Training and Research
Promotion on Remote Sensing in Thailand Chalomphon Bang-on and
Boonboothara Vijitkulsawat Remote Sensing Division National Research Council of Thailand Abstract Having realized the important role of remote sensing technology as an effective tool for national planning and development, the Thailand Remote Sensing Centre (TRSC) under and auspices of the National Research Council of Thailand (NRCT) has encouraged Thai officers from various agencies to be trained in the field with an objective to increase the awareness and expertise within the country. Training courses on the principles of Remote Sensing and on digital image analysis have been organized almost as an annual event. Training on some GIS application would become available as regular program while specific training courses would be held upon users’ request. In addition, a number of agencies have cooperated with NRCT to organize short courses on Remote Sensing. This includes education institutes and other government agencies to strengthen the capability of their own officers. At the moment, about, ten academic institutes comprising universities, teacher’s college and military academies have opened courses on Remote Sensing in their curricular of geography, forestry, aerophotography and mapping at graduate and post-graduate levels. Besides these, the international institute such as AIT also has master degree on natural resources. However, The more striking effort has been to popularize and promote research work by providing grants to research workers. The year 1978 marked the beginning of such promotion with an allocation of 500,000 Baht to fund Remote Sensing application projects to be proposed by national researchers. This annual research fund has been doubled once in 1980 and again in 1990 to 2 million Baht and finally 3 million Baht in 1992. So far a total of 125 projects from 89 principal investigators have been supported with an allocation of 14 million Baht. 1. Introduction The Thailand Remote Sensing Center (TRSC) under the Nationa Research Council of Thailand (NRCT) has been appointed by the government to be the coordinating body of satellite Remote Sensing in Thailand since 1972. One of the major activities of TRBC/NRCT is technology transfer. This is done in terms of training of personnel, education and research support in area of Remote Sensing and its applications. The purpose of this paper is to present the supporting roles of TRSC/NRCT on increasing the man-power in the field of Remote Sensing technology for natural resources management. The educational facilities of the Thai academic institutes have also been included in this paper to provide the background of Remote Sensing education in Thailand. 2. The Role of NRCT for Training of Personnel The participation in the United States NAS Landsat Investigation program of Thailand has marked the are of using data from space. The education and training in Thailand standard when the 6 Thai offices were funded by FAO and UNDP to be trained at laboratory for Application of Remote Sensing of Purdue University, U.S.A. After returning, these officers started to transfer and promote this technology. Since, from beginning, Thailand had lacked man-power in this field, TRSC/NRCT then organized a basic training course on Remote Sensing for personnel not only from government sectors but also from private sectors, the content of the training curse was concentrated on the application of Remote Sensing data for economic development as well as stimulating and promoting this echnology. Since then, the organization of training has become one of the major activities of TRSC/NRCT. Along with this idea, in 1973, the First Basic Training Course in Remote Sensing was organized at the Royal Forest Department with the support of USAID in sending & experts in Remote Sensing field to train the 69 Thai participants of 19 organizations. Later on, the trainings of this type were organized for 9 times at TRSC from 1976-1992 with details as appeared in Table 1. Table 1 :
While, Thailand has engaged in satellite Remote Sensing for a decade, one still has to admit that the awareness of this technology and its application is limited to a rather small community. (Vibulsresth: 1983). However, this problem has begun to dissolve after the high resolution satellite data of LANDSAT TM, SPOT HRV and the Japanese MOS-1 VTIR and MESSR can be received at the Thailand Bround Receiving Station. Thus, in order to increase the awareness as well as familiarization with satellite data, the various kinds of training have done by TRSC/NRCT. In 1980, the First Training Course of LANDST Date Processing and Applications was organized and computer was first introduced for satellite data interpretation. All of these training courses appear in Table 2. Table 2:
