carry
the sensor(s) over the targets.
• Satellite
• Airplane
• Person
• Drone

Landsat 7
Multispectral Sensors
• Multispectral sensors collect data from wide
‘bands’ (sometimes called channels).
• A hyperspectral sensor is basically just a sensor
with LOTS of bands (> 100)
• But most sensors have anywhere from 3 to 10
• The number and width of the bands determines a
sensor’s spectral resolution.
Multispectral Sensors
Multispectral Sensors
• As you might imagine, many of the subtle
differences we discussed with hyperspectral data
are difficult or impossible to detect with spectrally
coarse data with only 5-10 bands.
Multispectral Sensors
• But this also means it’s important to pay attention
to different sensors’ spectral resolutions!

* we’ll talk lots more about individual sensors later in the semester
Optical Imaging Systems
Optical Imaging Systems
Optical Imaging Systems
Radiometric Resolution
• 8-bit = 28 = 0-255
• 11-bit = 211 = 0-2047
• 12-bit = 212 = 0-4095
• 16-bit = 216 = 0-65535
Optical Imaging Systems
Radiometric Resolution
Optical Imaging Systems
Radiometric Resolution is particularly important for
picking out subtle variations in images – higher
radiometric resolution lets you identify more
variation!
Satellite Orbits
Satellite Orbits
• Geosynchronous vs Asynchronous
• Circular vs Elliptical
Geosynchronous

Sun synchronous
Satellite Orbits
• Earth resources remote sensing missions
• Virtually all are asynchronous (sun synchronous),
circular, near-polar orbits
• 450-900 km altitude
• Weather and Atmosphere remote sensing missions
• Use both – some geosynchronous, some asynchronous
Satellite Orbits
• ** Sun synchronous orbits to NOT account for
seasonal changes in sun elevation!

Differences in shadow intensity at different times of year.

Spatial Resolution
• Spatial resolution (pixel size) depends on…
• Detector element size
• Sensor altitude
• Lens focal length
• A note on terminology –
• We basically always refer to ‘pixel size’ (assuming they’re
square) by the length of a side.
• For example…

= 30 m imagery
30 m
(not 302 = 900 m2 image)

30 m