ITRES Research Limited

1991 Winner: Industrial Research

New Tool For Environmental Management Finds Useful Applications

ITRES Research has achieved international recognition for its development and commercialization of a novel instrument (the ‘casi’) for airborne optical remote sensing. The Alberta owned and operated company has been active for ten years and is recognized for its outstanding technical capabilities.

Novel Instrument

The casi instrument is a valuable tool for environmental monitoring, forestry, and resource management. Darren Cosandier completed an outstanding undergraduate career in Surveying Engineering at The University of Calgary in 1990, and has been working for ITRES under an Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP) grant since January, 1991. He has assimilated the results of a major research program at the Canada Centre for Remote Sensing, in Ottawa, advancing algorithms for application to the casi, and subsequently produced his own set of software to geocode date from the ITRES casi instrument.

Geocoding makes it possible to transform the casi images onto a map grid and involves sensing the position and altitude of the aircraft as each line of data is collected and then correcting the data for all of the aircraft motions. ITRES will be working with The University of Calgary to support this work and its commercialization which will lead to growth in Alberta’s high technology exports.