Remote sensing

Remote sensing refers to the activities of recording, observing, and perceiving (sensing)
objects or events in far-away (remote) places. In remote sensing, the sensors are not in direct contact
with the objects or events being observed. In a more restricted sense, remote sensing refers to the
science and technology of acquiring information about the earth’s surface (i.e., land and ocean) and
atmosphere using sensors onboard airborne (e.g., aircraft or balloons) or spaceborne (e.g., satellites
and space shuttles) platforms. Depending on the scope, remote sensing may be broken down into (1)
satellite remote sensing (when satellite platforms are used), (2) photography and photogrammetry
(when photographs are used to capture visible light), (3) thermal remote sensing (when the thermal
infrared portion of the spectrum is used), (4) radar remote sensing (when microwave wavelengths are
used), and (5) LiDAR remote sensing (when laser pulses are transmitted toward the ground and the
distance between the sensor and the ground is measured based on the return time of each pulse).
History of RS
The term, “remote sensing,” was first introduced in 1960 by Evelyn L. Pruitt of the U.S.
Office of Naval Research. However, the first aerial photograph was taken in 1858, 102 years
before the term “remote sensing” came into existence. Long before satellites and
microcomputers started dominating the field of remote sensing, people were taking pictures
of the Earth’s surface from afar. Taking these pictures was not an easy task and people risked
their lives to bring about the development of the field. To appreciate what was involved, a
brief history of aerial photography is provided in this unit.
Pisharoth Rama Pisharoty (1909 - 2002) was an Indian physicist and meteorologist, and is
considered to be the father of remote sensing in India.
1. First aerial photo credited to Frenchman Felix Tournachon in Bievre Valley, 1858.
2. Boston from balloon (oldest preserved aerial photo), 1860, by James Wallace Black
3. 1800: Discovery of infrared (IR) light by Sir William Herschel
4. 1801: Discovery of ultraviolet (UV) light by Johann Wilhelm Ritter
5. 1839: Beginning of the practice of photography
6. 1847: Fizeau and Foucault show IR shares properties with visible light
7. 1850-1860: Photography from balloons
8. 1873: Theory of electromagnetic (EM) energy developed by James Clark Maxwell
9. 1909-1910: Photography from airplanes: Wright takes first aerial movie
10. 1914-1918: World War I: aerial reconnaissance
11. 1920-1930: Development and initial applications of aerial photography and
photogrammetry (spatial measurements from photographs)
12. 1929: Robert Goddard launches first instrumented rocket
13. 1930-1940: Development of radars in Germany, the UK and USA
14. 1939-1945: World War II: applications of non-visible portions of the EM spectrum;
acquisition and interpretation of aerial photos
15. 1950-1960: Military research and development; Cold War espionage
16. 1956: Robert Colwell’s research on crop disease detection with IR photos
17. 1957: Launch of first Earth-orbiting satellite (Sputnik-1)
18. 1962: Cuban Missile Crisis (use of aerial photography)
19. 1960-1970: First use of the term ‘remote sensing’
20. TIROS weather satellite (April 1960)
21. Apollo Program photos and observations from space
22. 1970-1980: Rapid advances in digital image processing; computer age
23. 1972 Launch of Landsat 1 (ERTS); first Earth Observation satellite for scientific use
24. 1973 Skylab observations from space
25. First UV satellite sensors (ozone monitoring)
26. 1980-1990: Landsat 4 sensor (new generation); French SPOT Earth Observation
satellites; development of hyperspectral sensors
27. 1990- : Internet dissemination of satellite data; dedicated NASA Earth Observing
Systems (Terra, Aqua) for earth monitoring; Google Earth