Selection of spectral band combination for land cover/land use classification using a brightness value overlapping index (BVOI)

A simply defined, accurate and efficient criterion of selecting a spectral-band combination for improved land use/land cover classification using remote sensing data is discussed. Results indicate that Brightness Value Overlapping Index (BVOI) is very effective in measuring the degree of overlap in brightness values among land cover types and in selecting suitable spectral-band combination for landuse classification. The results of BVOI are also compared with the results of another band-combination selecting index - Optimum Index Factor (OIF).     

Innovations in Automation for Vision Metrology Systems

The advantages of vision metrology (VM) systems over their film-based counterparts, in terms of the degree of automation within the measurement process, were initially confined to the image mensuration stage. Of late, however, the potential of significantly raising the level of automation of offline and real time VM systems has been more fully exploited, to the point where full automation of the offline procedure has been realized. Innovative features such as automatic image point identification via coded targets, exterior orientation through automatically recognizable "control" groupings of target points, determination of image point correspondences within unlabelled point clouds, and real time tracking of multipoint, handheld measurement probes are now incorporated in industrial VM systems. Another significant innovation is the development of "smart" cameras with incorporated image processing and measurement capabilities which remove the necessity for transmitting image data to the host computer. This paper reviews recent innovations in automation and discusses their operational impact on practical VM applications. The concepts discussed are illustrated through reference to a modern VM system which supports offline and real time measurement.     

Response of GPS occultation signals to atmospheric gravity waves and retrieval of gravity wave parameters

We show that the amplitude of the Global Positioning System (GPS) signals in the radio occultation (RO) experiments is an indicator of the activity of the gravity waves (GW) in the atmosphere. The amplitude of the GPS RO signals is more sensitive to the atmospheric wave structures than is the phase. Early investigations used only the phase of the GPS occultation signals for statistical investigation of the GW activity in the height interval 10–40 km on a global scale. In this study, we use the polarization equations and Hilbert transform to find the 1-D GW radio image in the atmosphere by analyzing the amplitude of the RO signal. The radio image, also called the GW portrait, consists of the phase and amplitude of the GW as functions of height. We demonstrate the potential of this method using the amplitude data from GPS/Meteorology (GPS/MET) and satellite mission Challenge Mini-satellite Payload (CHAMP) RO events. The GW activity is nonuniformly distributed with the main contribution associated with the tropopause and the secondary maximums related to the GW breaking regions. Using our method we find the vertical profiles of the horizontal wind perturbations and its vertical gradient associated with the GW influence. The estimated values of the horizontal wind perturbations are in fairly good agreement with radiosonde data. The horizontal wind perturbations v(h) are ±1 to ±5 m s with vertical gradients dv/dh ±0.5 to ±15 m s km at height 10–40 km. The height dependence of the GW vertical wavelength was inferred through the differentiation of the GW phase. Analysis of this dependence using the dispersion relationship for the GW gives the estimation of the projection of the horizontal background wind velocity on the direction of the GW propagation. For the event considered, the magnitude of this projection changes between 1.5 and 10 m s at heights of 10–40 km. We conclude that the amplitude of the GPS occultation signals contain important information about the wave processes in the atmosphere on a global scale.     

An update on the IEM surface backscattering model

The integral equation approach to modeling scattering from rough surfaces was introduced in 1992. At that time, it was noted that there was a need to find a transition reflection coefficient that could change its argument from the incident angle to the specular angle as frequency or roughness scale got large. One such reflection coefficient was published in 2001. In this letter, we would like to include this reflection coefficient in the integral equation model to interpret several multifrequency backscattering measurements from surfaces with surface parameters defined by the investigators who acquired the data.     

An automated seamless mosaicing system of multi-charge coupled devices of panchromatic data

Panchromatic data of pixel resolution 5.8 m obtained from IRS-1C and IRS-1D satellites proved to be very useful for mapping purposes. One of the popular data product is the 70 km swath mosaic which is covered by a combination of 3 CCD line sensors, each with 4096 pixels. Each CCD-line sensor with different imaging times causes geometric problems of mosaicing three strips data together. In this paper, we propose the details of the design elements of system that caters to the need for accurate and automatic multi strip image registration without any second resampling of the data. The systematic geometric correction grid mapping is improved to facilitate accurate mosaicing by automatic image registration task that makes use of the overlap data within image strips and image registration is achieved up to sub-pixel level.     

Forest cover mapping of East district,Sikkim using IRS-1A LISS II satellite data

Remote sensing techniques have been applied to classify tour density classes within each of the forest type along with other major landuse/landcover classes in the East district, Sikkim using IRS-1A LISS II satellite data pertaining to the period of November, 1988. The shadow problem in rugged terrain and difficulty in acquiring cloud free data for different seasons pose problems to achieve considerable mapping accuracy. In the present study, the forests of the district were delineated through supervised classification techniques using maximum likelihood algorithm into five forest types as sal forests, subtropical broad-leaved forests, Himalayan wet temperate forests, Rhododendron forests and alpine forests. The alpine forests were further stratified into two categories as moist alpine scrub and dry alpine scrub. The statistical data obtained from the present study shows that 55.47 percent of the total geographical area of the East district was under forest cover. An overall accuracy of more than 85 percent in correctly delineating forest classes was achieved.     

