Click the following link to download chapters of "Vision - We Are Re-creating the World, a Resource Manual "tool-box" for Revitalization and Empowerment Through Grass-roots Strategies and Environmental Awareness.
This is a Highlight of Chapter 8 of the Vision Book--Environmental Case Example--Remote Sensing Sciences, Hyperspectral, Commercialization and Creation of an Institute and New Science?, available for free from the link above, or at the end of this blog.
One of the most interesting and exciting things that I ever worked with was a technology called a "hyperspectral sensor". I was working with Dr. Richard Ewing the Vice President for Research of Texas A&M University. My job was to figure out a strategy for the university to utilize this technology, in the context of "remote sensing sciences", for education and commercialization opportunities.
So what about this hyperspectral sensor? In simple terms a hyperspectral sensor is a very large camera that can take a picture of all that we can and cannot see. Typically the device is flown in an airplane, UAV, or satellite, and is aimed at the surface of the planet, at least in the applications we are interested in. The device captures reflected light - many bands of data across the light spectrum that can be used to understand the characteristics of the objects and substances captured in the image based on their spectral signature. The device I was working with at Texas A&M was built by Texaco in the mid-90's, called the Texaco Energy and Environmental Multi-spectral Spectrometer (TEEMS). The device captured about 250 bands (sections of light wavelenth) across the ultraviolet, visible and infrared spectrums. The bands are critical for seeing the various "substances" that you are looking for. The amazing thing is that these spectral signatures are like "finger prints" for everything. Every substance, including your hair, or my hair, or whatever, each has a unique spectral signature.
So what's the big deal? It's a huge deal! This device can help us see all kinds of phenomena that are invisible to the naked eye, pollutants floating on water, insect infestation in crop fields, fault lines showing up in avalanche prone areas, leachate seeps from landfills polluting a river, etc. etc. In fact, since we haven't even looked very much at what we can see with these devices (except for military applications), the potential is unlimited. The opportunities exist in the questions that we ask, and our willingness and capability to break the data down and analyze it. The more I looked at this device and its potential last year, the more astounded I became.
The real, and most important opportunity comes from taking these technologies and converting the data into information for decision making. Yes, there are immense opportunities to pursue new hardware and software, but the huge opportunity is to gather insights to what these spectral signatures can show us, and how those can be used for understanding and ameliorating our various environmental challenges that we face globally. The application of this technology crosses all activities occurring between humans and natural world.
This blog includes a link to Chapter 8 in the Vision book about the strategies that I have been working on for the last four years, building on the strategies I proposed for Texas A&M, and continuing to propose efforts here in Colombia, I have included all the information and insights for building an institute, and apply these technologies and "systems thinking" to address a multiplicity of issues. I have envisioned working with a company called SpecTIR that is currently on the leading edge of applying this technology in places around the world.
Here is a sample of a diagram described in some detail in the chapter which shows how the hyperspectral sensor, combined with spatial analysis, can be a process utilized with GIS software applications to help solve environmental challenges.
Spatial Analysis
Spatial Analysis is a powerful tool for decision-makers interested in developing a more comprehensive view for project management. By gathering a variety of data and information sets and then referencing them in a geo-spatial way, considerable insights can be gained for environmental decision-making and problem-solving. Spatial analysis allows for disparate, yet interrelated information to be examined. Depending on the goals and objectives of a specific situation, layered data sets can be examined in many ways to allow for greater flexibility for assessing and managing impacts. GIS spatial analysis allows project managers to play “what-if” scenarios based on a variety of mathematical and computational modeling techniques (see Diagram C8-2 in the Vision book).
Follow this link to see a previous blog entitled "The Paradox of Technology - New Science and Hyperspectral" to read some of the early insights as I was working with this technology, and the "intelligence" of light.
Click the following link to download chapters of "Vision - We Are Re-creating the World, a Resource Manual "tool-box" for Revitalization and Empowerment Through Grass-roots Strategies and Environmental Awareness.
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