Detecting Moving Targets Using Remote Sensing Techniques

In this research, we investigated the potential for developing the use of thermal cameras mounted on drones. We used a Chinese drone, and used a rabbit as the target to study the thermal changes occurring in the rabbit's body and track its movements. The Green Belt area near the Fourth Intifada was chosen as a site to study rabbit movement. The thermal changes emitted from the body were monitored by monitoring the infrared thermal emissions emitted by the rabbit's body. First, the temperature changes in the rabbit's body were monitored while it was in a state of rest, i.e., not moving. The lowest temperature of its body was recorded at 22 ◦C, while the highest temperature was around 34 ◦C. Secondly, thermal changes were monitored during the running process, as pictures were taken of the rabbit during the running process and then processed within the FLIR Tools program, and so thermal emissions were obtained. Thermal changes ranged between 24 ◦C as the lowest temperature of the body, while the highest degree was around 40 ◦C. The reason for this increase was the result of the increase in blood flow inside the body as a result of the increase in vital activities during running, which increases the rate of heat emissions emitted from it. In this study, remote sensing techniques were combined with thermal imaging techniques from the Landsat 8 satellite, and the images were converted to raster format for processing within the Arc Map 10.2 program. The results were close to those of thermal imaging cameras, where a controlled classification was performed on the thermal image, and the body's thermal changes were recorded, with a low of 22°C and a high of 42°C. This study concluded that it is possible to use thermal cameras and integrate them with remote sensing technologies to track moving targets. This study can be generalized and developed to track the movements of military vehicles, in addition to the movement of people, and to determine their locations and monitor all their movements during the night search and photography process.