This paper describes the field imaging spectrometer system（FISS） based on a cooling area CCD

describing its imaging principle

structural design

main technology parameters

and data processing flow.Geometric rectification of the FISS was implemented using precise indoor markers and outdoor measured data.Spectral calibration of the FISS was conducted using self-programmed spectral calibration software which determined the center wavelength and the full width at half maximum of each band.An integrating sphere was used to achieve absolute radiometric calibration of the FISS with less than 5% calibration error for each band.In addition

a look-up table of radiometric calibration coefficients for various measured conditions was generated and various laboratory and field tests were carried out.Crop-weed discrimination

offshore marine environment monitoring

milk discrimination

and estimation of vegetation biochemical information were studied using previously acquired data.The FISS provided successful results for all of the above examples

suggesting its potential application in other fields

including geo-logy

food science

agriculture

forestry

and urban research.