SCHULICH SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING Geomatics Engineering Research & Teaching Outline
. Overview of Geomatics Engineering research at U of C
. Continuing transformation of our programs – to follow the rapid evolution of the technologies and better prepare the Engineers of tomorrow
Department of Geomatics Engineering 2 Department of Geomatics Engineering
. Founded in 1979… 40th Anniversary!
Department of Geomatics Engineering 3 Department of Geomatics Engineering https://schulich.ucalgary.ca/geomatics
Department of Geomatics Engineering 4 Department of Geomatics Engineering https://schulich.ucalgary.ca/geomatics
Department of Geomatics Engineering 5 Research Focus, Trends, and Training
. Questions to Faculty…
1. Research Program Focus
2. Emerging Trends
3. Training the Engineers of tomorrow
Department of Geomatics Engineering 6 Research Program Focus—Naser El-Sheimy
Multi-Sensors Systems
Navigation sensors bring smart, connected devices for many of our day-to-day activities
Department of Geomatics Engineering 7 Self-Driving Cars – A true example of Navigation using Multi-Sensors Systems
GNSS GYRO ACCEL ODOMETER CAMERAS LIDAR RADAR MAPS
Department of Geomatics Engineering 8 Emerging Trends in Multi-Sensors Systems
. Market demand for Location Based Services . A technology push due to huge market of location dependent apps in wearable devices
Department of Geomatics Engineering 9 Training the Engineers of Tomorrow
. Topics taught…
– Data fusion with the goal of minimizing the total error budget
– Progression of sensors to Sensor Fusion
– IMUs and other data sources
– Wearable sensors for LBS and navigation Department of Geomatics Engineering 10 Research Program Focus—Derek Lichti
Imaging Metrology: Precision 3D measurement from imaging sensors Active Passive Laser scanner Range camera Dual fluoroscopy (DF) system Digital camera
Example projects Construction progress monitoring Antler growth measurement
Knee joint mechanics Department of Geomatics Engineering 11 https://pmdtec.com/picofamily/monstar/ https://www.ptgrey.com/ladybug5-30-mp-usb-30-spherical-digital-video-camera-red Emerging Trends in Photogrammetry
. New sensors, especially low cost sensors, and platforms – Unmanned aerial systems – Laser scanners – 3D cameras . New methodologies – Structure from motion (SfM) – Point cloud processing methods – Machine learning (e.g., convolutional neural networks) . “Democratization” of photogrammetry (black box SW) – “Photogrammetry can be done by anyone”: double-edged sword
Department of Geomatics Engineering 12 Training the Engineers of Tomorrow
. Topics taught… – Democratization: understand what is inside the black box . Fundamental analytical photogrammetry methods retained . Semester-long group photogrammetric project on campus: observations, programming, field work, accuracy assessment – Introduction to other sensors . Airborne and terrestrial laser scanning (1 week of lectures) . Exposure to a diverse range of applications and sensors
Department of Geomatics Engineering 13 Research Program Focus – Kyle O’Keefe
. Wireless Communications – UWB Ranging – Low-cost self contained sensors – WiFi and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) ranging and fingerprinting – Integration with GNSS – Applications for pedestrian, vehicle and infrastructure relative navigation (V2V, V2I, V2P)
Department of Geomatics Engineering 14 Emerging Trends in Wireless Location
. Raw GNSS Observations on Android Devices – Potential for DGNSS and RTK on phones . Accuracy, cost, risk if someone publishes an “RTK app” and it is adopted by non-surveyors – Ability to tightly-couple GNSS and sensors . Internet of Things (IOT) devices – New and low cost devices carrying a variety of sensors – Need for location of IOT devices – IOT devices can provide positioning for passing pedestrians and vehicles – Smart infrastructure . IOT being included in bridges, roads, public places . IOT in homes, implications for positioning users and devices
Department of Geomatics Engineering 15 Training the Engineers of Tomorrow
. Topics taught… – Computing for Geomatics Engineers . Embedded programming with real hardware – Wireless Location . IOT labs involving WiFi, MEMS accelerometer, and barometer observations . latest UWB ranging radios – Advanced GNSS Theory and Application . Android Raw GNSS data discussed and investigated
Department of Geomatics Engineering 16 Research Program Focus – Yang Gao
. High precision GNSS positioning and navigation . Multi-sensor integration with GNSS . Low-cost high precision systems and applications
