News

LSGI PhD student’s research on impacts of space weather on aviation industry is published by the Nature Reviews Earth & Environment

We are pleased to share with you that the research work on the impacts of space weather on aviation industry, conducted by PhD student Mr. Dabin Xue at the Department of Land Surveying & Geo-Informatics (LSGI), the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), was recently selected to be highlighted by the Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, a journal published by the Springer Nature with an Impact Factor of 42.1. The research paper “Examining the Economic Costs of the 2003 Halloween Storm Effects on the Northern Hemisphere Aviation Using Flight Data in 2019", co-authored by Mr. Dabin Xue, his supervisors Dr. George Zhizhao Liu at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Dr. Jian Yang at the Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, and Dr. Shiwei Yu (a former graduate from Dr. Liu's Lab), was recently published at the AGU journal "Space Weather" in March 2023. It claims to be the world's first one to quantify the potential economic impacts of space weather on aviation operation, which is an interdisciplinary study involved with Space Physics including Ionosphere and Cosmic Radiation, GNSS Satellite Navigation, and Air Traffic Management as well as Operation Research. Space weather events, closely related to the 11-year cycle solar activities, can disruptively affect the aviation operations on the Earth in various aspects such as high-frequency communication blackouts, GNSS-based navigation and surveillance failures, and increased levels of cosmic radiation. These disruptions pose great potential risks to flight safety and security and result in flight delays and even flight cancellations. The consequential economic loss can amount to tens of millions of euros. Based on the space weather impact data from the severe solar storm event 2003 Halloween Storm in the Solar Cycle 23 and the flight data in 2019, this research from an operational perspective assessed the impact of a space weather event similar to the 2003 Halloween Storm on the aviation flights in 2019 when the current 11-year Solar Cycle 25 just began. New air traffic management strategies have also been proposed to mitigate the effects of these disruptions. This study can be a benchmark for evaluating and alleviating the potential effects of future space weather on aviation operations. More information about this Research Highlight can be found at Nature Reviews Earth & Environment. The original paper can be found at Space Weather.

Staff Promotions 2023

We are delighted to share the news that Dr. Shuo Wang and Dr. Yang Xu have been promoted to Associate Professor effective from 1 July 2023 and 1 Nov 2023 respectively. Dr. Wang and Dr. Xu joined LSGI as Assistant Professor in 2017. Congratulations to Dr. Wang and Dr. Xu!

A Soft Launch of Geo-Project 1941

On 28th October 2023, Ir Dr. Wallace Lai, Associate Head of LSGI, together with historians, archaeologists and geologist from multiple universities, launched the Soft Opening of the art-tech exhibition for Geo-Project 1941. As an event of the project "Unfolding the Lost WWII Heritage: Promotion of Geo-spatial and Geophysical Technologies", it took place at a Campsite “Camptopia” in Sheung Shui. Led by LSGI, this project involves engagement of various stakeholders, such as collaboration with BU, HKU and CUHK, and support from 5 Bureau/Departments of HKSARG. Moreover, it is funded/sponsored by ITC (Innovation and Technology Commission), RILS (Research Institute for Land and Space), and Camptopia. All parties involved share a common vision: to maximize the publicity on historical interpretation, heritage conservation, STEAM education and exhibitions for the remembrance of the 80th anniversary of WWII in 2025. Representing the start of a series of public engagement activities on the use of geo-spatial and geophysical technologies to promote an integrated art-tech approach, this soft opening attracted over 80 visitors from diverse backgrounds. Attendees ranged from professors, teachers, and war enthusiasts to pupils, with interests spanning across geo-science, history, and archaeology. The event featured various art-tech exhibitions and experiential workshops, including a 4D CAVE that provided an immersive experience, transporting the audience back to the war zone in Hong Kong in 1941. Additionally, there were two archaeological test sites where workshop participants could engage in field archaeological excavation work following geophysical surveys. These exhibitions and workshops demonstrated how technologies can play a crucial role in historical interpretation, archaeological excavations, and forensic investigation. Looking ahead to the coming event in the project until early 2025, we anticipate further collaborations between LSGI and diverse communities.   Project:  Unfolding the lost WWII heritage: promotion of geo-spatial and geophysical technologies Website: https://geo-project1941.com/ PI: Ir Dr. Wallace Lai, Associate Head of LSGI

The World’s Top 2% Scientists in LSGI by Stanford University (2023)

Six academic staff from LSGI, including Prof. John Wenzhong SHI, Prof. Qihao WENG, Prof. Jianli CHEN, Prof. Charles Man Sing WONG, Dr Xiaolin ZHU and Dr Ameer Hamza KHAN, are ranked as the World’s Top 2% most-cited scientists in career-long and single-year categories, according to the Stanford University list published on Oct 2023. The database categorized scientists into 22 subject fields and 174 sub-fields. It has taken their research publications into consideration, including information on citations, individual’s scientific research output, co-authorship and a composite indicator. For further details, please refer to the latest database here. Congratulations to our staff for their outstanding achievements!   Career-long Data  Name of Researcher  Subject Field   Prof. John Wenzhong SHI  Geological and Geomatics Engineering  Prof. Qihao WENG  Geological and Geomatics Engineering   Prof. Jianli CHEN  Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences    Single Recent Year Data  Name of Researcher  Subject Field  Prof. John Wenzhong SHI  Geological and Geomatics Engineering  Prof. Qihao WENG  Geological and Geomatics Engineering  Prof. Jianli CHEN  Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences  Prof. Charles Man Sing WONG  Geological and Geomatics Engineering  Dr Xiaolin ZHU  Geological and Geomatics Engineering  Dr Ameer Hamza KHAN  Electrical and Electronic Engineering 