In order to provide users with better understanding on computerized image analysis, the First, the Second and the third Hands on Training on Digital Image Processing were organized in 1987, 1989 and 1992 respectively. There were 49 participants already attending these courses. All participants were trained with two computerized image analysis systems, DIPIX Aries 2 and Meridian. In addition, the TRSC/NRCT has developed a micro based image analysis system using the available commercial personnel computer. The system was called MIAS-1 (Micro- Image Analysis System-1) and is suitable for elementary training (Ruangsiri, 1990). Moreover, some specific training has been designed to serve the ongoing activities of certain agencies such as training courses on mangrove forest which were held in 1986 and 1987 for increasing expertise of forest officers particularly those in local areas. Another example is training on GIS application for hill tribe village study. In addition, a number of agencies have cooperated with NRCT to organize short courses on Remote Sensing, such a educational institutes which aimed at introducing and popularizing Remote Sensing technology to school teachers, and the Department of Agricultural Extension to strengthen the capability of their own officers. While Remote Sensing has proven useful in providing timely information which is necessary for development planning process both at regional and national level, there is a need to increase the awareness of this technology in various sectors concerned including planners and decision makers. This has been achieved through organization of seminars and workshops on a regular basis. In addition to the international seminars, workshops, conferences and symposiums have been organized jointly with international agencies in order to share experiences and exchange ideas and information for mutual benefits. These activities are illustrated in Table 3. Table 3
Note
It seems that only the technology transfer through trainings and seminars within the country has not fulfilled the need of man-power requirement. Besides, this advanced technology has been developed continuously. This is the reason why Thai officers of various agencies concerned have been funded to study and trained aboard. Thailand have benefited greatly from international cooperation, that is, Thai officers have received continuous support and assistance from these organizations. Some joint projects, such as Thai – Canadian Cooperation Remote Sensing Application Project, MOS Project of NASDA, etc, are the good examples of these assistance. 3. Education of Remote Sensing in Thai Academic Institutes Thailand has realized the importance of Remote Sensing technology for along time. Along with this idea, many academic institute comprising universities, teacher’s colleges, military academies have opened course on remote sensing in this curricular. The international institute such as AIT also has master degree on natural recourses development and management. Details are summarized below. Table 4.
Remark: * AIT does not offer a doctorate in Natural Resources Development and Management, but student in any of the AIT academics division may elect a minor. (Fleutiaux – 1989) TRSC/NRCT has played an important role in coordinating and providing research funds for lectures of the said academics institutes, as well as supporting satellite data and also training for students in this field. 4. Research Promotion One of the major activities of TRSC/NRCT is research promotion by stimulating research work in terms of providing research grants to both government and private sectors. At the early stage of this activity (1976-1980), each year, a total fund of about 500, 000 Baht was allocated from TRSC’S annual budget for this purpose. This annual research fund has been doubled once in 1980 and again in 1990 to 2 million Baht and finally 3 million Baht in 1992 with an exclusion of the value of satellite data which are provided free of change for research proposes. So far a total of 125 projects, from 89 principal investigators, in areas of agriculture, forestry, land- use, computer science, geography, horology, oceanography earth science and multi- disciplinary, were supported by TRSC with an allocated of 14 million bath. Department of Agriculture, Department of Agricultural Extension, office of Agriculture, Economics, the royal Forest Department, Department of Agriculture, Department, Department of mineral Resources, the Royal Irrigation Department, the Royal The Survey Department . Department of Fisheries, the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, Asian Institute of Technology, the academic Institute of the government, etc., However, the most outstanding projects were that submitted by H.R.H. Princess Maha Chakri Birindhorn Under the titles Land Use/ Land Cover Map Accuracy of LANDSAT Thematic Mapper Date Using the DIMAPS Image Processing System for Narathiwat Province for 1988 and Environmental and Agricultural Development Studied by Renate Sensing Techniques in pathname Nikhom District, Lop Buri province, for 1989 and extend to 1992. For this fiscal year, the found has been allocated for 10 research projects as follows:
As mentioned earlier, Thailand has attempted to apply remote sensing technology to national development since 1972. That is, in comparison with the past years, it seems reasonable to conclude that Thailand has vividly increased man-power on remote sensing. Undoubtedty, this came about through technology transfer policy and the high capacities of the Thailand ground Receiving station. Besides this about 700 trainees who were trained in this area have helped broaden the use of this high technology. In addition, there were 89 principal investigators/ researchers of 27 organizations who were funded by TRSC/ NRCT for research work. The support in technology transfer has always had an important place in development process. Thailand, in the near feature, is expecting to provide research funds for a multidisciplinary approach that would lead to an operational scale instead of experimental stage. References
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