– Precise Point Positioning (PPP) . Autonomous positioning technology . Improved cost-effectiveness and flexibility . Support a wide range of applications A GPS Receiver & Precise Orbit/ – PPP/Multi-Sensor Integration Clock Data . Autonomous and continuous positioning . Improved availability and robustness . Support a wide range of applications
Department of Geomatics Engineering 17 Emerging Trends in Positioning and Navigation
Low-cost Next-generation low-cost high precision GNSS systems High-precision and products
Integration with Enabling Sensors (inertial, vision, …)
High precision and reliable navigation systems will be available at low-cost and as a core navigation component capable of supporting mass-market precise applications
Department of Geomatics Engineering 18 Training the Engineers of Tomorrow
. Topics taught…
– Enhancing programming skills through lab work
– Connecting course materials to latest products and applications
– Industry lectures
Department of Geomatics Engineering 19 Research Program Focus—Michael Sideris
Environmental monitoring by satellite Earth observations - Sea level change - Post-glacial rebound - Land water resources - Arctic ice sheers & glaciers - Geohazards
Modelling of the Earth’s gravity field Pail et al., 2015 - Geoid determination - Height systems - Resource exploration - Geodynamics
Department of Geomatics Engineering 20 Emerging Trends in Geodesy
. 4-dimensional geodesy – Observable temporal variations of the gravity field – Satellite gravimetry is a new, complementary ‘remote sensing’ tool – Now contributing to the monitoring and understanding of mass redistributions in the Earth’s hydro-, cryo-, atmo- and geo-sphere – Part on multi- and inter-disciplinary geosciences & applications . New(er) technologies – Ultra-high-precision optical clocks for height/potential determination – Dedicated gravity satellite missions (CHAMP, GOCE, GRACE, GRACE-FO) – Long-term continuity of radar and laser satellite altimetry missions – Absolute and superconducting gravimetry Department of Geomatics Engineering 21 Training the Engineers of Tomorrow
. Topics taught… – Global and local gravity field modelling . Precise geoid determination . Height modernization and vertical datum unification . Terrestrial and airborne gravimetry for geophysical applications . Multi-resolution and FFT methods . Optimal combination of terrestrial, airborne, marine and satellite measurements – Satellite gravimetry and satellite altimetry . COCE, GRACE, GRACE-FO, ICESat, CryoSat, Sentinel missions . Geophysical, hydrological and oceanographic applications
Department of Geomatics Engineering 22 Research Program Focus – Jeong Woo Kim
. Microgravimetric monitoring of geohazard with superconducting gravimeter
. Wellbore Positioning in Directional Drilling with Measurement-while drilling (MWD) gravity and magnetic sensors
Department of Geomatics Engineering 23 Emerging Trends in Directional Drilling
. Gravity-Derived Azimuth (magnetic-free) determination in Directional Drilling
Department of Geomatics Engineering 24 Training the Engineers of Tomorrow
. Topics taught…
– Wellbore Positioning in Directional Drilling
– Actual measurement with an MWD sensor to simulate horizontal drilling trajectory
Department of Geomatics Engineering 25 Research Program Focus—Mozhdeh Shahbazi
. Development/integration of ranging and imaging technologies UAV/MMS . Autonomous and high-precision mapping via vision-guided (unmanned aerial) systems
Department of Geomatics Engineering 26 Emerging Trends in UAV and Mapping Systems
. End-to-end solutions for simultaneous, autonomous navigation and automated precision-survey
All figured out and done by the UAV without pilot interference
Department of Geomatics Engineering Image courtesy: A. Bircher 27 Training the Engineers of Tomorrow
. Topics taught…
– New techniques of computer vision and their alignment with traditional photogrammetry to automate mapping applications
– New techniques of vision aided navigation and 3D visual perception
Department of Geomatics Engineering 28 Research Program Focus—Quazi Hassan
. Earth Observation for Environment – Remote sensing of forest fire danger/risk – Remote sensing of historical land use/land cover analysis in the Greater Athabasca Oil Sands Regions – Spatial database development for meteorological variables
Fig. Example Fire danger map for the period 9–16 May 2011 generated over portion of Alberta by combining remote sensing-derived input variables (adopted from Chowdhury & Hassan, 2013. Natural Hazards, DOI: 10.1007/s11069-013-0564-7)
