Miniaturized Imaging Spectroscopy Payload With Integrated Atmospheric Irradiance Measurement Capability

This paper presents a compact, cost-effective Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) payload, intended for coastal area remote sensing applications. The payload consists of a compact, in-house–built push-broom imaging spectrometer using Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) components, complemented by navigation sensors for direct georeferencing. The payload furthermore incorporates an upward-facing spectrometer, enabling direct computation of remote sensing reflectance ρRS (λ) under varying illumination and atmospheric conditions. In contrast to existing micro imaging-spectrometer payloads, the presented UAV payload offers greater operational versatility and flexibility. While specifically tailored to coastal ocean color mapping, the system can easily be adapted to a wide range of remote sensing applications. Field experiments conducted with the presented payload demonstrate that remote sensing payloads, built with COTS components, allow the retrieval of ρRS (λ) scientifically usable datacubes. The contribution of this work lies in the proof-of-concept and demonstration that a compact UAV payload based on inexpensive COTS components and which permits onboard processing is able to generate good scientific data.