Corridor analysis in Rajaji-Corbett elephant reserve — A Remote sensing and GIS approach

This paper deals with corridor analysis in Rajaji-Corbett Elephant Reserve in the Shivaliks of Uttaranchal state. Efforts were made to detect changes in the state of forest covervis- à -vis the status of corridors during the three periods i.e. 1967. 1986 and 1998 using remote sensing and GIS. TheERDAS Imagine digital image processing andArcView GIS software packages were used for this purpose. Temporal satellite imagery and ground observations in the Rajaji-Corbett Elephant Reserve revealed forest loss, degradation and disturbances in the corridor areas, hindering elephant movement and restricting them to forests islands. Motichur-Chilla corridor, despite being a highly favoured habitat for the elephants was found to be highly threatened followed by Kotdwar and Ramnagar corridors. Construction of wide bridges across Kunao-Chilla Canal, recreation of corridors through reforestation, reduction of all kinds of pressures in the corridor areas and providing higher protection to corridors are recommended.     

A model for adjustment of differential gravity measurements with simultaneous gravimeter calibration

 A mathematical model is proposed for adjustment of differential or relative gravity measurements, involving simultaneously instrumental readings, coefficients of the calibration function, and gravity values of selected base stations. Tests were performed with LaCoste and Romberg model G gravimeter measurements for a set of base stations located along a north–south line with 1750 mGal gravity range. This line was linked to nine control stations, where absolute gravity values had been determined by the free-fall method, with an accuracy better than 10 μGal. The model shows good consistence and stability. Results show the possibility of improving the calibration functions of gravimeters, as well as a better estimation of the gravity values, due to the flexibility admitted to the values of the calibration coefficients. Received: 15 November 1999 / Accepted: 31 October 2000     

Local geoid determination combining gravity disturbances and GPS/levelling: a case study in the Lake Nasser area, Aswan, Egypt

 The use of GPS for height control in an area with existing levelling data requires the determination of a local geoid and the bias between the local levelling datum and the one implicitly defined when computing the local geoid. If only scarse gravity data are available, the heights of new data may be collected rapidly by determining the ellipsoidal height by GPS and not using orthometric heights. Hence the geoid determination has to be based on gravity disturbances contingently combined with gravity anomalies. Furthermore, existing GPS/levelling data may also be used in the geoid determination if a suitable general gravity field modelling method (such as least-squares collocation, LSC) is applied. A comparison has been made in the Aswan Dam area between geoids determined using fast Fourier transform (FFT) with gravity disturbances exclusively and LSC using only the gravity disturbances and the disturbances combined with GPS/levelling data. The EGM96 spherical harmonic model was in all cases used in a remove–restore mode. A total of 198 gravity disturbances spaced approximately 3 km apart were used, as well as 35 GPS/levelling points in the vicinity and on the Aswan Dam. No data on the Nasser Lake were available. This gave difficulties when using FFT, which requires the use of gridded data. When using exclusively the gravity disturbances, the agreement between the GPS/levelling data were 0.71 ± 0.17 m for FFT and 0.63 ± 0.15 for LSC. When combining gravity disturbances and GPS/levelling, the LSC error estimate was ±0.10 m. In the latter case two bias parameters had to be introduced to account for a possible levelling datum difference between the levelling on the dam and that on the adjacent roads. Received: 14 August 2000 / Accepted: 28 February 2001     

New analytical and numerical approaches for geopotential modeling

 The standard analytical approach which is applied for constructing geopotential models OSU86 and earlier ones, is based on reducing the boundary value equation to a sphere enveloping the Earth and then solving it directly with respect to the potential coefficients _n,m . In an alternative procedure, developed by Jekeli and used for constructing the models OSU91 and EGM96, at first an ellipsoidal harmonic series is developed for the geopotential and then its coefficients _n,m ^e are transformed to the unknown _n,m . The second solution is more exact, but much more complicated. The standard procedure is modified and a new simple integral formula is derived for evaluating the potential coefficients. The efficiency of the standard and new procedures is studied numerically. In these solutions the same input data are used as for constructing high-degree parts of the EGM96 models. From two sets of _n,m (n≤360,|m|≤n), derived by the standard and new approaches, different spectral characteristics of the gravity anomaly and the geoid undulation are estimated and then compared with similar characteristics evaluated by Jekeli's approach (`etalon' solution). The new solution appears to be very close to Jekeli's, as opposed to the standard solution. The discrepancies between all the characteristics of the new and `etalon' solutions are smaller than the corresponding discrepancies between two versions of the final geopotential model EGM96, one of them (HDM190) constructed by the block-diagonal least squares (LS) adjustment and the other one (V068) by using Jekeli's approach. On the basis of the derived analytical solution a new simple mathematical model is developed to apply the LS technique for evaluating geopotential coefficients. Received: 12 December 2000 / Accepted: 21 June 2001