Microlight Aircraft for Radiometric Surveying Applied to Land Resources Assessment and Monitoring in Mali (West Africa)

A MICROLIGHT AIRCRAFT HAS BEEN USED TO OBTAIN AND RECORD CONCURRENT, NEAR CONTINUOUS, SPECTRAL RESPONSES IN MSS AND SPOT BANDS OVER VARIOUS GROUND FEATURES: WATER BODIES, GEOMORPHOLOGICAL FEATURES, AQUATIC VEGETATION AND STUBBLES. THE EXPERIMENT WAS PERFORMED IN MALI, ALONG THE NIGER RIVER, DURING NOVEMBER 1985. THE AIRBORNE INSTRUMENTATION, DEVELOPED AS A PROTOTYPE FOR THIS EXPERIMENT, ALSO INCLUDED FLYING HEIGHT MEASUREMENTS BY A LASER RANGE-FINDER AND A COLOUR VIDEO-CAMERA. SPECTRAL DATA AND FLYING HEIGHT (5 TO 80 METERS) WERE SCANNED EVERY 0.1 SEC. AND RECORDED ON THE AUDIO CHANNEL OF A VIDEOTAPE, AFTER MULTIPLEXING AND ANALOGUE TO DIGITAL CONVERSION (8 CHANNELS). CONCLUSION: - THE MEASURING AND RECORDING SYSTEM, ALTHOUGH LIGHT AND SIMPLE, PROVED TO BE VERY EFFICIENT FOR AUTOMATIC SURVEY IN A TROPICAL ENVIRONMENT. - SPECTRAL REFLECTANCE PROFILES ARE FESSIBLE IN A VERY SHORT TIME (SOME MINU- TES) OVER A WIDE RANGE OF OBJECTS, ALLOWING HOMOGENEOUS INCOMING LIGHT CONDI- TIONS. - HEIGHT MEASUREMENTS CAN PROVIDE VERY USEFULL INFORMATION FOR THE GEOMETRIC DESCRIPTION OF THE VEGETATION COVER. - MICROLIGHT AIRCRAFT IS PROVING TO BE HIGHLY SUITABLE AS A PLATFORM FOR LOW- COST AERIAL SURVEY, COMPLEMENTARY TO CONVENTIONAL METHODS. - LARGE SCALE AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY IS ONE OF THE POTENTIALITIES OF MICROLIGHT AIRCRAFT: AN EXPERIMENTAL CAMPAGN ACCORDING TO AFRICAN ENVIRONMENT, IS PLANNED FOR SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 1986 IN MALI

ZEYEN Roland;  GREGOIRE Jean-Marie;  HUBAUX Andre; 

1995-03-15

JRC5087

https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC5087,