Technical events and Seminars

The following seminars will be held during IGARSS 2015:

Monday, July 27

Seminar title: Synthesizing Environmental Information: a new Community created by IEEE Division IX

Speakers: Marina Ruggieri, Sabrina Maria Greco, René Garello, and Adriano Camps

17:30 - 19:00 hrs
Room: Yellow 1 - Level +1

Division IX groups seven IEEE Societies: Aerospace and Electronics Systems (AES), Geoscience and Remote Sensing (GRS); Information Theory (IT), Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), Ocean Engineering (OE), Signal Processing (SP), Vehicular Technology (VT). Since 2013 the Division IX Societies have identified a common technical interest in the activities related to the use of technology for improving the Quality of Life of people. In this frame, the Division has recently identified a common topic to work on: Synthesizing Environmental Information (SEI). The scope of SEI is to extract and utilize knowledge on the E-environment in order cope with the environmental issues (global and local scales) with a systematic and timely engineering design approach, and a SoS (System of Systems) framework. One of the goals is also to bring together scholars and practitioners in eScience and in engineering to develop a framework for building an optimal knowledge infrastructure for researchers working on the core scientific issue of earth system dynamics – one which has immense importance for the future management of our planet. The Session will present the topic “Synthesizing Environmental Information”, the contributions therein from the Division Societies, the related activities on Collabratec^TM and future perspectives.

For more information, click here.

Seminar title: ESA Press Event on Copernicus Sentinel 2 First Results

17:30 - 19:30 hrs
Room: Red 1 - Level +1

This event is organised jointly by the European Commission and ESA to present an update of the Sentinel 2A European Copernicus mission and first examples of images acquired in the first month of operations of the satellite. Key international and European users will present their plans for using Sentinel 2 data in the various fields of applications including agriculture, land forestry, wetlands, glaciers and Coastal and Inland waters.

Tuesday, July 28

Seminar title: A Strategy for Active Remote Sensing Amid Increased Demand for Spectrum

Speakers: Michael W. Spencer (with contributions from Fawwaz T. Ulaby, W. Linwood Jones, David B. Lang)

17:30 - 18:30 hrs
Room: Red 1 - Level +1

In 2011, and again in 2013, President Obama issued a directive to US Government agencies to identify 500 MHz of the radio spectrum for possible reallocation to the wireless industry. Such a reallocation poses a potential threat to active sensing (satellite SAR, altimeters and scatterometers, as well as radar astronomy and ionospheric radars). Prompted by NASA, the National Research Council established The Committee on Active Sensing to (a) document the societal and environmental contributions of active sensing, (b) evaluate the recent rise in radio frequency interference (RFI) and (c) offer recommendations to US Government agencies. This presentation is a summary of the recommendations issued by the Committee to Government agencies, the scientific community, and the wireless telecommunication industry.

Wednesday, July 29

Seminar title: L-Band Inter-Comparison Working Group Meeting

Speakers: Chair: David Le Vine; Co-chairs: Gary Lagerloef, Yann Kerr, Jordi Font and M. Portabella

17:30 - 19:00 hrs
Room: Green 3 - Level -1

Objective: The focus of this working group is to identify an approach for inter-comparison of data from the three L-band sensors SMOS, AQUARIUS and SMAP leading to merged data sets. This will include definition of techniques and reference sites to be used for this purpose. Initially, some issues fundamental to the understanding of L-Band remote sensing, such as sensor calibration, need to be addressed. In the long run this working group aims toward merged and validated data products using commonly agreed upon standards. It will need to be decided at what level the merging of data should occur (i.e. brightness temperatures or science products such as soil moisture and ocean salinity).

Thursday, July 30

Seminar Title: Opportunities for EU Funding in H2020 for researchers: The “Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions”

Speaker: Klaus-Günther Barthel - Research Executive Agency

17:30 - 18:30 hrs
Room: Yellow 1 Level +1

This presentation will introduce the opportunities, which the EU-funded Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions offer to researchers of all stages to spend some time abroad (Europe and beyond) in order to carry out ground-breaking research. It will guide the audience through the three ways of participating: (i) by applying directly to a vacancy in a project, (ii) by applying for an individual fellowship or (iii) by joining a consortium of European Researchers to exchange staff between different countries and/or sectors (academic and private).

Target audience: individual researchers of all stages

Seminar Title: Opportunities for EU Funding in H2020 for the remote sensing community

Speaker: Virginia Puzzolo / Thierry Brefort - Research Executive Agency

17:30 - 18:30 hrs
Room: Yellow 3 Level +1

This presentation will introduce the European funding opportunities in the Horizon 2020 programme relevant for the remote sensing community to develop innovative technologies and operational concepts ‘from idea to demonstration', using earth observation data for scientific, public or commercial purposes. It will inform the audience about the upcoming calls and rules for applicants on the part of Horizon 2020 focusing on Space Research – Earth Observation, Societal Challenge 7 relating to secure societies and the opportunities for the development of Future and Emerging Technologies.

Target audience: Research entities and industrial players

GRSS Technical Committee Meetings

Frequency Allocations in Remote Sensing Technical Committee (FARS TC) Meeting:
Monday, Green 3 room, Level –1, 17:30 – 18:30
http://www.grss-ieee.org/community/technical-committees/frequency-allocations-in-remote-sensing/

Instrumentation and Future Technologies Technical Committee (IFT TC) Meeting:
Monday, Blue 2 room, Level +1, 17:30 – 18:30
http://www.grss-ieee.org/community/technical-committees/instrumentation-and-future-technologies/

Earth Science Informatics Technical Committee (ESI TC) Meeting:
Tuesday, Yellow 2 room, Level +1, 17:30 – 18:30
http://www.grss-ieee.org/community/technical-committees/earth-science-informatics/

International Spaceborne Imaging Spectroscopy Technical Committee (ISIS TC) Meeting:
Tuesday, Blue 1 room, Level +1, 17:30 – 18:30
http://www.grss-ieee.org/community/technical-committees/international-spaceborne-imaging-spectroscopy/

Image Analysis and Data Fusion Technical Committee (IADF TC) Meeting:
Wednesday, Red 2 room, Level +1, 17:30 – 18:30
http://www.grss-ieee.org/community/technical-committees/data-fusion/