Introduction to Special Issue
The NASA Affiliated Research Center Program
Albert J. Peters and Donald C. Rundquist
Center for Advanced Land Management Information Technologies
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
The ARC Program
This issue of Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing is focused
on the Affiliated Research Center (ARC) Program, part of the NASA
Commercial Remote Sensing Program (CRSP). The ARC activity, which
originated in 1988, is headquartered at the John C. Stennis Space
Center (SSC) in Mississippi.
The ARC initiative was developed in an effort to facilitate interaction between
university specialists in remote sensing and geographic information systems
and members of the business community. One objective was to increase the use
of spatial-information technologies in the private sector. The Highlight Article
on page 1289 provides a more complete overview of the ARC Program.
The Charge Given the University Centers
The NASA expectation with regard to the universities involved in the ARC program
is that each must undertake four proof-of-concept projects annually. Thus,
36 projects are completed nationally each year. The intention is for each
project to be simple, highly focused, and executable within a period of three
to six months. Projects should serve as a demonstration of how to use spatial-information
technologies to solve practical, real-world problems.
Emphasis on Practical Results
The requirement to fit research into the context of a private sector
question about remote sensing, making contact with private businesses,
developing ARC projects, and conducting cooperative research with
those in the commercial sector can be challenging for academicians.
But, for those willing to accept the challenge of undertaking research
leading to a practical outcome, there are significant rewards. Initially,
it may be disconcerting for some academicians that the projects done
in conjunction with private business usually lead to direct questions
such as “is the research really useful,” or “can the procedure be
accomplished in a more efficient manner,” or “what is the practical
payoff of this work?” In time, one understands the private-sector
concerns, and even learns to become comfortable with the practical
perspective. Also, we have found that the simplest solution to the
problem outlined by a private vendor is often the best, most robust
solution; another fact which may be somewhat atypical for the academician.
All in all, we find the introduction of a stringent “practical component” in
our research to be an enriching experience.
The Importance of Performance Metrics
The obligation of any scientist is, of course, to deliver good science
in every research endeavor, but in keeping with the mission and philosophy
of the ARC program, that good science must be executed within the
context of a partnership with a private entity. In addition, the
good science should be linked to solid practical results that are
measurable by means of performance metrics. For example, in an ARC
project at the University of Wisconsin involving construction of
a gas pipeline, the savings from the GIS-generated route method was
over 10% of the total construction costs as compared to two other
routes chosen by conventional means. This is obviously a measurable
metric. The success of each and every ARC research project is judged
with regard to measurable metrics.
Our Evaluation of the Program
We judge the ARC Program to be a bona-fide NASA success story in that it indeed does facilitate interaction between academic institutions and the private sector. The ARC activity, which is one of the few NASA applications initiatives in many years, has certainly increased the use of spatial-information technologies in the business world, and many positive program results have been documented. The program is also a success story at the universities. It stimulates challenging applications research and provides a stable base to broaden other research activities. (See PE&RS, date, pages, article)
The Private-Sector View
From the private-sector perspective, ARC allows businesses the opportunity
to interact with, and gain advice from, university researchers. Some
typical comments from the private side include the following: “if
given the opportunity to participate again we would gladly do so;” “the
program has encouraged us to consider alternatives we would not have
had time to experiment with;” “we have exposed new technology to
senior managers and employees;” “we are now developing the technology
to offer imagery directly to growers via the Internet;” “the greatest
single benefit has been to expose a small private firm to leading-edge
image-processing technology;” and, “we are now in a position to provide
a new line of services based upon these technologies.” In addition,
ARC projects provide businesses with access to a pool of talented
graduate students, which is important, especially when there is a
need to add staff members to undertake work in remote sensing and/or
GIS.
The University View
The ARC Program provides a unique opportunity to link basic and applied
research programs. It has been enlightening for some faculty researchers
to become part of a team to solve practical-business problems. Also,
the demonstration projects have not only facilitated faculty research
but also allowed faculty members to increase levels of interaction
with colleagues on their own campus.
