The ARSF Instrument Suite
The ARSF operate a comprehensive suite of passive remote sensing instruments dedicated to environmental research. We also deploy a set of ancillary devices for recording the attitude and position of the aircraft and basic meteorological and atmospheric parameters.
The Dornier's size and flexibility make it an excellent test and development platform. D-ENVR has a number of hard points on the exterior available for mounting instruments, as well as a forward roof opening which can accommodate the whole air sampling 'snorkel'. For the majority of the flying season, the cabin contains the core remote sensing instrumentation, although the Dornier's sizeable cabin enables the housing of additional instrumentation in standard 19" racks.
Remote Sensing Instruments
Our instrument suite covers spectral bands from 400 up to 2500 nm, with currently deployed instruments including:
- AISA Eagle & Hawk hyperspectral instruments (Specim)
- Leica ALS50-II LiDAR
- Leica RCD105 39 megapixel digital camera
- Wild RC-10 large format survey camera [special justification required]
For more detailed information on each of the above sensors, please follow the links provided. For a detailed spreadsheet of the variations of pixel resolution, swath width etc. with flying height for all the above instruments, please download our 'ready reckoner' and 'pixel size calculator'. A comparison between ARSF sensors and main satellite sensors is presented in the figure below.
A comparison between ARSF sensors and main satellite sensors (click on the image for the full-size version).
Atmospheric Research Support
The ARSF offer an airborne platform suitable for flying atmospheric instruments. It is not a dedicated atmospheric research aircraft but does offer a limited core instrument suite. Core atmospheric instrumentation include:
- Aircraft Integrated Meteorological Measurement System (AIMMS)
- GRIMM Sky OPC
- DMT CAPS Particulate Measurement System
Aircraft Position and Attitude
An essential component of ARSF's survey flying is an accurate knowledge of the aircraft's position and attitude with time. Two systems are installed in D-ENVR, namely:
Reserve instrumentation
The following instruments are no longer core instruments but may be able to be used for special projects: