A 3-CAMERA MULTISPECTRAL DIGITAL VIDEO IMAGING-SYSTEM

This article describes a multispectral digital video imaging system fo r remote sensing research. The system is comprised of three charge cou pled device (CCD) analog video cameras, a computer equipped with an im age digitizing board, a color encoder, and super (S)-VHS portable reco rder. The cameras are visible/near-infrared (NIR) (0.4-1.1 mu m) light sensitive. Two of the cameras are equipped with visible yellow-green (YG, 0.555-0.565 mu m) and red (R, 0.625-0.635 mu m) filters, respecti vely, while the third camera has a NIR (0.845-0.857 mu m) filter. The computer is a 486-DX50 system that has an RCB image grabbing board (64 0 x 480 pixel resolution). The NIR, R, and YG image signals from the c ameras are subjected to RGB inputs of the computer digitizing board, t hus giving a color-infrared (CIR) composite digital image similar in c olor tonal rendition to that of CIR film. The hard disk can store 1000 CIR composite images. In addition, the cameras' signals are also subj ected to a color encoder that provides an analog CIR composite which i s stored on the S-VHS recorder. The analog CIR imagery recording serve s as a back-up in the event the computer malfunctions. A global positi oning system (GPS) is also integrated with the imagery. The system pro vides high quality digital video imagery that is superior in resolutio n to analog video imagery. Image examples are given demonstrating its application to natural resource assessment.