Are you an EPFL student looking for a semester project?
Work with us on data science and visualisation projects, and deploy your project as an app on top of GraphSearch.
Concept
Remote sensing
Summary
Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an object or phenomenon without making physical contact with the object, in contrast to in situ or on-site observation. The term is applied especially to acquiring information about Earth and other planets. Remote sensing is used in numerous fields, including geophysics, geography, land surveying and most Earth science disciplines (e.g. exploration geophysics, hydrology, ecology, meteorology, oceanography, glaciology, geology); it also has military, intelligence, commercial, economic, planning, and humanitarian applications, among others.
In current usage, the term remote sensing generally refers to the use of satellite- or aircraft-based sensor technologies to detect and classify objects on Earth. It includes the surface and the atmosphere and oceans, based on propagated signals (e.g. electromagnetic radiation). It may be split into "active" remote sensing (when a signal is emitted by a satellite or aircraft to the object and its reflection detected by the sensor) and "passive" remote sensing (when the reflection of sunlight is detected by the sensor).
Remote sensing can be divided into two types of methods: Passive remote sensing and Active remote sensing. Passive sensors gather radiation that is emitted or reflected by the object or surrounding areas. Reflected sunlight is the most common source of radiation measured by passive sensors. Examples of passive remote sensors include film photography, infrared, charge-coupled devices, and radiometers. Active collection, on the other hand, emits energy in order to scan objects and areas whereupon a sensor then detects and measures the radiation that is reflected or backscattered from the target. RADAR and LiDAR are examples of active remote sensing where the time delay between emission and return is measured, establishing the location, speed and direction of an object.
Remote sensing makes it possible to collect data of dangerous or inaccessible areas.
Official source
About this result
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.
Related publications (105)
Related courses (9)
MICRO-624: Wearables and implantables for personalized and preventive healthcare
This multidisciplinary course presents, from both engineering and medical perspectives, the state-of-the-art, applications and impact of wearable and implantable technologies, with focus on cardiovasc
AR-638: Sensing Like a (Multipli)City
A hands-on approach on how sensing works is complemented with theoretical insights to reflect on the critical zones opened up for urban research by the expansion of coded environments, providing the s
ENV-540: Image processing for Earth observation
This course covers optical remote sensing from satellites and airborne platforms. The different systems are presented. The students will acquire skills in image processing and machine/deep learning to
Related MOOCs (15)
Introduction to Geographic Information Systems (part 1)
Organisé en deux parties, ce cours présente les bases théoriques et pratiques des systèmes d’information géographique, ne nécessitant pas de connaissances préalables en informatique. En suivant cette
Introduction to Geographic Information Systems (part 1)
Organisé en deux parties, ce cours présente les bases théoriques et pratiques des systèmes d’information géographique, ne nécessitant pas de connaissances préalables en informatique. En suivant cette
Introduction to Geographic Information Systems (part 2)
Ce cours constitue la seconde partie d'un enseignement consacré aux bases théoriques et pratiques des systèmes d’information géographique. Il propose une introduction aux systèmes d’information géogra