Components of the Aerial Imaging System: 

1. Cessna 182
2. Multispectral Cameras
3. TerraHawk System
4. On-board Radiometric Correction

The Cessna 182 airplane at the airport in Jackson Hole, Wyoming prior to a mission for imaging the forests and meadows of Yellowstone National Park.

The MS3100 multispectral cameras use a beam splitting prism and CCD sensors to acquire imagery in 3-5 bands within the 400-1100nm spectral range. Cameras feature independent gain, offset, and exposure controls for each spectral band, and the outputs data in the form a multi-band tiff.

The TerraHawk System creates an integrated multispectral imaging system for practical research and application in agriculture and natural resource management. It features navigation software, GPS integration, automated camera/computer function, and roll, pitch, and yaw camera stabilization.

• The unit utilizes an industrial PC computer using Windows® XP Pro OS, a National Instruments IMAQ1428 PCI capture board and Camera Link® communications cable
• The standard LCD panel is thin, light weight, 8.4” sunlight readable, with 600 x 800 resolution, touch screen. The display is inverted to landscape vertical viewing area
• Navigation/automation software provides moving map, displays geographic features in shapefile format, reference grid lines, flight tracking and camera operation
• The camera mount device is roll, pitch, and yaw compensating. Yaw is corrected to the GPS heading, roll and pitch holds camera at vertical NADIR view
  

Gimble control

To further enhance the research capabilities of the imaging system, the airplane is equipped with a spectral radiometer to measure the amount of incoming solar radiation. Having this information is important for conducting scientific research, and enables us to make adjustments to convert the brightness values to percent reflectance. Once converted to reflectance, the data is in a standardized format and comparisons can be made between dates to detect and measure changes. Without this conversion to percent reflectance, any perceived differences between dates could be the result of differences in sunlight intensity or atmospheric conditions.