A COST MODEL FOR REMOTE INSPECTION OF GROUND SITES
Laura Maxim, D E Cullwn · Photogrammetric Engineering & Remote Sensing · 1977
A simple model is developed to assess the cost/effectiveness of remote sensing for inspection of ground activities with application to the inspection of surface mining operations. The model considers both single and multiple tier systems (those in which additional inspection is conducted if a higher order tier indicates a violation), possible trade-offs between alpha and beta erros, the worth of technological improvement, and certain fixed cost aspects of manned inspection. An interesting conclusion of this analysis is that (with current cost factors) satellite and aircraft inspection systems can be cost/effective even with relatively high (0.15 - 0.25) alpha and beta errors. /Author/