Vienna University of Technology

About: Vienna University of Technology is a education organization based out in Vienna, Austria. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Laser & Context (language use). The organization has 16723 authors who have published 49341 publications receiving 1302168 citations.

3D vegetation mapping using small-footprint full-waveform airborne laser scanners

Abstract: Small-footprint full-waveform airborne laser scanning (ALS) is a remote sensing technique capable of mapping vegetation in three dimensions with a spatial sampling of about 0.5-2 m in all directions. This is achieved by scanning the laser beam across the Earth's surface and by emitting nanosecond-long infrared pulses with a high frequency of typically 50-150 kHz. The echo signals are digitized during data acquisition for subsequent off-line waveform analysis. In addition to delivering the three-dimensional (3D) coordinates of scattering objects such as leaves or branches, full-waveform laser scanners can be calibrated for measuring the scattering properties of vegetation and terrain surfaces in a quantitative way. As a result, a number of physical observables are obtained, such as the width of the echo pulse and the backscatter cross-section, which is a measure of the electromagnetic energy intercepted and re-radiated by objects. The main aim of this study was to build up an understanding of the scattering characteristics of vegetation and the underlying terrain. It was found that vegetation typically causes a broadening of the backscattered pulse, while the backscatter cross-section is usually smaller for canopy echoes than for terrain echoes. These scattering properties allowed classification of the 3D point cloud into vegetation and non-vegetation echoes with an overall accuracy of 89.9% for a dense natural forest and 93.7% for a baroque garden area. In addition, by removing the vegetation echoes before the filtering process, the quality of the digital terrain model could be improved.

Strong magnetic coupling of an ultracold gas to a superconducting waveguide cavity

Abstract: Placing an ensemble of ${10}^{6}$ ultracold atoms in the near field of a superconducting coplanar waveguide resonator with a quality factor $Q\ensuremath{\sim}{10}^{6}$, one can achieve strong coupling between a single microwave photon in the coplanar waveguide resonator and a collective hyperfine qubit state in the ensemble with ${g}_{\mathrm{eff}}/2\ensuremath{\pi}\ensuremath{\sim}40\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{kHz}$ larger than the cavity linewidth of $\ensuremath{\kappa}/2\ensuremath{\pi}\ensuremath{\sim}7\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{kHz}$. Integrated on an atomchip, such a system constitutes a hybrid quantum device, which also can be used to interconnect solid-state and atomic qubits, study and control atomic motion via the microwave field, observe microwave superradiance, build an integrated micromaser, or even cool the resonator field via the atoms.

A regional analysis of event runoff coefficients with respect to climate and catchment characteristics in Austria

Abstract: [1] In this paper we analyze the controls on the spatiotemporal variability of event runoff coefficients. A total of about 64,000 events in 459 Austrian catchments ranging from 5 to 10000 km 2 are analyzed. Event runoff coefficients vary in space, depending on the long-term controls such as climate and catchment formation. Event runoff coefficients also vary in time, depending on event characteristics such as antecedent soil moisture and event rainfall depth. Both types of controls are analyzed separately in the paper. The spatial variability is analyzed in terms of a correlation analysis of the statistical moments of the runoff coefficients and catchment attributes. Mean runoff coefficients are most strongly correlated to indicators representing climate such as mean annual precipitation and the long-term ratio of actual evaporation to precipitation through affecting long-term soil moisture. Land use, soil types, and geology do not seem to exert a major control on runoff coefficients of the catchments under study. The temporal variability is analyzed by comparing the deviation of the event runoff coefficients from their mean depending on event characteristics. The analysis indicates that antecedent soil moisture conditions control runoff coefficients to a higher degree than does event rainfall. The analysis also indicates that soil moisture derived from soil moisture accounting schemes has more predictive power for the temporal variability of runoff coefficients than antecedent rainfall.