MSc Remote Sensing 2009-10
Title: Principles and Practice of remote sensing (PPRS)
Convenor: Dr. M. Disney, room 113 Pearson Building, tel. 7679 0592 (x30592)
mdisney@geog.ucl.ac.uk, www.geog.ucl.ac.uk/~mdisney/teaching
tquaife@geog.ucl.ac.uk, 103 Pearson Building, tel. 7679 0592 (x30592)
Course web page:
www.geog.ucl.ac.uk/~mdisney/teaching/pprs.html
Moodle:
Times/locations: Lectures Wednesday 11am – 1pm, location Pearson G07.
Lecture 1: 7/10/09 11-1.
Lecture 2: 14/10/09 11-1.
Lecture 3: 21/10/09 11-1.
Lecture 4: 28/10/09 11-1.
Lecture 5: 04/11/09 11-1.
Lecture 6: 18/11/09 11-1.
Lecture 7: 19/11/09 11-1.
Lecture 8: 25/11/09 11-1.
Lecture 9: 2/12/09 11-1.
Lecture 10: 9/12/09 11-1.
Course summary
This course provides a general introduction to remote sensing (RS) in lecture 1,
followed by a more detailed grounding in principles and practice of RS across both
the optical and microwave parts of the electromagnetic (EM) spectrum. The course is
broadly divided into three sections.
The first section (lectures 2 and 3) introduces fundamental concepts of
electromagnetic radiation (EMR), EMR properties and the interactions of EMR with
the Earth system which constitute the measured RS signal. These lectures introduce
radiation laws and units; solar radiation and the blackbody concept; radiation
geometry and interactions; scattering within the atmosphere and at the surface;
atmospheric windows; how and why we use radiation at different parts of the EM
spectrum.
The second section (lectures 4 – 6) builds on the first part and introduces concepts of
remote sensing instrument deign, data collection and information content. Particular
emphasis is given to the various design considerations determining how
electromagnetic radiation is captured and exploited by remote sensing instruments, in
particular: spatial, spectral, temporal, radiometric, polarisation considerations; sensor
designs and scanning mechanisms; choices of orbit; detector resolution; information
collection and handling. An intrioduction is given of newer active methods such as
LIDAR, leading into the final section on microwave (RADAR) remote sensing.
The third section introduces the concepts of microwave (RADAR) remote sensing,
specific to wavelengths much longer than optical. Lectures 7-9 cover the fundamental
principles of microwave image formation, geometry and radiometry, interaction of
microwaves with the atmosphere and surface; instrument design - side-looking
airborne RADAR (SLAR), synthetic aperture RADAR (SAR) and interferometry, as
well as applications of RADAR remote sensing.
During the course of the term we will have occasional seminars on Thursdays 5-6pm,
with speakers from academic and commercial areas of remote sensing. Titles and
speakers TBC. Current confirmed:
5/11/09: Dr. Paul Stoy, University of Edinburgh/Montana State University.
19/11/09: Dr. Nick Veck (Infoterra), GMES: remote sensing for humanitarian
applications.
26/11/09: Vasileios Kalogirou, European Space Agency (ESAC) and former MSc RS
graduate, on ESA activities.
Examinations
Examinations will be after Christmas and prior to start of Spring term (dates and
venues forthcoming from Prof. Dowman). The examination will be a combination of
essay-type and problem-solving questions. Candidates will answer three questions on
this part of the course from a choice of four in 2 hours. Past exam papers are kept in
the library (http://exam-papers.ucl.ac.uk/SocHist/Geog/).
Course material
All teaching notes are available from the course webpage and moodle.
Books
Jensen, John R. (2000) Remote Sensing of the Environment: an Earth Resources
Perspective, Hall and Prentice, New Jersey, ISBN 0-13-489733-1, 1st ed.
Lillesand, T., Kiefer, R. And Chipman, J. (2004) Remote Sensing and Image
Interpretation. John Wiley and Sons, NY, 5th ed..
Monteith, J. L and Unsworth, M. H. (1990) Principles of Environmental Physics,
Edward Arnold: Routledge, Chapman and Hall, NY, 2nd ed.
Web resources
Tutorials
http://rst.gsfc.nasa.gov/Front/tofc.html
http://mercator.upc.es/nicktutorial/TofC/table.html
http://earth.esa.int/applications/data_util/SARDOCS/spaceborne/Radar_Courses/
http://www.ccrs.nrcan.gc.ca/ccrs/learn/tutorials/fundam/fundam_e.html
Other resources
NASA www.nasa.gov
European Space Agency www.esa.int
NOAA www.noaa.gov
Remote sensing and Photogrammetry Society UK www.rspsoc.org
Journals
Remote Sensing of the Environment (via Science Direct from within UCL):
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=JournalURL&_cdi=5824&_auth=y&_acct=C000010182&
_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=125795&md5=5a4f9b8f79baba2ae1896ddabe172179
International Journal of Remote Sensing: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/01431161.asp
IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing:
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/RecentIssue.jsp?puNumber=36
Detailed outline; Introduction (lecture 1)
Housekeeping
 Course format, textbooks, library resources, computing resources, people etc.
What is remote sensing and why do we do it?
 Definitions of remote sensing
 Examples and applications
 Introduction to process
 Collection of signal
 Interpretation into information
 Experience of students?
Applications of where remote sensing being used
 Give a flavour of what EO being used for
 Atmosphere, lithosphere, geosphere, biosphere, cryosphere
 Climate, ice, ocean, land surface
 Commercial - mapping, policy, military, geology and petrochemical

