ROX

Reflectance Box

The reflectance box (RoX) is a robust and easy tool to collect hyperspectral time series of your environmental research area. Fully autonoumus operation, a rugged weatherproof design paired with low power consumption makes it your uncomplicated companion for all kind of reflectance observations.

flyer manual

DESCRIPTION

RoX is an automated field spectroscopy device capable of collecting unattended, continuous, long-term hyperspectral measurements.

It represents the evolution of prototypes such as Multiplexer Radiometer Irradiometer (MRI), SFLUOR box and SIF-System developed from a collaboration between Jülich Research Center and the Remote Sensing of Environmental Dynamics Laboratory of the University Milano Bicocca. The basic routines of the RoX are based on SPECY (Forschungszentrum Jülich, IBG-2: Plant Sciences).

The RoX is designed for long term measurements of solar radiance, reflected radiance and reflectance. Its robustness and flexibility make the RoX suitable for several application (e.g. vegetation monitoring, water quality, snow and ice properties).

The core of the system is the Flame spectrometer from Ocean Optics covering the Visible/Near Infrared region (300- 950 nm). Upward and downward channels of RoX allow to sequentially measure the solar irradiance and the reflected radiance from the canopy.

Specifications

OPTIC

Wavelength range

VIS-NIR: ~ 400–950 nm (other options also available on demand)

Spectral Sampling Interval (SSI)

~ 0.65 nm

Spectral resolution (FWHM)

~ 1.5 nm

Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR)

~ 250

Field Of View (FOV)

Upwelling radiance ~ 25°. Downwelling radiance 180°

OPERATIONAL

Signal Optimization

Automatic adaption to varying light conditions

Dark current

Accurate dark current determination at each measurement cycle

Manual acquisition

Interface software for manual measurement and calibration

Automatic acquisition

Fully autonomous measurement mode for unattended data acquisition 20 seconds under bright sunshine 60 seconds in overcast conditions

Quick measurements

10 seconds under bright sunshine 30 seconds in overcast conditions

Stability

Reference system stability check and uncertainty estimates

Simultaneous metadata

Temperature, GPS position, GPS time

Data storage

SD card up to 32 GB (12 months of measurements)

Case

Robust and Waterproof housing based on the 1200 Pelicase

Dimension

300 × 250 × 130 mm

Power supply

12 Volt. From battery and solar panels

Power consumption

800 mAh

Energy saver

Day/night switch for energy saving

Interfaces

RS232 via cable and wireless

OPTIONAL

Dust Protection

Additional dust protection for Cosine Receptors

Fiber optics

Flexible length of fiber optics according to user needs

Power supply

Solar panel and battery

Field use

Backpack option including small battery packs

FAQ

How do I process RoX data?

To generate reflectance, radiance and a long list of vegetation indices, an open source R-package is available at github. For simple use, the package is wrapped in a graphical user interface to process years of data with a few clicks.

Can I power the RoX from a battery?

Yes. The RoX accepts 9-14 V via the main plug. Adapter cable to power the RoX via a LiPo battery can be ordered along with the instrument and allow hours of autonomy..

Can the RoX be used in a mobile way?

Yes! The small case and the low power consumption make the RoX a perfect field spectrometer. Having an upward and another downward looking fiber does also eliminate the need for a frequent white reference measurement. To trigger the instrument you can use the USB connection or the wireless communication. Don´t forget to checkout our fiber levelling gimbal to ensure your measurements are always nadir.

PUBLICATIONS

Weathering crust formation outpaces melt-albedo feedback on blue ice shelves of East Antarctica. Commun Earth Environ 5, 740 (2024)

Traversa, G., Di Mauro, B.

ROX

The reflectance box (RoX) is a robust and easy tool to collect hyperspectral time series of your environmental research area. Fully autonoumus operation, a rugged weatherproof design paired with low power consumption makes it your uncomplicated companion for all kind of reflectance observations.

DESCRIPTION

RoX is an automated field spectroscopy device capable of collecting unattended, continuous, long-term hyperspectral measurements.

Specifications

FAQ

PUBLICATIONS

Weathering crust formation outpaces melt-albedo feedback on blue ice shelves of East Antarctica. Commun Earth Environ 5, 740 (2024)

Cryoconite holes geomorphometry, spatial distribution and radiative impact over the Hells Gate Ice Shelf, East Antarctica. Annals of Glaciology. 2024

Evaluation of PRISMA Products Over Snow in the Alps and Antarctica. Earth and Space Science. 2024.

Differences in vegetation index values using measurements from two azimuth and multiple zenith viewing angles. International agrophysics 2024.

Experimental determination of the Atmospheric heating Rate due to light absorbing aerosol in remote high Altitude sites (EXARA). International Foundation HFSJG. 2024.

Towards a standardized, ground-based network of hyperspectral measurements: Combining time series from autonomous field spectrometers with Sentinel-2. Remote Sensing of Environment. 2024

Heterogeneous marine robotic system for environmental monitoring missions. IEEE 2023.

Calibration and Validation from Ground to Airborne and Satellite Level: Joint Application of Time-Synchronous Field Spectroscopy, Drone, Aircraft and Sentinel-2 Imaging

Very High-Resolution Imagery and Machine Learning for Detailed Mapping of Riparian Vegetation and Substrate Types

Iterative design of a high light throughput cosine receptor fore optic for unattended proximal remote sensing. Journal of Applied Remote Sensing. 2022.

Preliminary Investigation on Phytoplankton Dynamics and Primary Production Models in an Oligotrophic Lake from Remote Sensing Measurements. Sensors 2021.

Retrieval of Dust Properties From Spectral Snow Reflectance Measurements. Front. Environ. Sci., 2021.

Deep Learning with WASI Simulation Data for Estimating Chlorophyll a Concentration of Inland Water Bodies. Remotes sensing 2021.

Changes of NOx in urban air detected with monitoring VIS-NIR field spectrometer during the coronavirus pandemic: A case study in Germany. Science of The Total Environment. 2020.

Proximal VIS-NIR spectrometry to retrieve substance concentrations in surface waters using partial least squares modelling. Water Supply ws2018177.

PRISMA hyperspectral satellite mission: first data on snow in the Alps, EGU General Assembly 2020

Exploiting top of Canopy Sun Induced Chlorophyll Fluorescence by the FloX. From Instrument performance to data processing. OPTIMISE COST Action Final Meeting. 21-23 February 2018, Sofia (Bulgaria)

Characterisation of reflectance and chlorophyll fluorescence anisotropy – defining requirements for an experimental setup. Geophysical Research Abstracts, vol. 20, EGU2018-16936, 2018. EGU General Assembly 2018

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