IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine - March 2013 - 68

apply the technology. Facilities evolved to include supporting equipment (Fig. 1). LARS staff and students designed,
built or modified equipment as needed-ranging from
field spectrometers to a fully equipped, optically dark laboratory from which studies could be conducted [1].
It was truly an era of innovation, despite the challenges
of data processing and field calibration. The acquisition
system shown in Fig. 2 was replicated by NASA and multiple universities for the AgRISTARS field experiments [1].
As the only remaining operational system from this era, the
boom supported generations of data acquisition equipment
from the Exotech 100 Multiband Radiometer (Landsat MSS
bands) to the ASD FieldSpec 3.

FIGURE 2. Collecting field spectra from 1984-2013.

demonstrate that remote sensing's capacity extended beyond just identifying crops, but also included evaluating a
specific disease condition by both manual and machineimplemented methods [1].
With the 1972 launch of the first Landsat satellite, the
primary emphasis of national programs shifted from research to applications and the use of the technology that
had been created. During the next decade, LARS became
more directly involved with demonstrations of the technology and technology transfer to assist private organizations
and government agencies in developing the capability to

+ 27m

JPL's
Equipment
Shed

FIGURE 3. SoOp experiment installed by Purdue on Platform Harvest.

Research at Purdue:
Diverse and Broad-Reaching Initiatives
LARS, which is now the Laboratory for Applications
of Remote Sensing, has focused primarily on research
and education since the 1980s. Building on the early
days of the LARS legacy, research continues in development of algorithms for analysis of remotely sensed data
and agricultural applications. In the past decade, research
in remote sensing science and technology has also expanded to include processing and application of LIDAR data,
atmospheric remote sensing, GNSS and signals of opportunity. Examples of today's research, education, and outreach at Purdue follow.
Remote Sensing Applications to Agriculture
Remote sensing related research in Agronomy and Agricultural and Biological Engineering is focused on watershed and regional-scale, land-surface process interactions, particularly as they relate to cropping systems and
water quality. Agricultural runoff
and drainage from underground
tiles into streams and rivers are of
concern both because of fertilizer/
pesticides and soil erosion. Recent
interest in the removal of crop residue for biofuel production has also
increased interest in remote sensing
for mapping tillage practices due to
the potential for increased erosion
and runoff rates, decreased Soil Organic Carbon (SOC), and decreased
nutrients. All of these are critical to
sustaining soil quality. A collaborative research initiative with USDA
is developing methods to map crop
residue cover from multispectral and
Antennas
Location
hyperspectral airborne and spacebased sensors. A parallel effort with
the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) team at the Polytechnic
University of Catalonia is focused on
downscaling and assimilating soil
ieee Geoscience and remote sensing magazine

march 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine - March 2013