A Fluorescence LIDAR For Land And Sea Remote Sensing

Research on the application of fluorescence LIDARs to the remote-sensing of land and sea surfaces was carried out at IROE and IEQ of the National Research Council (CNR). The research involved the use of laboratory and computer simulations and was mainly devoted to the selection of laser sources, to the detection and characterization of oil spills, and to the analysis of vegetation stresses. As a result a prototype of fluorescence LIDAR was designed and built with a particular attention to the problems connected with the operation on board of trucks, ships, and aircrafts. The system is therefore a rugged, light-weight, small-dimension one, having a low power consumption. The LIDAR was called F-LIDAR IROE-2. It is able to record high-resolution fluorescence spectra and most of the data-processing can be done on board of the moving platform.