Design and First Results of an UAV-Borne L-Band Radiometer for Multiple Monitoring Purposes

Remote Sensing

Rene Acevo-Herrera¹  Albert Aguasca¹  Xavier Bosch-Lluis¹  Adriano Camps¹  José Martínez-Fernández²  Nilda Sánchez-Martín² 

[1] Remote Sensing Lab, Department of Signal Theory and Communications, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, UPC Campus Nord D3, E-08034 Barcelona, Spain; E-Mails:;Centro Hispano-Luso de Investigaciones Agrarias (CIALE) Universidad de Salamanca, Parque Científico Campus de Villamayor C, Río Duero, 12, E-37185 Villamayor (Salamanca), Spain; E-Mails:

关键词: UAV;    airborne sensors;    radiometer;    soil moisture;   

DOI  :  10.3390/rs2071662

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

UAV (unmanned Aerial Vehicle) platforms represent a challenging opportunity for the deployment of a number of remote sensors. These vehicles are a cost-effective option in front of manned aerial vehicles (planes and helicopters), are easy to deploy due to the short runways needed, and they allow users to meet the critical requirements of the spatial and temporal resolutions imposed by the instruments. L-band radiometers are an interesting option for obtaining soil moisture maps over local areas with relatively high spatial resolution for precision agriculture, coastal monitoring, estimation of the risk of fires, flood prevention, etc. This paper presents the design of a light-weight, airborne L-band radiometer for deployment in a small UAV, including the hardware and specific software developed for calibration, geo-referencing, and soil moisture retrieval. First results and soil moisture retrievals from different field experiments are presented.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2010 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.