Pansharpening techniques to detect mass monument damaging in Iraq

The recent mass destructions of monuments in Iraq cannot be monitored with the terrestrial survey methodologies, for obvious reasons of safety. For the same reasons, it’s not advisable the use of classical aerial photogrammetry, so it was obvious to think to the use of multispectral Very High Resolution (VHR) satellite imagery. Nowadays VHR satellite images resolutions are very near airborne photogrammetrical images and usually they are acquired in multispectral mode. The combination of the various bands of the images is called pan-sharpening and it can be carried on using different algorithms and strategies. The correct pansharpening methodology, for a specific image, must be chosen considering the specific multispectral characteristics of the satellite used and the particular application. In this paper a first definition of guidelines for the use of VHR multispectral imagery to detect monument destruction in unsafe area, is reported. The proposed methodology, agreed with UNESCO and soon to be used in Libya for the coastal area, has produced a first report delivered to the Iraqi authorities. Some of the most evident examples are reported to show the possible capabilities of identification of damages using VHR images

Epidemic and timer-based message dissemination in VANETs: A performance comparison

Data dissemination is among the key functions of Vehicular Ad-Hoc Networks (VANETs), and it has attracted much attention in the past decade. We address distributed, efficient, and scalable algorithms in the context of VANETs adopting the paradigm. We introduce an epidemic algorithm for message dissemination. The algorithm, named EPIC, is based on few assumptions, and it is very simple to implement. It uses only local information at each node, broadcast communications, and timers. EPIC is designed with the goal to reach the highest number of vehicles “infected” by the message, without overloading the network. It is tested on different scenarios taken from VANET simulations based on real urban environments (Manhattan, Cologne, Luxembourg). We compare our algorithm with a standard-based solution that exploits the contention-based forwarding component of the ETSI GeoNetworking protocol. On the other hand, we adapt literature based on a connected cover set to assess the near-optimality of our proposed algorithm and gain insight into the best selection of relay nodes as the size of the graph over which messages are spread scales up. The performance evaluation shows the behavior of EPIC and allows us to optimize the protocol parameters to minimize delay and overhead

The role of SIC on the design of next generation multiple access

The interplay of physical layer enhancements and classic random access protocols is the objective of this paper. Successive interference cancellation (SIC) is among the major enhancements of the physical layer. Considering the classic representatives of random access protocols, Slotted ALOHA and Channel Sensing Multiple Access (CSMA), we show that two regimes can be identified as a function of the communication link spectral efficiency. In case of high levels of spectral efficiency, multi-packet reception enabled by SIC is of limited benefit. Sum-rate performance is dominated by the effectiveness of the Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol. On the contrary, for low spectral efficiency levels, sum-rate performance is essentially dependent on physical layer SIC capability, while the MAC protocol has a marginal impact. Limitations due to transmission power dynamic range are shown to induce unfairness among nodes. However, the unfairness issue fades away when the system is driven to work around the sum-rate peak achieved for low spectral efficiency. This can also be confirmed by looking at Age of Information (AoI) metric. The major finding of this work is that SIC can boost performance, while still maintaining a fair sharing of the communication channel among nodes. In this regime, the MAC protocol appears to play a marginal role, while multi-packet reception endowed by SIC is prominent to provide high sum-rate, low energy consumption, and low AoI

First considerations on post processing kinematic GNSS data during a geophysical oceanographic cruise

Differential GNSS positioning on vessels is of considerable interest in various fields of application as navigation aids, precision positioning for geophysical surveys or sampling purposes especially when high resolution bathymetric surveys are conducted. However ship positioning must be considered a kinematic survey with all the associated problems. The possibility of using high-precision differential GNSS receivers in navigation is of increasing interest, also due to the very recent availability of low-cost differential receivers that may soon replace classic navigation ones based on the less accurate point positioning technique. The availability of greater plano-altimetric accuracy, however, requires an increasingly better understanding of planimetric and altimetric reference systems. In particular, the results allow preliminary considerations on the congruence between terrestrial reference systems (which the GNSS survey can easily refer to) and marine reference systems (connected to National Tidegauge Network). In spite of the fluctuations due to the physiological continuous variation of the ship's attitude, GNSS plot faithfully followed the trend of the tidal variations and highlighted the shifts between GNSS plot and the tide gauges due to the different materialization of the relative reference systems

Water level and volume estimations of the Albano and Nemi lakes (central Italy)

In April 2006 an airborne laser scanning (LIDAR) survey of the Albano and Nemi craters was carried out to obtain a high resolution digital terrain model (DTM) of the area. We have integrated the LIDAR survey of the craters and the recent bathymetry of the Albano lake to achieve a complete DTM, useful for morphological studies. In addition, with a GPS RTK survey (July 2007) we estimated the Albano and Nemi mean lake levels respectively at 288.16 m and 319.02 m (asl). Based on the integrated DTM and the newly estimated water level values, we evaluated about 21.7·106 m3 the water volume loss of the Albano lake from 1993 to 2007, with an average rate of about 1.6·106 m3/yr

Trasformazione tra datum e sistemi cartografici in ambito nazionale: implementazione di un software in ambiente GRASS e sue prestazioni

Selected paper presentato a GeoExplora Workshop 2004 - 6° Congresso MondoGIS Il lavoro illustra le caratteristiche e le prestazioni di un comando GRASS sviluppato per gestire le trasformazioni tra i sistemi geodetici (datum), (ed i corrispondenti cartografici) più utilizzati in ambito nazionale, Roma1940 (Gauss-Boaga), ED1950 (UTM-ED1950) e WGS84-ETRF89 (UTMWGS84- ETRF89) per scopi cartografici a scala medio-grande (1:5000)

Building a Stronger Instrument in an Observational Study of Perinatal Care for Premature Infants

An instrument is a random nudge toward acceptance of a treatment that affects outcomes only to the extent that it affects acceptance of the treatment. Nonetheless, in settings in which treatment assignment is mostly deliberate and not random, there may exist some essentially random nudges to accept treatment, so that use of an instrument might extract bits of random treatment assignment from a setting that is otherwise quite biased in its treatment assignments. An instrument is weak if the random nudges barely influence treatment assignment or strong if the nudges are often decisive in influencing treatment assignment. Although ideally an ostensibly random instrument is perfectly random and not biased, it is not possible to be certain of this; thus a typical concern is that even the instrument might be biased to some degree. It is known from theoretical arguments that weak instruments are invariably sensitive to extremely small biases; for this reason, strong instruments are preferred. The strength of an instrument is often taken as a given. It is not. In an evaluation of effects of perinatal care on the mortality of premature infants, we show that it is possible to build a stronger instrument, we show how to do it, and we show that success in this task is critically important. We also develop methods of permutation inference for effect ratios, a key component in an instrumental variable analysis