Unmanned aerial vehicles—UAVs—will revolutionize the ways in which we
conduct business, perform research, enforce the law, manage natural
resources, educate students, and execute many other tasks. While advances
in computing technology enhance cloud storage and maximize data
exploitation, the UAV imaging sensor remains the key component driving
system performance and market growth.
This book is an effort to examine UAV imaging systems in light of their
platform and applications contexts. As such, it is replete with examples that
allow readers to witness concepts immediately applied to challenges they face.
Engineers and scientists who specify instrument requirements; design, build,
or test hardware; or analyze images for commercial, scientific, and military
applications will find the book a useful addition to their working library.
Chapter 1 introduces UAV imagers and discusses their disruptive
potential. Chapters 2, 3, and 4 introduce target characteristics, radiometric
propagation, and imaging system basics including figures of merit. Chapter 5
expands the study by discussing platforms and, thereafter, focusing primarily
on problems in the thermal infrared spectral region. Chapter 6 examines key
issues in evaluating the image data product, including video and still imagery
rating scales. Chapter 7 surveys optical radiation detectors for those who
require an introduction.
I am grateful to many individuals and organizations who directly helped
in the creation of this work. Kenneth N. Schindler, audio and video engineer
at Dolby Labs, San Francisco, CA, critiqued and improved the video
narrative in Chapter 6. Chris Van Veen of Headwall Photonics, Fitchburg,
MA, supplied images of a hyperspectral device aboard its platform and the
resulting imagery. General Atomics of Poway, CA, allowed me to use its
image of a Predator UAV, and Xenics Infrared Solutions, Leuven, Belgium,
provided a thermal infrared image.
I remain grateful to the excellent staff at SPIE Press, including my editor,
Scott McNeill, who offered many helpful comments, and Press Manager Tim
Lamkins. It was a pleasure for me to work with both of them again. Reviewers
William L. Wolfe (I still use The Infrared Handbook), Professor Emeritus of
Optical Sciences at the University of Arizona, and Cornelius J. Willers, Airbus Defense and Space, Republic of South Africa, provided valuable
critique and many helpful suggestions; any errors or omissions remain mine,
alone. As in my prior publications, I give great credit to three professors
emeriti from the College of Optical Sciences—Phil Slater, the late Jim Palmer,
and Eustace Dereniak—who have significantly influenced my life and work.
I am grateful to family and friends who supported and prayed with me
during a difficult season. I dedicate this book to the memory of my mother,
Esther, whose tenacity in the face of adversity continues to provide a positive
example.
Barbara G. Grant
Cupertino, California
May 2016