HLS 6070 Research Paper

Remote Sensing Name: Institution: Course: Date: Remote sensing Over the years, there have been quite a number of inventions most of which have changed the course of history. Among the most influential inventions, technology takes the top spot. There have been developments that have people are able to interact with the environment and the elements in it. Most importantly, there is an aspect of understanding how the best one interacts with the environment. One such development is remote sensing. As the name suggests, this relates to remotely establishing the characteristics of the environment using technological equipment. Ideally, remote sensing is considered to be detecting and the aspect of monitoring physical characteristics of an area through measuring the reflected radiation from a distance from the target area. The technology involved revolves around using photography to collect information (Indiana University, 2016). While the data collection techniques are quite many, photography is the basis of remote sensing. There are quite a number of areas that have benefited from technology. Some of the areas include forestry, agriculture conservation efforts and survey. These are the areas that require the spatial analysis over large areas. As such, using remote sensing, it is possible for the technicians to review features in the images (Baumann, 2009). For example, where there are conservational efforts, it is easy for the analysts to establish the number the population of a given animal or the biomes of a given area over time (Kumar, 2014). Aspects such as establishing forest cover are made possible through the use remote sensing. Some of the major examples of applications include the cameras that are satellites along with airplanes, which are used to take images of the earth surface. This allows for more spatial analysis relative to the height that the images are taken. Sonar systems that are found on ships are also used to take images of the ocean floors without having to get to the bottom of the ocean (Indiana University, 2016). Cameras that are found on the satellites are also crucial for taking climate change images. History of remote sensing To understand the basics of remote sensing it is crucial to understand how the element of imaging into being (Bayhan, 2016). Remote sensing history can be traced back to the first time photography came into being, which was with the advent of the camera. The term photography is one that comes from two main words that are Greek; Phos which means light and Graphien which means writing. The idea of the camera can be traced back to the 1038 AD, when an Arabian mathematician helped understand the basics of a camera obscura when used to observe the sun eclipse (Bayhan, 2016). It is from this knowledge that the basics of a camera were then developed to what could then be used to capture images and store them. There are quite a number of scientists that made significant developments to the camera. One of them is being Leonardo da Vinci, who made it much easier to understand the principles behind the camera obscura in the year 1490 (Bayhan, 2016). Later on in the year 1550, Cirolama Cardano used optics on the camera to improve the quality of th...