The Portable Instant Display and Analysis Spectrometer (PIDAS)

A field spectrometer covering the range 0.4 to 2.5 microns was developed that acquires spectra in 2 seconds at 872 points within the spectrum. The Portable Instant Display and Analysis Spectrometer (PIDAS) can acquire spectra every 8 seconds and stores up to 288 spectra in bubble memory. A hand held display unit allows for display of the current spectrum acquired and superimposed on one of 128 permanently stored library spectra. PIDAS represents a major advance in the technology of field spectral data acquisition and for the first time makes possible the acquisition of enough spectra to characterize the mean and intraclass variance within a LANDSAT MSS or TM pixel.