Who does remote sensing?
 Research (universities, governments, Env. Agencies)
 Commercial organisations (BNSC, Spacemapping, ENSYS, etc. etc.)
 Multi-body institutions and international space agencies (NASA, ESA,
NASDA-Japan, Chinese NSA etc. etc.)
Introduction to some terms and concepts
 EM Radiation
 Solar properties
 Interaction with atmosphere
 Interaction with surface
 Resolution
 Spatial
 Spectral
 Temporal
 Angular
 Radiometric
The remote sensing process
 Instrument design
 Mission
 Information collection and processing
Detailed outline: radiation principles (lectures 2 and 3)
Introduction to EM spectrum
 Conduction, convection, radiation (JJ29)
Wave model of EM radiation


Properties of EM wave (JJ30)
Concepts of wave velocity, wavelength, period etc. (JJ31)
Solar radiation
 Concept of blackbody (MU25)
 Kirchoff's Law (JJ250)
 Radiant energy of sun/Earth (thermal emission)
 Stefan-Boltzmann law (MU25/JJ247)
 Wien's displacement law (MU25)
 Planck's law (MU26)
 Solar constant (MU36)
 Implications of en. distribution for EO
 Calculation of energy between given wavelengths
 Implications for evolution of the eye, chlorophyll pigments etc. etc.
Particle model of EM radiation
 Photon energy (JJ35)
 Photoelectric effect (JJ36)
 Quantum energy and unit (MU27/JJ37)
 Atomic energy levels (JJ38)
Radiation geometry and interactions
 Radiant flux, and radiant flux density (MU28)
 Radiance/Irradiance, Exitance, Emittance (MU28/MU31)
 Flux from a point source and from a plane source (MU29/MU30)
 Cosine law for emission & absorption, Lambert's Cosine Law (MU29/MU30)
Interaction with the atmosphere
 Refraction (index of etc.), Snell's Law (JJ39)
 Scattering
 Rayleigh, Mie, Non-selective (JJ41)
 Absorption (JJ42/MU39) and atmospheric windows
 Absorption (and scattering at the surface)
 Examples of vegetation, soil, snow spectra
 Spectral features and information
 Sun/Earth geometry, direct and diffuse radiation (MU40-42)
Interaction of radiation with the surface
 Reflectance, specular, diffuse etc.
 BRDF
 Hemispherical reflectance, transmittance, absorptance
 Albedo
 Surface spectra
 Spectral features and information
Detailed outline: data acquisition and sensor design considerations (lectures 4-7)
Resolution: concepts (JJ12-17)






Spatial
Spectral
Temporal
Angular
Radiometric
Time-resolved signals
 RADAR, LiDAR (sonar)
Spatial:
 High v Med/Moderate v Low
 E.g. IKONOS, MODIS/AVHRR, MSG
 IFOV and pixel size
 GRE/GRD/GSD (L&K 334)
 Point spread function
 What's in a pixel? (Cracknell, A. P., IJRS, 1998, 19(11), 2025-2047).
 Mixed pixel, continuous v. Discrete, generalisation
Spectral
 Wavelength considerations
 Optical
 Photography, scanning sensors, LiDAR et.
 Microwave (active/passive)
 RADAR
 Thermal
 Atmospheric sounders
Temporal/Angular
 Orbits
 Kepler's Laws
 Orbital period, altitude
 Polar, equatorial and Geostationary (L&K 397-9; JJ187-9 and 201)
 Advantages/disadvantages of various orbits
 Coverage of surface
 Solar crossing time/elevation
 Broad swath instruments
 AVHRR/POLDER/MODIS etc.
 v Narrow swath
 Landsat ETM+, IKONOS, MISR etc.
Radiometric
 Precision v accuracy
 Digital v analogue
 Signal to noise
Processing stages
 Transmission
 Storage and dissemination
 Ground segment

Overview of pre-processing stages
 Geometric, radiometric, atmospheric correction
Multi/hyperspectral scanners
 Heritage
 Landsat, AVHRR (NOAA), EOS/NPOESS (NASA), ESA (Envisat, Explors
etc.)
 Discrete detectors and scanning mirrors (JJ183)
 Pushbroom/whiskbroom linear arrays (JJ184)
 Across track scanning (L&K 331, 337)
 Digital frame camera area arrays
 Detector types (CCD, L&K 336)
 Hyperspectral area arrays
 Examples of the different systems
Photography (briefly!)
 Historical importance (military) (JJ75)
 Focal length, aperture (f-stop), shutter
 Digital cameras
Time-resolved signals
 RADAR
 Altimetry
 LiDAR
 Vegetation
 First/last pass, waveform
 Information content
 LIDAR wavebands and practical issues
Ground-based
 Radiometry
Detailed outline: Microwave principles (lectures 8-10)
Lecture 8
RADAR: Definitions
 SLAR, SAR, IfSAR
 Principles
 Ranging and imaging
 Geometry
 Wavelengths
 SAR principles
 Resolution
 Azimuth, range
 ERS1 & 2 examples
Radiometric effects
 Speckle
 RADAR equation
Geometric effects
 Shadow
 Foreshortening
 Layover
Surface interactions
 Moisture
 Types of interaction
The RADAR equation
 Measurable quantities
 Calibration
Lecture 9
Interferometric SAR (InSAR)
 Principles
 Phase information
 Coherence
 Phase unwrapping
 Interferograms, fringes, DEMs
 Sources
 Problems
 Geomtetry
 Decoherence
 Accuracy
 Differential InSAR
Lecture 10
Applications of imaging RADAR
 Principles revisited
 Different wavelengths
 Surface penetration
 Interaction
 Single channel
 Multi-temporal
 Wetlands
 Floods
 Agriculture
 RADAR Modelling
 Water cloud model
 Application to monitoring moisture
 Speckle filtering
 Multi-parameter RADAR