A Systematic Approach in Remote Sensing Education and Training at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
3. Research
Innovations, new understanding and advancement in remote sensing will only occur when great amount of effort put towards research activities. The initiation of this field of research began as early as 1986. At present staff and postgraduate research projects span as diverse as marine applications, topographical mapping, vegetation mapping, hydrological analysis, spatial variability studies and natural hazards monitoring. The development in the field of research and also consultation activities are greatly supported and enhanced by the well-equipped centre. Amongst the facilities available at the centre are PCI EASI/PACE (v6.1), PCI (v6.3), ILWIS, ERDAS-Imagine, ER-Mapper, Ergo Vista (Image processing), Digital Photogrammetric Workstation, ARC INFO, ARC VIEW, MapInfo, WinGis (GIS ), Hand held GPS, Gamman Trimble (GPS) and other facilities such as Radiometer, LOWTRAN, MODTRAN, PcGiant,Autocad, Quicksurf, Surveying equipments and a library. Refer to the departmental homepage at http://
rs.fksg.utm.my for some of the major research projects that have successfully been completed by the staff at the Department of Remote Sensing.
The department and CRS proactively involve in many new projects in order to achieve innovations, new understanding and advancement in remote sensing. Among others are Development of Direct satellite data Readout for daily monitoring of haze and coastal environments, Integration of remote sensing and GIS for oil palm spatial variability studies, Ocean Variability studies using SEAWIFF data, Generation of Spectral signature database and Videogrammetry system for ship building, repair and maintenance. Funding for these projects come from the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment via Intensified Research in Priority Areas (IRPA), Contract research and etc.
Links have also been made with external organisations both for development of research and funding. UTM proactively involves with foreign organisations to undertake joint research projects. It started to have collaboration with Japanese Society for the promotion of Science (JSPS) since 1991 which was scientists exchange programme and from 1999 the both institutions has taken part in cooperative projects. Their focus is mainly to study the variability of ocean condition that involving application of SeaWifs data and ADEOS satellite. Besides that, UTM also involve with British universities like University College London under Committee for International Cooperation in Higher Education (CHICHE) scheme to undertake topographical mapping in Malaysia using SAR data. Through these collaborative/ bilateral projects UTM aims not only to exchange techniques and skills but also to produce graduate students.
4. Consultancy
The centre has been offering consultancy services since 1990 to many local government, and private user agencies and also to some foreign agencies like Bintan Resort Management Pte. Ltd. The areas of consultancy services rendered by CRS can be grouped into; Water depth mapping, Seagrass mapping, Sea surface temperature mapping, Coastline variation mapping of Peninsular Malaysia, Coral reefs mapping, Land use mapping, Estimation of water volume in reservoirs, Modelling of sedimentation in reservoirs, Pipeline corridor mapping analysis, and Digital Mapping.
5. Awareness and Promoting Activities
5.1 Seminar, workshop, short courses
Any new technology will not expand without promotion. The department and centre has a strong commitment to promoting awareness of remote sensing and GIS throughout the academic and commercial sectors. This is achieved both through presentation of papers at conferences and hosting specific conferences at UTM. There were 2 seminars/ conferences had been hosted in UTM. The first was "The South East Asian Regional Conference on Education and Research in Remote Sensing" held in 1993. This was followed by "The Integration of Remote Sensing and GIS for Applications in South East Asia seminar hosted by UTM in 1995. Since the adoption of the technology many papers have been presented by specialist staff and postgraduate students at various National and International GIS and RS conferences. (for detail information refer to the departmental homepage at (http://
rs.fksg.utm.my).
The department and centre for remote sensing also offer short training courses. The first short course ran in 1992 for personnel from government agencies and other user departments and it was proved to be successful. The first short course was mainly on the application of remote sensing for marine studies. However, realizing the lack of remote sensing basic knowledge among many user departments, this programme has been extended to include courses on the basics of remote sensing to form a strong foundation among the users of the technology. The department has run 5 courses until 1999 on a yearly basis. The ever-increasing number of participants from year to year (from only 10 in 1995 to 25 in 1999) (Department of Remote Sensing, UTM, 2000) shows the realization of the importance of this technology in many aspects of resources development in developing countries like Malaysia. The 2 months short course covers many parts on RS, GIS, Photogrammetry and other related fields as diverse as the basic concepts, application, field data collection and finally the presentation of the output.
6. Summary
The major objective of the Department of Remote Sensing, and Centre for Remote Sensing at UTM is to produce qualified graduates or trained professionals in Remote Sensing and related technologies to fulfill the needs of National Remote Sensing Committee in order to overcome the Natural Resource Management problems in Malaysia. The approach that has been adopted and implemented in higher educational institutions in Malaysia like UTM can be said as near systematic approach as it has met the conditions used to define the term systematic. However there is still room for improvement. First of all the integration between GIS and other related technologies should be further enhanced. This can be achieved by having a mutual understanding between those departments or sections that are available at the same university or employing staff who has wider experience is such fields. UTM has always take effort towards research into new areas and promoting this rapidly growing technology to remote sensing community via hosting seminars, workshops and short courses.
Acknowledgements
My whole hearted thanks go to all the staff at the Department of Remote Sensing, UTM, to academic staff from other local universities and The Malaysian Ministry of Education for providing me data and guidance to complete this paper.
References
- Dowman, I.J., 1993, Trends in Remote Sensing Education and Research in Europe, Proceedings of The South East Asian Regional Conference on Education and Research in Remote Sensing, June 28-30, 1993, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Malaysia
-
Mohd Ibrahim Seeni Mohd, 1993, Remote Sensing Education and Research at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Proceedings of The South East Asian Regional Conference on Education and Research in Remote Sensing, June 28-30, 1993, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Malaysia
-
Forster, B.C., 1993, Remote Sensing Education and Human Resources for Malaysia, Proceedings of The South East Asian Regional Conference on Education and Research in Remote Sensing, June 28-30, 1993, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Malaysia.
-
Robert G.B., Mary O'Keefe., Mark C., and Henderson, 1997, Using Systematic Reviews in Clinical Education, Annals of Internal Medicine 1 June 1997. 126:886-891.
