An integrated camera and radiometer for aerial monitoring of vegetation

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The design requirements for a broad-band red and near infrared radiometer for monitoring vegetation from a light aircraft are discussed and an instrument which incorporates these characteristics, called an integrated camera and radiometer (ICAR), is described. It consists of two downward-looking, spectral radiometers and a solar radiometer coupled with a 35 mm camera and a data-logger in a convenient payload for mounting in a light aircraft. The distinctive features of the ICAR arc the synchronization of the camera and radiometers, the equivalence of their fields of view and the integral microcomputer which controls the instrument and acts as a programmable data-logger. The simultaneous aerial photographs are used to locate the data geographically, to select the fields of view which are of the desired target, to interpret the radiometer data, and to act as a record of the terrain conditions for visual interpretation. ICAR data are compared with data from an Exotech 100BX radiometer mounted in an aircraft and also with satellite imaging radiometer data for Ihc same locations.