Remote Sensing

The ISAAC Research Centre has a range of equipment which is suitable for ground-based and airborne sensing, enabling remote analysis at a distance of several metres. This removes the need for scaffolding to lift the mobile instruments and operators to the surface being analysed, making analysis quicker, safer and cheaper. The results obtained are more accurate, as the instrumentation is operated from a stable location, and can analyse deposits which would otherwise be inaccessible.

Our equipment has been used for industrial applications, including detection of corrosion on bridges and other metal structures, and a recent collaboration with the National Grid used remote analysis to monitor the condition of UK electrical transmission assets.

In a heritage context, our remote sensing equipment has been used for analysis of large scale wall paintings in cave structures, decorated ceilings in churches and salt mapping in an English Heritage property. A particularly novel use of our remote SWIR Hyperspectral Imaging system was for condition assessment of an entire collection of enamels at the British Museum, without moving the objects from display.

Applications of Remote Sensing

Pigment identification on large decorated surfaces
Data collection where access is difficult and must be done at a distance
Condition assessment of large structures and large collections

isaac instrumentation

Airborne Remote Analysis Systems

Spectral Imaging

System

UAV-based VIS/NIR Hyperspectral Imaging + LIDAR system
(UAV LIDAR-HSI)

Developer

Headwall

Spectral Range

400 nm – 1000 nm

Spectral Resolution

2.2 nm

Working

Distance

< 10 m

Service

MOLAB

Ground- based Remote Analysis Systems

Remote Raman Spectroscopy

System

Remote Raman

Developer

ISAAC Lab

Excitation Wavelength

785nm

Spectral Range (Raman Shift)

90 – 3050 cm-1

Spot Size

1mm

Working

Distance

3m – 20 m

Service

MOLAB/

FIXLAB

Remote Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS)

System

Remote LIBS

Developer

ISAAC Lab

Spectral Range

200 nm – 945 nm

Irradiation Central Wavelength

1064 nm

Spot Size

1-1.5 mm

Working

Distance

3 m – 15 m

Service

MOLAB

Remote Spectral Imaging

System

Remote VIS-NIR Spectral Imaging

Remote VIS-NIR Hyperspectral Imaging

Remote SWIR Hyperspectral Imaging

Developer

ISAAC Lab

Spectral Range

400 nm – 850 nm

400 – 1000 nm

930 – 2500 nm

Spectral Resolution

50 nm

2.8 nm

5.5 nm

Maximum Spatial Resolution

60 µrad

30 µrad

45 µrad

Working

Distance

< 1.5 m

< 3.5 m

Service

MOLAB/

FIXLAB

MOLAB/

FIXLAB

MOLAB/

FIXLAB

Remote Laser- induced Fluorescence Spectral Imaging

System

Remote LIF
Spectral Imaging

Remote LIF Spectral Imaging

Developer

ISAAC Lab

Spectral Range

400 nm – 1000 nm

Irradiation Central Wavelength

355 nm

532 nm

Spectral Resolution

2.8 nm

Maximum Spatial Resolution

30 µrad

Service

MOLAB/

FIXLAB

MOLAB/

FIXLAB

example Heritage science projects

Analysing museum objects through the display case

Non-invasive analysis and large-scale imaging of murals at a UNESCO World Heritage Site

Mural examination at St Barnabas Cathedral

Monitoring salts at the English Heritage site Fort Brockhurst

selected publications

This is a selection of our Remote Sensing publications. Our full publication list can be found here.

Kogou, S., Li, Y., Cheung, S., Han, N., Liggins, F., Shahtahmassebi, G., Thickett, D. and Liang, H. 2025 Ground-Based Remote Sensing and Machine Learning for in Situ and Noninvasive Monitoring and Identification of Salts and Moisture in Historic Buildings. Analytical Chemistry 2025 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.4c05581

Li, Y., Suzuki, A., Cheung, C.S., Kogou, S. & Liang, H., 2024. Ground-Based Remote Standoff Laser Spectroscopies and Reflectance Spectral Imaging for Multimodal Analysis of Wall Painting Stratigraphy. Analytical Chemistry, 96, 47, 18907-18915 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.4c05264

Li, Y., Suzuki, A., Cheung, C., Gu, Y., Kogou, S. & Liang, H., 2022. A Study of Potential Laser-Induced Degradation in Remote Standoff Raman Spectroscopy for Wall Paintings. The European Physics Journal Plus, 137, 1102. https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-022-03305-2

Kogou, S., Shahtahmassebi, G., Lucian, A., Liang, H., Shui, B., Zhang, W., Su, B., and Van Schaik, S., 2020. From Remote Sensing and Machine Learning to the History of the Silk Road: Large Scale Material Identification on Wall Paintings. Scientific Report 10, 19312, https://doi.org/10.1038/S41598-020-76457-9

Li, Y., Cheung C. S., Kogou, S., Liggins, F., and Liang, H., 2019. Standoff Raman Spectroscopy for Architectural Interiors from 3-15m Distances. Optics Express, 27(22), 31338-31347.

Liang, H., Lucian, A., Lange, R., Cheung, C.S. and Su, B., 2014. Remote Spectral Imaging with Simultaneous Extraction of 3d Topography for Historical Wall Paintings. ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, 95, pp. 13-22. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isprsjprs.2014.05.011