Remote sensing then and now

Phil Lapp

The funding of sensor development was later picked up by the DSS Unsolicited Proposal Fund as the pattern had been originally established by the sensor working group. As a result of these two programs, Canada has become a world leader in the supply of remote sensing devices both for use in aircraft and satellites. Lidar altimeters and bathymetric devices, laser fluorosensors for oil- slick detection, pushbroom multispectral scanners, correlation spectrometers for sulphur dioxide and greenhouse gas detection, probing lidars for detection of atmospheric constituents such as ozone and aerosols and the WINDII Upper Atmospheric Research sensor--all got their start through these programs. Several of these Canadian developments have found their way onto NASA satellites, past present and in the future.

The job of the Data Handling Working Group in the Planning Office also included photo reproduction and distribution. This was no mean task as the mass development and reproduction of 10 inch wide by 100 foot roles of black and white, colour and false colour photo images was a highly specialized and difficult process. The only group in Canada capable of doing this work was the National Air Photo Library and Reproduction Centre. The Reproduction Centre which was run by both the Airforce and the Surveys and Mapping Branch of EMR was located at the Rockcliffe Air Base. As this base was slated to be dismantled, the building and equipment had been allowed to run down, in spite of the required increased work load being heaped on it. With the prospect of ERTS and airborne remote sensing data to be processed, their work would be approximately doubled.

CCRS Headquarters (1970's and 1980's)

We were very fortunate in being able to inherit that wonderful satellite receiving station from DRB and the Dept. of Communications. It not only had an excellent 84 ft. tracking dish, but it was located in a rural setting with adequate property around it to obviate any possible interference and had more than ample laboratory and maintenance facilities. It saved us at least $20 M.

Alteration of the Prince Albert Radar Laboratory (PARL) was the job of Ron Barrington of CRC/Dept.of Communications/ Communications Research Centre. He was familiar with the idiosyncrasies of the tracking dish which, among other things was supposed to have bad bearings, and was predicted to last only a year or so. That was twenty-three years ago and the dish has been operated every day, seven days a week, recording at least three satellite passes a day ever since. It is still going strong. The man in charge of the operation since the beginning is Roy Irwin. He deserves a medal for the wonderful service he has performed over all these years in supervising this operation.

The QUICKLOOK facility made by MDA for this station made it famous the world over. The quicklook data was also used as an index for the available imagery in microfiche form so that users could evaluate the imagery for clarity and cloud cover before committing to an order. Later a contract was let to a private company managed by Don Fisher, to reproduce and distribute data directly from the station, but it failed because of a shortage of orders and in their ability to give prompt enough service due to lack of funds. In early experiments, QUICKLOOK data was faxed directly to ships operating in the Arctic to assist them in navigating through the ice.

Brian McGurrin

It was started by Len Pomerleau, a systems science graduate from Ottawa University, hired by the Program Planning Office in 1970. Among other more scientific duties, he was asked to make a systematic manual file of several hundred brochures and 'separates' of papers on remote sensing which had been collected by various members of the staff. In the confusion of those days, they were thrown on the floor in a heap in a spare room that was to become the boardroom. After putting off this horrible task for several weeks, he came to me with the recommendation that the only way to be able to retrieve specific information required was by a computer system. In 1969, however, there were very few such systems in existence - certainly none in Ottawa, and those that did exist were experimental and costly. Pomerleau tracked down a Master's student at Carleton University by the name of Andy Smith who was interested in designing a system to serve as his Master's thesis. A contract was given and he designed the RESORS system that, with some updates, is practically the same as the present system. There was, however, a catch. Knowledgeable people had to be employed to acquire, read, keyword and enter the data from the documents into the computer. Four people were hired for this job, some of whom, twenty or more years later are still doing this painstaking and important job. This system has enabled the remote sensing population in Canada to remain current and competitive in this fast-moving technology over the years.

On October 16, 1970, the Planning Office completed its report entitled 'Organization for a National Program on Remote Sensing of the Environment'. This document was never published but is available through RESORS. It proposed the following objective and sub-objectives for the National Program of Remote Sensing.

"To produce in a timely and effective manner, remotely sensed data and derived information needed for the management of Canada's natural resources and environment, and to perform and support research and development on the collection, processing and interpretation of such data"

Sub - Objectives:

1. 
   To plan, on a continuing basis, experimental and operational remote sensing programs pertinent to the management of Canada's resources and environment.
   
2. 
   To acquire relevant data from sensors located on spacecraft, aircraft, balloons and other platforms.
   
3. 
   To process remotely-sensed data, and assemble them in formats appropriate for interpretation.
   
4. 
   To market processed data to meet the requirements of governments, industries universities and individuals.
   
5. 
   To interpret data and to foster interpretation by governments, industry, universities and individuals.
   
6. 
   To improve the scope and effectiveness of the data and derived information through research and development on sensing systems, data processing and interpretation.
   
7. 
   To promote and coordinate international cooperation and information exchange in designated areas of remote sensing.
   
8. 
   To foster the development of expertise in Canadian industry and technologies related to remote sensing and its applications.
   

It was still an open question as to which department was to be the lead agency. Jim Harrison ADM/EMR instructed me to prepare a memorandum to Cabinet from EMR. When it was completed he told me to show it to John Chapman, ADM Communications, which I did. Chapman reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a draft document to Cabinet proposing that Communications be the lead agency. My reply was that he had better have lunch with Jim Harrison. After the lunch, Jim Harrison told me that they decided they would recommend that the two departments would manage the proposed centre jointly. When the document reached Treasury Board for vetting before going to Cabinet, Sid Wagner, the Board's scientific advisor, told me in 1992 that he had questioned whether two departments could be jointly responsible for the same program. The answer was "no". Treasury Board decided that EMR should be the lead agency. If, at the time, there had been a Canadian Space Agency as had been recommended in the 'Chapman Report' in 1967, it would undoubtedly have been given the mandate.

Finally the big day came on Feb. 11, 1971 for approval by the Cabinet Committee on Science, of which Bud Drury was the chairman and Bob Uffen the secretary. For any large proposal there is usually a series of approval levels to go through. The higher the decision-making level, the greater the jeopardy for project approval. Cabinet was the highest level.

On the first presentation, it was obvious the ministers had no idea what we were talking about. 'Remote sensing' at that time was a subject that was not in every day use and was a difficult concept for the lay person to understand. I remember particularly Eugene Whelan, the Minister of Agriculture, who kept asking "yes, but what does it do?" Afraid that ten years of work was about to go 'down the tube', I frantically suggested that I show some of the astronauts pictures of the earth taken during NASA's MERCURY project which I had brought with me, as well as a miniature Japanese projector and screen. Bob Uffen wagged his head, so I proceeded to show pictures for the next half hour. The ministers were so intrigued they were unaware of the passage of time until a bell rang which signified they were required in the House for a vote. They all disappeared leaving the beaurocrats sitting there. I asked Bob Uffen whether or not the proposal was approved. He replied "no problem". The Canada Centre for Remote Sensing came into being. After eleven years of working on the project, it was one of the high points of my professional life