The FIFEDOM (Frequent Image Frames Enhanced Digital Orthorectified Mapping) Camera for Automatic Mapping of Tree Species and Structures

The FIFEDOM (Frequent Image Frames Enhanced Digital Ortho- rectified Mapping) camera was designed to provide a cost-effective remote sensing method for the accurate acquisition bidirectional surface signatures, which for forest scenes is expected to yield information related to spatial distributions of individual tree species and tree structure with application in forest monitoring and management. Compared with existing regular digital cameras, the FIFEDOM camera has several unique features: (1) it can collect image data not only in the visible bands (550 nm and 670 nm), but also in the near-infrared band (800 nm); (2) it has a frame rate of up to 3 frames per second with a frame size of 3500 x 2300; and (3) it has a wide angular field view with 150 degrees along track and 78.8 degrees across track. Its high frame rate and wide angular field view allow it to obtain a sequence of images that over-sample ground target areas. The multi-angle database and bi-directional reflectance signatures of forest canopies can be generated from the over-sampled image data, which can be used to estimate metrics of tree structural properties.