SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM 8-K/A
CURRENT REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF
THE SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
Date of report (date of earliest event reported):
MARCH 25, 1997
EARTH SEARCH SCIENCES, INC.
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
State of Utah 0-19566 87-0437723
(State of Incorporation) (Commission (I.R.S. Employer
File No.) Identification No.)
502 North 3rd Street, Suite #8, McCall, Idaho 83638
(Address of principal executive offices) (Zip code)
Registrant's telephone number, including area code:
(208) 634-7080
No Change
(Former Name or Former Address, if changed since last report)
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Item 5. OTHER EVENTS.
ESSI PROBE 1 HYPERSPECTRAL IMAGING SENSOR TO BE FLOWN ABOARD
CMI AIRCRAFT WITH DATA PROCESSING BY ASIT
California Microwave, Inc. (CMI) announced that it has selected Earth Search
Sciences, Inc. (ESSI) to provide a Probe 1 Hyperspectral imaging sensor
to be flown on-board a CMI Airborne Systems Integration Division aircraft.
Applied Signal and Image Technology, Inc. (ASIT) of Millersville, Maryland will
be responsible for the reduction and analysis of data obtained from the Probe 1.
ASIT is strategically aligned with CMI, ESSI, and the instrument manufacturer
Integrated Spectronics Pty Ltd. of Australia. At present, it is anticipated
that the Probe 1 will be delivered to ESSI in May of this year.
Hyperspectral imaging systems are important because they offer a potential
increase in classification accuracy over multispectral systems like LANDSAT.
Tailored processing of hyperspectral data allows for the unambiguous
identification of many materials via their reflectance signatures, a capability
that existing multispectral systems (which under-sample the spectrum) do not
offer.
The superior capability provided by hyperspectral for material
identification has applications in many areas including defense, environmental,
agriculture, urban planning, global change assessment, and others.
The Probe 1 is designed to collect hyperspectral imaging which fully samples the
fully visible and near infrared wavelength region of the electromagnetic
spectrum through the acquisition of 128 spectrally contiguous image channels. A
complete visible and near infrared reflectance spectrum can be extracted from
any spatial element of a hyperspectral data set allowing a trained analyst to
determine the identity of land cover units based on their unique reflectance
characteristics.
Automatic processing of the data can be accomplished through application of
proprietary algorithms developed by ASIT. These algorithms are hosted in the
ASPECT and SENTINEL software packages as well as the PROSPECTRE near
real-time adaptive spectral processing and analysis system. The PROSPECTRE
system is being adapted specifically to the Probe 1 by ESSI and ASIT to
ultimately provide real-time spectral processing of Probe 1 data that
automatically determine major scene constituents and map those constituent
materials.
The end result can be either abundance images wherein the brightness of each
picture element is related to the abundance of the target material or
classification images wherein each picture element is grouped into one of
several classes determined a priori from the data itself.
Dr. John Peel, CEO of Earth Search Sciences said, "We are excited and welcome
this strategic alliance. It is a milestone in ESSI's continuing development".
Dr. Joseph Harsanyi, President of ASIT stated, "Our adaptive spectral processing
and analysis systems significantly reduce the time taken to extract useful
information from these large, complex data sets. This is of key commercial
importance when clients require fast post-mission delivery of results."
Dr. Terry Cocks of Integrated Spectronics has been working with ESSI to bring
into operation a series of advanced airborne hyperspectral scanners capable of
surveying the earth's surface at rates up to 1500 square km per hour. "We are
very excited about the Probe 1 scanners in that they will provide a quantum leap
in mineral exploration capabilities".
"The Probe 1 scanners are far superior to any other commercially available
system in such critical performance parameters as signal to noise ratio,
spectral resolution and spectral coverage. ESSI is unique in its vision
of having airborne imaging spectroscopy as a core technology in its
mineral exploration programs", Cocks said.
California Microwave Inc. is a leader in wireless and satellite communications.
Founded in 1968, the company operates facilities in seven states and sells into
more than 11 countries. California Microwave is the number one supplier of
microwave radios and telecommunications satellite earth stations used in
wireless communications. Its strategy calls for significant expansion in the
wireless area.
In fiscal 1996, its sales were approximately 460 million dollars. California
Microwave's commercial wireless and satellite communications facilities are
certified to the ISO 9001 quality standard.
The CMI Airborne Systems Integration Division has announced that it will provide
a dedicated aircraft obtained from their partner AGES, Inc. of Boca Raton,
Florida to act as the airborne platform for the Probe 1. Sensor integration will
be completed by the end of the second quarter of 1997 with data acquisitions to
begin soon thereafter. The CMI aircraft with the ESSI Probe 1 will be on display
at the Third International Airborne Remote Sensing Conference and Exhibition in
Copenhagen, Denmark, 7-10 July, 1997.
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SIGNATURE
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities and Exchange Act of
1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by
the undersigned duly authorized.
EARTH SEARCH SCIENCES, INC.
(Registrant)
By /s/ Larry F. Vance
Larry F. Vance
Chairman and Director
March 25, 1997
