Osyris LIDAR, Recent Advances in Hardware and Software

Nicole Barrett, CEO of Osyris and Nicholas Barrett, Vice President of Osyris, will present some recent advances in hardware and software as it relates to airborne remote sensing. Included will be a brief description covering the sensors they own/operate.  Examples of work performed will be from various industries to provide a broad overview of capabilities and to open the discussion of the possibilities.

 

Osyris is a local company owned and operated out of Bellingham, WA.  Our partners who have partial ownership in Osyris are Helica S.r.l. from Italy.  Together we have 6 years of experience in the remote sensing and environmental management/monitoring field. Currently we are working on projects in Europe, Central America, South America, and Australia.

 

We also provide local on site client education and data management services.  Please visit our website at http://www.osyrisairborne.com to learn more about the services we provide and feel free to email us any questions in advance of the meeting so we may tailor the presentation to meet your groups interests.

 

 

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LIDAR Remote Sensing of Forests: Applications, Issues and Opportunities

Jaden Langford, MSc (2006) University of Victoria

Remote Sensing Analyst, Terra Remote Sensing, Sidney, BC, Canada

jaden.langford@terraremote.com

 

Forest researchers in the USA, Canada, Scandinavia and Australia have used LIDAR data for over 20 years. As the technology changed from early laser profiling systems to the modern pulsed LIDAR and full-waveform systems, it has generated significant interest in the forest science community. While laser returns from canopy material (e.g., foliage, branches and boles) capture the forest structure, the ability of the laser pulses to penetrate through canopy gaps to the ground enables measurement of canopy height. Height-based metrics have received considerable attention in the academic literature, yet this application of LIDAR has yet to be widely commercialized.

 

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Advanced Surface Modeling for Geomorphic Applications: Post Processing of LIDAR Helps to Identify Relative Changes in Topography

 

        Darrell Sofield

        GeoEngineers

 

Traditionally fluvial geomorphologists have developed multiple channel cross-sections and profiles to explain how the in-channel and floodplain processes (i.e. migration, avulsion, vertical incision, and aggradation) change from upstream sections to the river's mouth.  The tools utilized have included aerial photography, photogrammetry and field based surveys.  However, the very nature of stream and floodplain environments with varying vegetative canopies limits the usefulness of simple photogrammetric surveys. The result is a need to invest in sufficiently detailed field based surveys to adequately describe channel and floodplain topography; a procedure that is both labor intensive and costly.

 

With the advent and recent affordability of LiDAR, we developed a LiDAR processing technique designed to illuminate the difference in water surface and the topography perpendicular to a river.  The result is a type of continual channel cross-section that we refer to as a relative elevation model.  The output of the relative elevation model uses a color thematic that allows a practitioner to visualize and measure the relative height of physical features such as former channels to the current water surface, or incongruous river terraces.

 

This model can be applied to many fluvial geomorphic environments as an analytic tool and has been successfully adapted for other geological engineering applications.

 

We envision that this model can be used in all types of geomorphic analyses that require the practitioner to understand what the relative elevation is of one uneven surface to another.  The modeling process shows particular promise in paleo-glacial studies and paleo-tectonic surface rupture studies.