Instrument types

[emmanuelmathot]

Some general classification metadata are missing to filter items by group of the same type, in particular for the intrument type.
I'd like to propose a new common metadata that defines it

Instrument Types

Code	Description
Imaging Multispectral Radiometer	Instrument measuring radiation intensity in multiple narrow, precisely calibrated spectral channels. http://www.eohandbook.com/eohb05/ceos/part3_1_pop6.html
Stereo Imaging Radiometer	Instrument measuring radiation intensity from multiple view angles to reconstruct surface topography.
Imaging Microwave Radar	Instrument transmitting at frequencies of around 1 to 10GHz and measuring the backscattered signals to generate microwave images of Earth‟s surface at high spatial resolutions (between 10m and 100m). http://www.eohandbook.com/eohb05/ceos/part3_1_pop8.html
Lidar	Ranging instrument measuring the radiation that is returned either from particles in the atmosphere or from the Earth‟s surface when illuminated by a laser source. http://www.eohandbook.com/eohb05/ceos/part3_1_pop9.htmlRadar
Altimeters	Non-imaging instrument which use the ranging capability of radar to measure the surface topographic profile parallel to the platform track. They provide precise measurements of the platform‟s altitude by measuring the time interval between the transmission and reception of very short electromagnetic pulses

This list in inspired from the Instrument Type Node used in SensorML by The Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) and notably used by the ESA.

I think this new metadata has its place in the common metadata as it is directly linked to the instrument section. Or maybe in an extension to hold more general classification metadata. Is it the purpose of the classification extension?

[matthewhanson]

This sounds like it might be the beginning of a sensor extension that includes some other fields around radiometric accuracy perhaps (and some other fields we see in CARD4L).

[emmanuelmathot]

this specific parameter could indeed go into a sensor extensions but I was thinking maybe about a more transversal generic extension with classifications schemes useful for discovery of the data

• Platform type (sat, airplane, helicopter, drone...)
• Intended application (weather, oceanography, forestry, polar...)
• ...