A Compact Framework to Efficiently Represent the Reflectance of Sand Samples

The authors have recently proposed a model, based on Monte Carlo methods, to simulate light interaction with sand. In this paper, principal component analysis and regression techniques are applied to yield a compact analytical representation of the spectral reflectance signatures produced by the model. This analytical formulation compares well with the original model and is appropriate for applications demanding interactive rates. Examples are provided comparing the original model to the proposed formulation for three hypothetical sand samples. The effect of water content on reflectance is demonstrated for these samples. Additionally, examples are provided comparing the original and proposed models for three sand samples from the U.S. Army Topographic Engineering Center spectral database.