1. Chapter 1: Introduction
INTRODUCTION AND REMOTE SENSING HISTORY
Some Historical Notes
• Remote sensing began in 1840 when balloonists used “new camera technology” to take pictures. • At the turn of the century there was a “pigeon fleet” in Europe.
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2. Some Historical Notes
• Camera systems were placed on V-2 rockets tested at White Sands, NM after WW II. • Sputnik in 1957 changed our outlook toward using outer space as a place from which to observe the earth.

3. Milestones in the history of Remote Sensing
1800 : Discovery of infrared by Sir William Herschel
1839: Beginning of practice of photography
1847: Infrared spectrum shown by A. H. L. Fizeau & J.B.L. Foucault to share properties with visible light
: Photography from balloons
1873: Theory of electromagnetic energy developed by James Clerk Maxwell
1909: Photography from airplanes
: World War 1: aerial reconnaissance
: Development & initial application of aerial photography & photogrammetry
: Economic depression generates environmental crises that lead to governmental application of aerial photography.

4. Milestones in the history of Remote Sensing
: Development of radars in Germany, US & UK
: World War II: application of nonvisible portions of electromagnetic spectrum, training of persons in acquisition and interpretation of airphotos.
: Military research and development
: Photography from balloons
1956: Colwell research on plant disease detection with infrared photography.
: First use of term “remote sensing”, start TIROS weather satellite, Skylab
1972: Launch of Landsat 1
: Rapid advances in digital image processing
: Landsat 4: new generation of Landsat sensors
1986: SPOT French Earth Observation satellite
1980: Development of hyperspectral sensor

8. Definition of Remote Sensing "Remote sensing is the science (and to some extent, art) of acquiring information about the Earth's surface without actually being in contact with it. This is done by sensing and recording reflected or emitted energy and processing, analyzing, and applying that information" (from Canadian Center for Remote Sensing).
What is REMOTE SENSING ?

9. Chapter 1: Introduction
What is REMOTE SENSING ?
REMOTE SENSING includes all methods and techniques used to gain qualitative and quantitative information about distant objects without coming into direct contact with these objects.
Look-Look, NO Touch
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10. Chapter 1: Introduction
What is REMOTE SENSING ?
Remote Sensing is a much wider field than we will discuss in this lecture series. We will concentrate on that part of RS dealing with
EARTH
LAND RESOURCES
Vision
Medical Imaging
Sound and Radio Wave Detection
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11. Chapter 1: Introduction
What is REMOTE SENSING ?
Sensor System
eg. Camera
Source of Force
Field
Resulting RS Data Set
eg. Image
DATA
ACQUISITION
Reflection
Object (generic)
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12. Chapter 1: Introduction
What is REMOTE SENSING ?
DATA PROCESSING
Interpretation
(secondary) Measurements
Data Processing & Mapping (geometric)
Presentation of Processing Results
Explaining deduced OBJECT INFORMATION
RS Data Set
eg. Image
Object(s)
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15. Chapter 1: Introduction
What is REMOTE SENSING ?
Remote Sensing (RS) methods try to answer four basic questions:
HOW MUCH of WHAT is WHERE?
What is the SHAPE and EXTENT of ... ? (Area, Boundaries, Lineaments, ...)
Has it CHANGED?
What is the MIX of Objects?
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16. Chapter 1: Introduction
What is REMOTE SENSING ?
HOW MUCH of WHAT is WHERE?
WHAT:
Type: eg. water, vegetation, land.
Characteristic: eg. temperature, concentration, state of development.
Properties of object: eg. subtype, species, character and property as well as it’s abstract meaning.
=> DATA INTERPRETATION
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17. Chapter 1: Introduction
What is REMOTE SENSING ?
HOW MUCH of WHAT is WHERE?
HOW MUCH: determine by simple COUNTING, measuring AREA covered or percentage of total area coverage.
WHERE: Relate locations and area covered to either a standard map or to the actual location on the ‘ground’ where the object occurs.
NOTE: WHERE also refers to a moment in time
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18. Chapter 1: Introduction
What is REMOTE SENSING ?
What is the SHAPE and EXTENT of ? (Area, Boundaries, Lineaments, ...)
This extends the ‘WHERE’ to be a completely GEOMETRIC problem. MAP PRODUCTION methods are to be applied to the analysis of RS information. These include:
Photogram metric Methods:
Identification and Delineation of Boundaries and Lineaments (Roads, Rivers, Fault Lines)
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19. Chapter 1: Introduction
Has it CHANGED?
CHANGE may occur with progress of TIME.
Change may be detected through comparison of observed states at different moments in time.
=> CHANGE DETECTION
Land use change in Pulau Indah from mangrove forest to industrial area
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20. Chapter 1: Introduction
What is REMOTE SENSING ?
What is the MIX of Objects?
The surface of the Earth is covered by objects like Soil, Water, Grass, Trees, Houses, Roads and so on. These are ‘GENERIC OBJECTS’. We know these well, but we also know objects like Open Forest, Residential and Industrial Estates, etc. Each of these ABSTRACT OBJECTS are made up of a typical collection of Generic Objects.
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21. Chapter 1: Introduction
What is REMOTE SENSING ?
What is the MIX of Objects?
One important task for Remote Sensing is to identify
GENERIC OBJECTS as well as
ABSTRACT OBJECTS within areas of interest
The following lessons will be devoted to techniques and methods as well as to the logistic for finding answers to the four basic questions.
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22. Chapter 1: Introduction
What is REMOTE SENSING ?
(2) RS requires a SENSOR which can detect changes in the carried Signal.
Apart from our own eyes and ears, technology has provided us with a multitude of sensors operating in the detection of force fields: microphones, geophones, photographic film, video cameras and photo detectors, radio wave receivers, gravimeters and magnetometers.
Earth Obvervation Centre Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia

23. Chapter 1: Introduction
What is REMOTE SENSING ?
(3) RS requires RECORDING, ANALYSIS, INTERPRETATION and REPRESENTATION of the sensed information in a purposeful way.
This is a technique based topic. It is essential for the success or failure of RS in respect of it’s anticipated purpose.
This topic will be dealt with in it’s main aspects (but not completely) in the following lessons.
Earth Obvervation Centre Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia

25. MANUFACTURE OF AIR BORNE REMOTE SENSING SYSTEM TO EXTRACT THE QUANTITATIVE INFORMATION