Thanks to the support of the National 863 Program, China has developed a range of remote sensing hardware and software, including advanced visible light, infrared, laser, and synthetic aperture radar that can be applied in high-precision small scale remote sensing, UAV remote sensing, and high-performance SAR remote sensing.
The said remote sensing hardware and software have played a major role in shaping up China’s national remote sensing network, and in mapping, mining, farming, water conservancy, environmental protection, transportation, disaster prevention and preparedness, defense, and construction activities.
The high-precision small scale remote sensing system is made up of a small POS, a stability platform, a high-precision wide-angle light digital camera, a light onboard LIDAR, an ultra-light aircraft (UAV) and corresponding software. The patented and fully-featured system enjoys numerous merits, including smaller size, lighter weight, lower cost, and easier operation, compared with similar overseas products.
It can be used in high-resolution terrestrial observation, large scale mapping, natural disasters response, digital city among others, saving resources and improving the efficiency of remote sensing activities.
The high-performance SAR remote sensing system has landed breakthroughs in the system as a whole, system integration, X-band interference SAR, P-band polarization SAR, and topographic mapping, up to the technical precision needs at the scales of 1:10,000 and 1:50,000, along with the proven technical flows and standards.
The successful development of the system has freed China from the monopoly of imported technology, filled up a gap in the country, making China the third country possessing a SAR remote sensing system in the world. The technology has been successfully applied in a major national project to map the west part of the country, a promotion to the commercial applications of SAR remote sensing industry.
China has established a high-performance unmanned remote sensing payload verification system, in addition to the efforts to master a range of key technologies, including multi-UAV payload loading, universal payload, high-capacity storage, safe flight control, precision navigation and positioning, and real-time data transmission.
Chinese scientists have for the first time in the world realized the data acquisition of high spatial resolution and hyperspectral camera, wide field of view multi-spectral imager, interference and polarization synthetic aperture radar, and developed a fast assemble capability of 150kg worth payloads for a 10-hour flight mission.