Visible, NIR, SWIR, and eSWIR urban and rural scene contrast comparison

Patrick Leslie, Richard Col. Cavanaugh, Shane Jordan, Lindsey Wiley, Eddie Jacobs, Ronald Driggers, Joseph Conroy

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

The spectral information contained in the reflective imaging bands can be exploited for specific tasks. Whether targeting or mapping, the visible (VIS), near-infrared (NIR), shortwave infrared (SWIR), extended shortwave infrared (eSWIR) bands performvery differently for every application. For any imaging project, high contrast is very important for good imagery. High contrast leads to more recognizable features within a scene and easier identifiable objects. For mapping, good background scene contrast gives prominent features more detail and their locations can be easily identified. For targeting, low background scene contrast reduces clutter, making it easier to detect objects of interest. The VIS, NIR, SWIR, and eSWIR bands are popular reflective bands to design daytime imaging systems for either task.Deciding on which band will have the best contrast for a specific task is one of the first things to study when designing an imaging system. By measuring urban and rural scenes in terms of equivalent reflectivity (ER), a direct comparison of these four bands can showthe utility they provide. The systems used to measure scene contrast are designed to have the same spatial resolution and field of view (FOV). With these instantaneous FOV (IFOV) matched systems, the variance and 1D power spectral densities (PSDs) provide a quantitative comparison for the contrast among the four bands. The ER differences and resulting contrast measured among these four bands show that the eSWIR has the highest contrast in both urban and rural scenes.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1839-1846
Number of pages8
JournalApplied optics
Volume63
Issue number7
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 1 2024

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
  • Engineering (miscellaneous)
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Visible, NIR, SWIR, and eSWIR urban and rural scene contrast comparison'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this