Department of Geomatics Engineering 29 Emerging Trends in Remote Sensing
. Climate change . Operational systems for addressing real-life issues
(“A petrochemical refinery in Grangemouth, Scotland, UK” by John from Wikipedia is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Grangemouth04nov06.jpg) Image courtesy: A. Bircher Department of Geomatics Engineering 30 Training the Engineers of Tomorrow
. Topics taught…
– Fundamentals of remote sensing
– Conceptual and computational aspects of modelling environmental issues
– Space-borne technologies in resources, hazards, disasters, and climate- induced issues
Department of Geomatics Engineering 31 Research Program Focus – Michael Collins
Radar Imaging for Maritime Surveillance
Estimation of Wind speed and direction Ship detection
Estimation of wave characteristics Mapping oil spills from space
Department of Geomatics Engineering 32 Emerging Trends in Radar Imaging of the Oceans
Radarsat Constellation Mission Radar image
Due for launch in early 2019 Innovative imaging technology – compact polarimetry Wide swath imaging with two polarizations
Ocean wave height Image analysis Machine Wind velocity + Learning Oil spill analysis Spectral analysis Object detection
Wave spectrum
Department of Geomatics Engineering 33 Training the Engineers of Tomorrow
. Topics taught… – Radar imaging polarimetry – Statistical modelling of radar images – Machine learning . Neural networks . Convolutional neural networks (deep learning) . Accuracy analysis . Optimization
Department of Geomatics Engineering 34 Research Program Focus—Steve Liang
. Internet of Things and Sensor Web
. Blockchain for IoT and geospatial data . proof of locations . proof of observations
. Industrial applications for IoT
Department of Geomatics Engineering 35 Emerging Trends in Internet of Things
. IoT data will be widely available – # of connected devices increase (e.g., NB-IoT’s $0.1 monthly plan) – Almost all assets and machines, cheap/expensive, will have location trackers
. IoT data silos will be a major blocker (interoperability needed)
. IoT / Location data provenance will be key enablers for IoT business solutions (blockchain is a promising potential solution)
Department of Geomatics Engineering Image courtesy: A. Bircher 36 Training the Engineers of Tomorrow
. Topics taught… – IoT cloud architecture – Real-time IoT data processing – IoT data analytics . Predictive maintenance . Asset performance management . Supply chain and logistics optimization with IoT – IoT and blockchain
Department of Geomatics Engineering 37 Research Program Focus—Ruisheng Wang
Example projects . Point cloud processing for mapping – Object extraction and recognition – Segmentation – Urban modeling
. Sensor fusion for semantic segmentation and urban modeling
. GPS trajectory data for mapping
N51, Banff, February 2019 Department of Geomatics Engineering 38 Emerging Trends in Point Cloud Processing
. low cost LiDAR sensors, especially for – Autonomous driving – Unmanned aerial systems
. New methodologies – Artificial intelligence and machine learning, especially deep learning – Cloud service for massive point cloud streaming and processing
. “Deep integration“ of photogrammetry with computer vision and robotics
Department of Geomatics Engineering 39 Training the Engineers of Tomorrow
. Topics taught…
– Fundamental mapping methods and applications
– Recent development from computer vision and robotics for photogrammetric mapping applications
Department of Geomatics Engineering 40 Research Program Focus—Michael Barry
. Land Tenure and Cadastral Systems – Interdisciplinary research – How to make technological “solutions” to complex land tenure problems work – Consolidate lessons from a number of software designs and test over past 20 years – the Talking Titler systems
. Problem & Context – Very few countries have “good” land Early version of the Talking Titler software interface governance circa 1998 – videos form part of the title – Technology can both solve and create problems
Department of Geomatics Engineering 41 Emerging Trends in Land Tenure & Cadastral Systems
. Research involves door-to-door interviews about strategies people use to defend rights . 70% of people don’t have documented land rights . Conflict & Post-conflict situations leave people landless . In many situations fraud, corruption, coercion and violence are the norm (have to work within this context) . Major drives to document land rights around the world . How do we make them work? You cannot just record rights and then leave!
