Remote sensing sensors acquire information about objects situated on the surface of e.g. the Earth remotely, e.g. from a distance, without any physical contact. They detect and measure the changes that the object imposes on its. Remote Sensing sensors are characterized according to several different properties: Depending on the interaction between the sensor and the Earth’s surface, one distinguishes between active (e.g. radar) and passive (e.g. optical imagery) sensors. Some systems use both kind of sensors simultaneously. Depending on the mapping process of the information, it can be distinguished between imaging and non-imaging sensors. Imaging sensors produce an image of an area of interest, e.g. give a spatial information about the incoming information. Spatial relationships between objects can be identified and used for visual interpretation. Non-imaging sensors register usually single response values for a specific area, and do not record how the incoming information varies across the field of view. They can be used to characterize the interaction between the received information and illuminated target. Depending on the platform on which the instrument is deployed, one speaks either of ground based (e.g. terrestrial laser scanner), airborne (e.g. plane, drone), or spaceborne (e.g. satellite) sensor. For spaceborne sensors, the orbit geometry (e.g. geostationary, equatorial, sun-synchronous) and altitude (high, medium and low Earth orbit) play an important role, as it most often determines the application of the satellite in combination with the deployed sensor (weather satellites or Earth observation satellite). Depending on the observed portion of the electromagnetic spectrum (e.g. optical, infrared, thermal, microwave). Depending on the instrument (e.g. imagers, altimeters, spectrometers, radiometers). Depending on the instrument precision, e.g. in terms of spatial resolution very high vs. low resolution sensors; in terms of spectral resolution narrow band (hyperspectral sensors) vs. broad-band sensors (mono- and multispectral sensors); in terms of radiometric resolution very high vs. low resolution sensors. Some applications do not require very high precision instruments, e.g. sea surface temperature measurements, while other, e.g. for vegetation monitoring, require high spectral and radiometric resolution for good data interpretation and analysis. Other categorization would include the specific applications of each sensor (weather, environment, urban, land, water, mapping, photogrammetry, structure-from-motion, etc.) and if is financed and used for scientific, commercial or military goals.
Discuss types and classes of remote sensing sensors
Select the type of remote sensing sensor appropriate for your application
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