Remote Sensing Equipment Unveiled By Bendix Division

Multispectral Scanner Data Analyzed

William Kershow, Bendix Aerospace Systems Division computer systems engineer, analyzes remote sensing data from the firm’s updated multispectral scanner at ground station in the division’s plant on Plymouth Rd. The instrumentation has a spectral range 42 times wider than that of the human eye, it was pointed out.

Remote Sensing Equipment Unveiled By Bendix Division

By Larry Bush
(News Science Editor)

Ann Arbor’s Bendix Aerospace Systems Division scientists and engineers unveiled for U.S. and Canadian newsmen yesterday its updated remote sensing equipment which has 42 times the capability of the human eye.

Joseph Clayton, division general manager, called it “a major milestone in the application of space technology to down to earth problems” in ecology, agriculture, geology, oceanography, geography and other areas.

The press conference at the firm’s plant on Plymouth Rd. followed capability testing last month in flights over the Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti and Detroit areas by a four-motored C-130 aircraft flying out of Willow Run Airport.

But the airborne scanner which has the greatest capability of any in the world at present, is only part of the picture of the complex system that has just passed National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) tests with flying colors.

A ground station consisting of computers and monitors with screens similar to those on color television sets for playback of film tape is the heart of the system in terms of data analysis.

E. M. Zaitzeff, project manager, said in comparing the Bendix 24-channel multispectral scanner to the human eye, “it can look at 42 times wider spectral range and double the number of distinguishable bands in the visible spectrum, not even to mention 19 other brands in the ‘invisible’ portion.

“Now, one might ask, why not use photography with emulsions responsive to energies not visible to the human eye? Unfortunately, even the more modern emulsions will only go out to about three times the visible range,” he told newsmen.

As a practical application, he showed the tape of a field of winter wheat near Ypsilanti in three colors invisible to the human eye, including ultra violet, near infrared and far infrared on the ground station screen.

While the wheat plants appeared uniformly healthy to the human eye or in ordinary photographs, the Bendix multispectral tapes showed pre-wilt conditions in a portion of the field, indicating drainage or other problems.

Zaitzeff explained that the scanner could detect pre-wilt conditions invisible to the human eye because it can record transpiration from plants.

He said the multispectral scanner can also detect potassium deficiency in alfalfa, differences in nutrient-chloride concentrations in cotton, and identify different kinds of rocks from thousands of feet up.

The Bendix project director showed reporters on the ground station color screen how the scanner recorded the presence of a thin oil film on a portion of Ford Lake near Ypsilanti, and registered surface water temperatures in color for translation into actual degrees.

Zaitzeff said, “Various aircraft with different remote sensing instrumentation have been making flights for a number of years, but the equipment we are showing you today represents unprecedented capability being added to the NASA program.

“Each recorded word that describes a particular element of the scene can represent up to 256 levels of reflectance and emittance. In three flights on the average, of three hours each, we have collected five tapes, each with 15 billion bits of infor-
unprecedented capability
mation,” he said.

Clayton said “this imagery which cannot be seen by the human eye was recorded by an aircraft flying at 11,000 feet.” He noted that “the whole space program is under fire just when we are about to apply space technology to real world problems.”

The Bendix division manager said it took Bendix two years to develop “this instrument” under contract with NASA. He pointed out that while the government will be spending $77 billion on social problems and $73 billion on defense in fiscal 1971, only $10 million will be spent on the earth resources survey program.

Zaitzeff said the cost of the development of the Bendix ground station and aircraft instrumentation and use was $5.8 million. He said the remote sensing project would be impossible without computer technology.

He said fully applied capability for remote sensing is a few years off and more needs to be learned about interpretation of data.