Department of Geomatics Engineering Image courtesy: A. Bircher 42 Training the Engineers of Tomorrow
. Topics taught…
– Research issues in Land Tenure and Cadastral Systems
– Survey Law and Practice and Land Use Planning
– Examples from field research in Somaliland, Nigeria, Ghana, Philippines and South Africa Bombed Land Records Office in Somaliland
Department of Geomatics Engineering 43 Research Program Focus—Xin Wang
. Location Recommendation on the Location-Based Social Network . Trajectory Mining . Path planning based on GPS trajectories . Map matching . Taxi profitable route recommendation . Spatial Clustering . Data Mining & AI for Engineering Applications . Oil and gas optimization . Forest fire prediction . Transportation
Department of Geomatics Engineering 44 Emerging Trends in Big Spatial Data
. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in…
– Map generation and map matching – Mobility analysis – Spatial crowdsourcing and pricing – Deep learning – Location-based services – …
Department of Geomatics Engineering 45 Training the Engineers of Tomorrow
. Topics taught…
– Recent developments in… . Map matching . Deep learning . Reinforcement learning . Trajectory mining
Department of Geomatics Engineering 46 Research Program Focus—Emmanuel Stefanakis
http://atlas.gge.unb.ca/aegean/self.php
Id 240912000 . Mobility data handling (trajectories) Start date 2012/08/08:12:30 End date 2012/08/08:18:30 – simplification, compression, mining DP Threshold 3000 Compression 10
. Semantically enriched map Original (Perpendicular) Distance (km): 6.1; Time (min): 22 Original (SED) Distance (Km): 3.8; Time (min): 17 generalization Simplified Distance (Km): 4.5; Time (min): 19
. Discrete Global Grids
. Flood inundation mapping
. Map-mashups in Education and History teaching
Department of Geomatics Engineering 47 Emerging Trends in Geospatial Data Science
. Mobility data science
. Apps for non-experts and/or rapid risk assessment
. Information grids (DGGS) and geocoding systems (e.g., what3words)
. Automated tile map generation for online map service providers
Department of Geomatics Engineering 48 Training the Engineers of Tomorrow
. Topics taught…
– Spatio-temporal data handling
– Discrete Global Grid Systems
– Geospatial Web
Department of Geomatics Engineering 49 Research Program Focus—Alex Bruton
Teaching and learning for engineering leadership
50 Emerging trends—T & L for Engin. Leadership
. Open access online resources – Free or low cost world-class resources consumable online – Deep dive examples and exploration of content . Mastery-based learning – Shift in mindset: Gaining competencies vs. chasing grades – Confidence / mastery at each level before proceeding – Alternative approaches to assessment to support deeper learning . Engineering + entrepreneurship – Learning and design in context – Leadership and followership . Learning through first year undergraduate research
51 Training the Engineers of Tomorrow
. Topics taught…
– Use of open resources
– Mastery-based learning
– Product prototyping
Department of Geomatics Engineering 52 Research Program Focus—Elena Rangelova
. Innovations in Teaching – Deep learning – Active learning – Flipped learning – Undergraduate research projects . Research in Engineering Education – Thresholds concepts and troublesome knowledge in Geomatics Engineering – Mapping student learning in Geomatics Engineering . Open Education Resources in Surveying
Department of Geomatics Engineering 53 Training the Engineers of Tomorrow
. Topics taught… – Gravity satellite missions – Geo-hazards and sea level rise – Integrated surveys – Geomatics engineering design and and communication – Satellite monitoring of surface and ground water
Department of Geomatics Engineering 54 Research Program Focus – Ivan Detchev
. Innovations in teaching – Implemented individual and group in-class exercises on hydrographic survey design and specifications – Conducted post-midterm interviews, and introduced team-based learning tutorials in least squares estimation and statistical testing – Organized field trips to the Land Title Office in Calgary, and used TopHat for active concept review in land tenure / cadastral studies – Invited guest speakers from industry on a regular basis . Preliminary research in engineering education / scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) – Threshold concepts in geomatics engineering
Department of Geomatics Engineering 55 Training the Engineers of Tomorrow
. Topics taught… – Hydrographic surveying – Land tenure/cadastral studies – Least squares estimation and statistical testing – Field surveys – Numerical methods
Department of Geomatics Engineering 56 GeoDays 2019
Department of Geomatics Engineering 57 SCHULICH SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING Geomatics Engineering Research & Teaching