Research Instruments available at CAST

 

Other Computing & Research Equipment areas:

Like many university groups, much of the Center's research and educational efforts focuses on the analysis of spatially referenced data. Unlike many, however, the Center also has a number of active research initiatives focused on the acquisition of primary data in the geomatics arena. We believe that conducting research in both the acquisition and the analysis of these data provide new insights and capabilities that analysis alone would not.

In the not so distant past only national agencies or very large corporations had the resources to obtain primary data acquisition instruments. With the development of new technologies, however, these devices are now accessible to a larger community. Over the past few years the Center has been able to acquire devices such as  airborne multispectral cameras, long and short range laser scanners, survey grade GPS field and base stations, ground penetrating radar, resistivity and magnetometery systems and many others. The Center now has extraordinary range of research instruments available to the faculty and students for surveying, GPS, geophysics, remote sensing, high density survey and photogrammetry.  Details on these instruments are provided through the links to the left.

With funding from an NSF Major Research Instrumentation grant, CAST has purchased an extensive range of field instruments for remote sensing, survey, photogrammetry, geophysical survey, and related research. Surveying systems include Trimble 5700/5800 GPS receivers configured for both static and kinematic operation and a Trimble 5600 Robotic Total Station DR200+, an Optech ILRIS-3D and a Konica-Minolta Vivid 9i Laser Scanner, seven Trimble handhelds, and a 55 foot lift boom.

Geophysical instruments include a fluxgate magnetic gradiometer system, ground-penetrating radar system with 400 MHz antenna, earth resistivity and IP meter, a resistivity system with MPX15 multiplexer, and an EM conductivity/magnetic susceptibility meter.

Acquisition of these instruments has been made possible by support from the National Science Foundation (BCS 0321286), the University of Arkansas' Vice Chancellor for Research, the Leica Geosystems Chair in Geospatial Imaging and Center funds. Support from these sources is gratefully acknowledged.