The opportunity to link an ARC project with graduate students is a very important advantage. Among the ARC universities, there are numerous examples of projects leading to Master’s theses, and even eventual employment opportunities for students. At Wisconsin, for example, 17 talented MS and PhD candidates served in lead and support technical roles for the initial 11 UW ARC partnerships, giving demonstrations, preparing prototypical products, delivering presentations at local and national conferences, and assisting in final report preparation. Also, at The University of South Carolina, ARC projects have been the focus of 10 doctoral dissertations and eight Master’s thesis. These projects provided graduate students with unique research opportunities and real-world challenges that enhanced their formal education. It has been the experience at all of the ARC universities that graduate students enjoy their participation, the challenges, and their involvement with private businesses. The ARC emphasis on the practical use of the technologies to solve a real-world problem is a concept that students find appealing. Not only does the ARC program continue to expand the horizons of faculty and staff, but also it yields excellent classroom examples and resources for students.
The data-acquisition support from NASA is important to most university ARC’s. The Commercial Remote Sensing Program has provided data to universities from NASA’s sensors and also purchased data from commercial data providers. Data collected for purposes of executing ARC projects can often be used for academic research, while data collected for academic research have also been linked to, and used for, completing ARC projects. Finally, imagery collected for ARC projects has been used for classroom instruction. Leveraging of these resources is indeed an additional attraction in an academic program.
We believe that most of the participants in the ARC activity would agree that their research programs have been strengthened through the addition of private-sector involvement, a component that is missing in most academic research. Doug Stow, San Diego State University, recently noted that the ARC program has enabled SDSU faculty to conduct creative research pertaining to a myriad of applications that would not have occurred without the SSC requirement to work with four commercial partners per year. He concludes that such an activity not only expands the horizons of faculty and staff, but also yields excellent classroom examples and resources for students.
In summarizing, we quote former ASPRS President Tom Lillesand’s congressional testimony (1998): Through the ARC process, commercial firms, faculty researchers, and graduate students are working together to find innovative solutions to a range of applications. The depth and breadth of the process is a multi-directional domino effect that results in (1) researchers asking better basic research questions about spatial technology; (2) graduate students becoming better equipped with technical and business problem-solving skills; (3) corporate firms, with new tools and skills, able to offer the American public better products at lower cost; and (4) NASA and other agencies with a low-cost, effective way to stimulate high technology.
Summary of the Contents in this Issue
Highlight Article: The
NASA Affiliated Research Center Program.
Five of the ARC universities contributed to this PE&RS Focus Issue. A summary of their work is described below. Each article summarizes an example of one ARC project.
University of Wisconsin: The potential contribution of space-borne radar imagery to forest management activities was demonstrated over sites in the western Great Lakes region, using multiwavelength, multipolarization radar imagery.
San Diego State University: Image-based interpretative mapping using high spatial resolution airborne imagery and derived products with minimal field reconnaissance was performed and evaluated against a detailed vegetation map created through field mapping and air photo interpretation.
State University of New York: Describes new techniques for digital processing of high spatial resolution images that were developed by pre-processing to mitigate canopy-shading effects.
University of South Carolina: Identification of the optimum route for new railroad lead-tracks was performed using the output from remote sensing and GIS-assisted modeling and compared to traditionally surveyed routes.
University of Nebraska: A tool based on remote sensing technology that can be used to help with crop hail damage assessment was described and tested.
Acknowledgements
We extend our thanks to the authors of the articles included in the
special issue, and also to the many manuscript reviewers for the
time spent evaluating and editing the papers. We greatly appreciate
the assistance of PE&RS staff members including Stan Morain,
Jim Case, and Kim Tilley.
Albert J. Peters, Donald C. Rundquist and Bruce Davis served as guest editors
of this special issue
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