SETHI and SYSIPHE: the two new-generation airborne remote sensing systems

This paper presents the new-generation airborne remote sensing systems SETHI and SYSIPHE, developed by ONERA, the French Aerospace Lab, and dedicated to environmental, scientific and security applications. Today, many scientists from climatologists to agronomists, need specific types of information that cannot be provided in full by conventional observation systems to solve complex problems. Onera offers them a solution to use the huge potential of multispectral and hybrid radar/optronics data. The SETHI remote sensing system is dedicated to provide a unique combination of radar and optronics images, including polarimetric SAR, visible and short wave infrared, multispectral images, ... This all-in-one system is operational from 2008 in radar configuration, its optronics capability becomes operational gradually. The SYSIPHE system is the state of the art airborne hyperspectral imaging system developed in European cooperation. With a unique wide spectral range and a fine spatial resolution, its aim is to validate and quantify the information potential of hyperspectral imaging in military, security and environment applications. The first section of the paper introduces the objectives of the projects and their general architecture. The second one describes the sensors, their implementation onboard the platforms, the data processing chain and gives an overview of the projects planning. The third section presents some significant results.