Report of IEEE on Task ST-09-02 Activities

Activity 5.1:The IEEE Committee on Earth Observations has several Societies involved. As a starting point, the top ten conferences in attendance that are sponsored by one of those Societies are listed here:

• 2008 IEEE International Conference on Microwaves, Communications, Antennas and Electronic Systems (IEEE COMCAS 2008)
• 2008 IEEE Radio and Wireless Symposium (RWS)
• 2008 IEEE Wireless Communications & Networking Conference (WCNC)
• 2008 IEEE Radar Conference
• 2008 IEEE International Symposium on Electronics and the Environment (ISEE)
• 2008 International Symposium on Communications and Information Technologies (ISCIT)
• 2008 IEEE International Symposium on Technology and Society (ISTAS)
• 2008 International Joint Conference on Biomedical Engineering Systems and Technologies (BIOSTEC)
• 2008 IEEE Aerospace Conference
• 2008 Microwave Radiometry and Remote Sensing of the Environment (MICRORAD 2008)
• 2008 IEEE International Symposium on Geoscience and Remote Sensing

Activity 5.3: In IGARSS Dr. Jose Achache, was scheduled to give a keynote presentation:”Reflections of the successes and prospectus of the Global Earth Observation System of Systems”

There was a Panel Discussion: “GEO/GEOSS Collaboration-Opportunities in Global Earth Observation” Cp Chairs: Robert Scholes, CSIR, and Michael Turner

In IGARSS there are 2 Tracks that specifically call out GEOSS:

• GEOSS Implementation-Uniting Perspectives. Chair: Jay Pearlman
  • INSPIRE: A European contribution to GEOSS
  • Implementation of the GEOSS architecture using open geospatial consortium (OGC) standards for geoinformatics
  • Global Earth observation system of systems capacity building in Africa
  • Human capital development: The key to unlocking the full potential for space science applications
• A Quality Assurance framework for Earth Observation (QA4EO) to Underpin GEOSS with a Particular Emphasis on Climate Change through Optical Based Sensors II. Co-Chairs: Stephen Ungar, NASA and David Llewellyn-Jones, University of Leicester
  • Some needed standards and best practices for calibration and validation of remote sensing data
  • Global change observation mission
  • Radiation transfer models and QA4EO: Current and future efforts for traceability and validation
  • The moon as a radiometric reference source for on-orbit sensor stability calibration
  • An assessment of African test sites in the context of a global network of quality-assured reference standards

There was a scheduled meeting “GEO/GEOSS follow on discussion; Further African collaboration on GEOSS activities. Convenors: Bob Scholes, Jay Pearlman, Alex Fortescue

At the Aerospace Conference (6-13 March 2010) there is a Section “Global Earth Observation System of Systems , Architecture, Data Management and Applications” Co-Chairs: Kathleen Fontaine, NASA and Mirke Antonini, University of Rome

In the Africa GIS 2009 (an ISPRS sponsored conference) website (26-30 October 2009) there is a hot link to GEOSS Workshop XXX: Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance for the Global Observation System of Systems-GEOSS