Remote sensing is the extraction of information from an object (e.g. surface, atmosphere) without physical contact by measuring the reflected or emitted electromagnetic energy from the object using an instrument containing a measuring device or a sensor.  Information collected by the sensors is commonly acquired as images or point data from satellites, airborne systems or ground radiometers.

4DM has extensive experience in processing and using remote sensing data from a wide range of sensors as shown below:
 

Global Coverage > 1 km Regional Coverage 5 m - 120 m Site Specific < 5 m Field Point Data AVHRR Satellite Visible - Thermal SPOT Satellite Visible - NIR CASI Airborne Visible - NIR ASD FR Visible SWIR SSMI Satellite Passive Microwave LANDSAT Satellite Visible - Thermal ALTM Airborne LIDAR SpectronSE Visible - NIR   RADARSAT Satellite Active Microwave IKONOS Satellite Visible - NIR GER3700 Visible - SWIR

Image processing techniques are applied using  ENVI/IDL by Research Systems Inc. to extract information about the remotely sensed surface. 4DM has the capabilities to apply a wide rage of data processing and information extraction techniques.

Above: Geo-referenced LANDSAT 7 image over Collingwood, Ontario and area.

Data Processing

Atmospheric Correction
Spectral Classification Techniques
Textural Analysis
Feature Extraction
Data Fusion
Topographic Modeling
Filtering Techniques
Image Rectification
Digital Surface Models
Digital Elevation Model
Transformation - Spectral and Spatially

 Applications

Land use mapping for surface hydrology
Change detection
Terrain analysis
Urban spatial modeling
Snow and precipitation distribution
Lithology and ore grade mapping
Water quality
Lineation detection

Right: Laboratory set-up of spectral rock measurements under artificial light (small); Digital surface model derived from airborne LIDAR data over Clarington, Ontario (large).