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ABOUT US
Terresense, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Zimmerman Associates, Inc. (ZAI), based in Fairfax, Virginia. Terresense, Inc. is a Maryland company to transfer and commercialize aerial remote sensing technology developed by the ZAI Research & Development Group. In 2008, Terresense, Inc. introduced the advanced remote airborne sensor technology to the forestry market through its Terresense Sensor Suite.
VISION
The company's vision is to develop, harness, integrate, and apply innovative airborne sensor technology solutions for the global warming challenges.
MISSION
The company's mission is to provide "state of the art" airborne remote environmental survey services for monitoring, planning, development and management requirements of private landowners, commercial entities and government agencies.
HISTORY
The ZAI Research & Development Group started the Terresense Sensor Suite development in 1993 under a NASA Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) grant. Within two years, ZAI developed canopy penetrating radar that was flight tested in 1997. In 1998, the radar was successfully field tested on a joint US Army/NASA tropical rainforest project in Panama. The Department of Energy awarded several SBIR grants from 2000-2005 that further developed the radar technology and integrated additional sensors for more detailed forest analysis. During that period, several field flight tests were conducted that highlighted the systems ability to work in a variety of environments including heavy forested areas that include monoculture, hardwood, and mixed forests. In addition, the system proved very accurate at measurement repeatability (two different surveys over the same area with virtually identical measurements) and plotting forest growth changes (annual growth). In 2006, the National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded an SBIR grant designed to prove that the system could accurately measure annual forest growth changes.
The canopy penetrating radar was presented in three distinguished international conferences:
- 2002 IGRRS Conference in Canada
- 2003 ISPERS Conference in Paris, France
- 2004 Global Warming Conference, New York City, New York
Radar performance papers are available upon request.
