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Optical Remote Sensing Satellites and Their Applications: More Views of the Earth, and New Ways to See

A special issue of Sensors (ISSN 1424-8220). This special issue belongs to the section "Remote Sensors".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 March 2024) | Viewed by 4355

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Stephen Gensemer

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
CSIRO Manufacturing, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia
Interests: remote sensing; optical systems; hyperspectral imaging; optical communications; sensor networks; water quality; precision agriculture

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Optical remote sensing has long been the domain of a few large space agencies launching a handful of large, expensive instruments each year. Mission timelines were 10+ years from concept to launch, and most users of satellite data had no option but to wait and hope that the next big satellites would provide the data they hoped for.

However, new technologies have created a different landscape. Rapid drops in launch costs, the availability of affordable radiation-hardened electronics and high-performance computing compatible with low-Earth orbit (LEO), and rapid increases in communication options and bandwidth are all making LEO accessible to many more organizations.

Today, we are seeing the emergence of new approaches to optical remote sensing stimulated by these changes. Smart satellites can use artificial intelligence to look, identify, and respond to what they see, rather than simply recording images. A flurry of higher-resolution (both spectral and spatial) imagers are making far more nuanced views available than ever before, challenging end users to develop new algorithms to interpret the data and raising new questions about data fusion and interoperability between instruments with very different but complementary characteristics.

This Special Issue addresses the challenges posed by this new era of agile and application-specific remote sensing, and the innovations that will drive the next wave of remote sensing satellites and constellations.

This Special Issue overlaps with the topical sections of Sensors, including Remote Sensors, Optical Sensors, and Sensing and Imaging, as well as many others. Moreover, the rapid increase in activity in optical remote sensing makes this an exciting topic where extreme requirements (size, weight, power, and reliability) force, at once, innovative and very reliable solutions to meet the incredibly challenging problems associated with imaging the Earth from LEO.  Finally, EO satellites have an outsized impact on many research and tech fields:  many young engineers and scientists are now involved in space instrument projects through universities and startup companies, allowing many new space innovations to find their way into other industries.

Dr. Stephen Gensemer
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sensors is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • remote sensing
  • hyperspectral
  • infrared
  • multispectral
  • satellite remote sensing
  • optical instrumentation
  • satellite imaging

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 3858 KiB  
Article
Performance Estimation of a Medium-Resolution Earth Observation Sensor Using Nanosatellite Replica
by Carlos Colodro-Conde
Sensors 2024, 24(10), 3160; https://doi.org/10.3390/s24103160 - 16 May 2024
Viewed by 595
Abstract
In many areas of engineering, the design of a new system usually involves estimating performance-related parameters from early stages of the project to determine whether a given solution will be compliant with the defined requirements. This aspect is particularly relevant during the design [...] Read more.
In many areas of engineering, the design of a new system usually involves estimating performance-related parameters from early stages of the project to determine whether a given solution will be compliant with the defined requirements. This aspect is particularly relevant during the design of satellite payloads, where the target environment is not easily accessible in most cases. In the context of Earth observation sensors, this problem has been typically solved with the help of a set of complex pseudo-empirical models and/or expensive laboratory equipment. This paper describes a more practical approach: the illumination conditions measured by an in-orbit payload are recreated on ground with the help of a replica of the same payload so the performance of another Earth observation sensor in development can be evaluated. The proposed method is specially relevant in the context of small satellites, as the possibility of having extra units devoted to these tasks becomes greater as costs are reduced. The results obtained using this method in an actual space mission are presented in this paper, giving valuable information that will help in further stages of the project. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Optical Remote Sensing Satellites and Their Applications: More Views of the Earth, and New Ways to See)
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14 pages, 4937 KiB  
Article
Demonstration of a Modular Prototype End-to-End Simulator for Aquatic Remote Sensing Applications
by Mark W. Matthews, Arnold Dekker, Ian Price, Nathan Drayson, Joshua Pease, David Antoine, Janet Anstee, Robert Sharp, William Woodgate, Stuart Phinn and Stephen Gensemer
Sensors 2023, 23(18), 7824; https://doi.org/10.3390/s23187824 - 12 Sep 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1116
Abstract
This study introduces a prototype end-to-end Simulator software tool for simulating two-dimensional satellite multispectral imagery for a variety of satellite instrument models in aquatic environments. Using case studies, the impact of variable sensor configurations on the performance of value-added products for challenging applications, [...] Read more.
This study introduces a prototype end-to-end Simulator software tool for simulating two-dimensional satellite multispectral imagery for a variety of satellite instrument models in aquatic environments. Using case studies, the impact of variable sensor configurations on the performance of value-added products for challenging applications, such as coral reefs and cyanobacterial algal blooms, is assessed. This demonstrates how decisions regarding satellite sensor design, driven by cost constraints, directly influence the quality of value-added remote sensing products. Furthermore, the Simulator is used to identify situations where retrieval algorithms require further parameterization before application to unsimulated satellite data, where error sources cannot always be identified or isolated. The application of the Simulator can verify whether a given instrument design meets the performance requirements of end-users before build and launch, critically allowing for the justification of the cost and specifications for planned and future sensors. It is hoped that the Simulator will enable engineers and scientists to understand important design trade-offs in phase 0/A studies easily, quickly, reliably, and accurately in future Earth observation satellites and systems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Optical Remote Sensing Satellites and Their Applications: More Views of the Earth, and New Ways to See)
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14 pages, 2698 KiB  
Article
Determining the Spectral Requirements for Cyanobacteria Detection for the CyanoSat Hyperspectral Imager with Machine Learning
by Mark W. Matthews, Jeremy Kravitz, Joshua Pease and Stephen Gensemer
Sensors 2023, 23(18), 7800; https://doi.org/10.3390/s23187800 - 11 Sep 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1704
Abstract
This study determines an optimal spectral configuration for the CyanoSat imager for the discrimination and retrieval of cyanobacterial pigments using a simulated dataset with machine learning (ML). A minimum viable spectral configuration with as few as three spectral bands enabled the determination of [...] Read more.
This study determines an optimal spectral configuration for the CyanoSat imager for the discrimination and retrieval of cyanobacterial pigments using a simulated dataset with machine learning (ML). A minimum viable spectral configuration with as few as three spectral bands enabled the determination of cyanobacterial pigments phycocyanin (PC) and chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) but may not be suitable for determining cyanobacteria composition. A spectral configuration with about nine ideally positioned spectral bands enabled estimation of the cyanobacteria-to-algae ratio (CAR) and pigment concentrations with almost the same accuracy as using all 300 spectral channels. A narrower spectral band full-width half-maximum (FWHM) did not provide improved performance compared to the nominal 12 nm configuration. In conclusion, continuous sampling of the visible spectrum is not a requirement for cyanobacterial detection, provided that a multi-spectral configuration with ideally positioned, narrow bands is used. The spectral configurations identified here could be used to guide the selection of bands for future ocean and water color radiometry sensors. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Optical Remote Sensing Satellites and Their Applications: More Views of the Earth, and New Ways to See)
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