Remote Sensing

Geog 483/553 (4 credit hours)
Fall 2013		 Tu Th 2pm - 3:20pm
322 Fillmore 
Instructor: Ling Bian 
Office: 120 Wilkeson Quad
Office hours: Tu Th 4-5pm or by appt		 TA:  Shiran Zhong
Lab A Thur  6:30-7:50pm, W145
Lab B  Tue 3:30-4:50pm,  W145   

 #Course Description
 #Tentative Schedule
 #Recommended Journals/Proceedings

Purpose
This course is designed to introduce the principles and applications of remote sensing, and the basic techniques of digital image processing. Remote sensing technology is essential for modern spatial analysis in order to identify features and phenomena at the surface of the Earth. Remote sensing has been used for research and applications in a wide range of disciplines such as engineering, geology, geography, urban studies, forestry, agriculture, and archaeology. The course should benefit students who are interested in pursuing a career in any of these disciplines.

This course has a lecture component and a lab component. Both components are presented at an introductory level. The lecture will cover the basic principles and applications of remote sensing. These include the basic laws of energy, the interaction between the energy and Earth surface, remotely sensed data and the major sensor systems, basic techniques for image enhancement and image classification, classification accuracy assessment, and applications of remote sensing.

Labs
A series of laboratory exercises will help students understand the lecture materials and gain hands-on experience in digital image processing. ENVI will be used as the primary software. Digital images of various spatial, spectral, and geographic characteristics will be used for the lab exercises. These images include Thematic Mapper (TM), Multispectral Scanner (MSS), SPOT, MODIS, IKONOS, and digital aerial photographs. The labs are designed to familiarize students with the following techniques: basic understanding of ENVI, remotely sensed imageries and satellite systems, data access through web sites, image rectification, image enhancement,  image classification, and accuracy assessment.

Literature Review:
Each graduate student is expected to review seven remote sensing application articles, give a PPT presentation summarizing them, and submit a written copy of the summery.

Prerequisite
The course is open to graduate students or senior undergraduate students. Basic algebra is required to help understand the principles of remote sensing. Basic statistics are preferred.

Text Book
Lillesand T.M. and R.W. Kiefer, 2008, 6th ed. Remote Sensing and Image Interpretation. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York.

Additional Readings
Jensen, J.R., 2005. 3rd ed. Introductory Digital Image Processing, A Remote Sensing Perspective. Prentice Hall, New Jersey.
Campbell, J.B., 2007. 4th ed. Introduction to Remote Sensing. The Guilford Press, New York.

Grading
Undergraduate
Graduate 
Midterm

     30%
30%
Final 
   30%
30%
Labs
40%
30%
Summary  
10%
Total
 100%
100%

Note: Students will earn two identical grades for the lecture and the lab.

Grade Cutoff

Tentative Schedule

No lab in the first week

I. Principles of remote sensing
        8/27         Introduction
        8/29         Energy sources, radiation principles
        9/  3         Energy interactions with earth systems
        9/10         Aerialphto interpretation
        9/12         Satellite remote sensing
        9/17         Landsat systems
        9/19         SPOT and other moderate resolution systems 

II.  Image Processing
        9/ 24        Image rectification
        9/ 26        High resolution and Met satellite systems
       10/  1        Image enhancement    
       10/  3        Image enhancement 
       10/  8        Supervised classification
       10/10        Un-supervised classification
       10/15        Image classification systems
       10/17        Mid Term Exam 
       10/22        Accuracy assessment

III. Other Sensor Systems
       10/24        Aerialphoto geometry
       10/29        Thermal remote sensing
       10/31        Microwave remote sensing
       11/  5        Microwave remote sensing
       11/  7        Applications of remote sensing
       11/12        Microwave remote sensing
       11/14        Applications of remote sensing
       11/19-12/3  Presentations
       12/  5        Conclusions               

       Final Exam:   Dec 10 (Tue) 3:30-6:30pm, 355 Fillmore

       12/16(Mon)  11:59pm Graduate student summary due

USDA NRCS data gateway
http://datagateway.nrcs.usda.gov/

University Incomplete Policy
http://undergrad-catalog.buffalo.edu/policies/grading/explanation.shtml

What is plagiarism and how to avoid it:
http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/asl/guides/plagiarism.html
 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/01/german-defence-minister-resigns-plagiarism

Recommended Journals/Proceedings

 


 

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