HANCOCK COUNTY, Miss. — NASA Engineer Vicki Zanoni oversees projects that measure
remote sensing data quality.  Now, with the help of new software, her team can better assess some of
the projects’ results — nearly beyond a shadow of a doubt.
 

Remote sensing, the gathering of data about the Earth from satellites or aircraft, is useful for
decision-makers on issues like community growth, coastal management and agricultural
competitiveness. But the users must be able to rely on the results with confidence.
 

“Remote sensing, like many other measurements, has inherent errors,” said Zanoni, who is the
validation and verification program manager for Earth Science Applications (ESA) Directorate at
Stennis Space Center. “Validation and verification determines the amount of error — and develops
methods to correct errors — in remote sensing instruments, making remote sensing results more
useful to NASA scientists and the public who use the images in a wide range of applications.”
Atmospheric effects like light and shadows are some of the elements that Zanoni’s team measures in
remote sensing. “Because the light reflected by other factors in the atmosphere complicates the
measure of light reflected by the Earth’s surface, the light reflected by factors such as clouds and
particles in the atmosphere must also be measured,” she said. “Shadows near the area being studied
can influence the results.”
 

The use of field measurements — measurements taken by hand on location — for creating
validation formulas to measure atmospheric factors in remote sensing is expensive and time-
consuming.
 

But new technology is improving the validation process. 
 

The product is computer software called MCScene, a scene simulator that provides an
automated process to validate the accuracy of certain types of remote sensing imagery.
Zanoni’s validation and verification team is using MCScene to determine whether shadows
introduce errors or uncertainties into the validation measurements of certain remote sensing results.
 

“The MCScene technology proved that the shadows do not significantly affect these
measurements and that we can continue to make measurements from that area without introducing a
large amount of error,” Zanoni said.
 

The remote sensing results Zanoni’s team works with are useful in commercial and
government applications including precision agriculture, mineral exploration, forest management,
ocean resource mapping and surface pollution detection.
 

MCScene was developed by Spectral Sciences Inc. of Burlington, Mass., through NASA’s
Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, a multi-phase program that provides small U.S.
businesses with federal funds reserved for research and development, at Stennis’ Office of
Technology Development and Transfer.
 

“Working with the people at NASA was extremely beneficial,” said Spectral Science’s
Steven Richtsmeier, principal investigator for the program. “It allowed us to tailor MCScene as it
was being developed for the kind of customer we want to reach.”
 

For more information about the SBIR program, contact Ray Bryant in Stennis’ Office of
Technology Development and Transfer at (228) 688-1929 or visit http://technology.ssc.nasa.gov.