BRDF LABORATORY MEASUREMENTS USING A CAMERA-AIDED SPECTRORADIOMETER

Abstract. Numerous natural surfaces observed using Remote Sensing do not reflect light as Lambertian surfaces. Instead, their reflection is highly dependent on two main directions: the direction of the light source and the observation viewing angle, which characterize the Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF). The BRDF is one of the challenging main effects of remote sensing. Thus, studying the BRDF of various land cover surfaces is essential, and researchers invest many efforts to fulfill this objective. However, measuring the BRDF is tricky and requires unique instruments, e.g., the Gonioreflectometer. Unfortunately, the availability of such instruments is deficient, and they are costly and hard to maintain. Considering these limitations, we present a study and a new approach for measuring the BRDF of surfaces with a camera-aided spectroradiometer that simultaneously acquires an RGB image from the sensor location beside the spectral measurement. Then, we feed the Structure From Motion (SFM) process with the RGM images to retrieve the sensor locations. Next, we convert the sensor locations into the quantities needed for the BRDF measurement, i.e., zenith angles and distances relative to the measured sample. Finally, we apply a set of measurements under controlled conditions in a dark room designed for hyperspectral remote sensing studies to evaluate the proposed methodology. In particular, we experimented with three different material surfaces. The results clearly show the highly accurate sensor position derived by SFM, providing zenith angles and distance from the scene’s center with mean errors around one degree and 2.5 centimeters, respectively. In addition, the obtained spectra tell that the proposed approach is suitable for multiangular measurements of reflected light and studying the BRDF.