LSGI scholar was appreciated with national award for remarkable contributions to China’s space missions

Prof. Bo WU, Associate Head (Research) & Professor of LSGI and Associate Director of the University Research Centre for Deep Space Explorations (RCDSE), has been awarded the Outstanding Award (Individual) for his contribution to China’s First Mars Exploration Mission. The awards are presented by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, China National Space Administration, and four other ministries to recognize individuals and groups who have significantly contributed to China’s space missions. In addition to Prof. WU, Prof. Kai-leung YUNG, Director of RCDSE, and a PolyU team also received awards, representing PolyU. Prof. Jin-Guang TENG, President of PolyU, congratulated the awardees and commented that PolyU would continue to advance the technology and make contributions to the national space missions. Prof. Wu and his research team utilized topographic mapping and geomorphological analysis technologies to analyze the terrain of the Mars surface. This analysis allowed them to estimate a landing site with both safety and scientific value on Mars for the Tianwen-1 mission, thus greatly contributing to the success of China's Mars mission in 2021. Congratulations to Prof. WU!

LSGI Research Project Awarded Key Programme of the National Natural Science Foundation of China

As a prestigious research funding organization dedicated to supporting and promoting fundamental scientific research in various disciplines throughout China, the Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) announced the application results of the NSFC Programmes in September 2023. Among the applications, various research projects and researchers in PolyU are awarded. The LSGI research “Detection of underground water pipe leakage based on multi-temporal PollnSAR technology”, led by Prof. Xiaoli DING, Chair Professor of Geomatics and Director of the Research Institute for Land and Space, was one of the three PolyU projects which have been funded under the Key Programme of NSFC. Congratulations to Prof. DING!

PolyU Researchers Advance Smart City Development through Remote Sensing Satellites and Low Earth Orbit Satellites

PolyU and Hong Kong Aerospace Technology Group (HKATG) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to foster their collaboration in satellite navigation, communication, remote sensing, and payload development in August 2023. Under this collaboration, as the key involving department, LSGI can be benefited from provision of optical remote sensing and radar observation data, as well as access to near-Earth orbit satellite payload space and testing services. A media briefing was arranged on 30 August 2023 to share the latest and future research development under the collaborative framework. Prof. Charles Wong, Associate Dean (Teaching) of FCE and Professor of LSGI, stated that LSGI would utilize the provided resources in multiple researches, like monitoring land use, estimating solar energy potential, and water quality mapping. The partnership can not only reduce the cost of data acquisition significantly, but also enhance the resolution of satellite images which can benefit the research. In addition, Dr. Bing XU, Research Assistant Professor of the Department of Aviation and Civil Engineering (AAE), said that AAE was launching a low Earth orbit cube satellite project for navigation and MeV astronomy. The project will enhance positioning accuracy and safety by transmitting navigation signals from LEO orbit to Earth. The cube satellite is scheduled for launch in May 2025.   Online coverage (on 5 Sept 2023): Ming Pao Daily News  Hong Kong Economic Times   Sing Tao Daily   Headline Daily   Wen Wei Po   Ta Kung Pao   Hong Kong Commercial Daily

LSGI Impact Case Study: Urban Big Data Analytics of COVID-19

In the seventh episode of PolyU FCE Impact Case Studies 2023 video series - “Urban big data analytics for COVID-19 risk prediction and control” was published. It shared the research output - a series of extended Weighted Kernel Density Estimation (E-WKDE) models for short-term prediction of COVID-19 symptom onset risk by Prof. John SHI, Chair Professor of Geographical Information Science and Remote Sensing of the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics (LSGI), Director of Smart Cities Research Institute (SCRI), and his team. The models presented offer an improvement over traditional COVID-19 risk predictions, as they can accurately predict the transmission trend for a period of 4 to 5 days. These models have been utilized for various purposes, including assessing the impact of the Wuhan lockdown on decreasing the risk of infection in other parts of China, devising a vaccine distribution plan based on risk for Hong Kong, examining the transmissibility of different variants of SARS-CoV-2, and evaluating the effectiveness of global anti-epidemic measures. Since the beginning of 2020, the team has submitted over 40 reports to the Hong Kong Government utilizing the predictions from the E-WKDE model as a point of reference in evaluating COVID-19 control measures. Let’s check out the video and explore these fabulous technologies!

LSGI scholar assisted in the study of sudden shifts from drought to flood

Dr. Shuo WANG, Associate Professor of LSGI, collaborated with the international researchers in the study of climate change in many parts of the world. Through analysis on climate data from 1980 to 2020, the study demonstrates the positive relationship between the severity of climate change and the occurrence of wild weather swings from drought to downpours. Based on the above finding, the scientists further investigated in the cause of such sudden change in weather, and discovered the “land-based feedback loops”. This concept explains how the movement of moisture from humid regions to dry regions increases the opportunity of downpours after drought, facilizing to the accuracy of predictive climate models. “Climate change is fueling back-to-back droughts and floods which have caused widespread devastation, resulting in loss of life and damages to property, infrastructure, and the environment,” Dr Wang said. “Our findings provide insights into the development of early warning systems for mitigating the impacts of rapid dry-wet transitions.” The study has been published in Communications Earth & Environment.   Online coverages: Yahoo UK Jackson School of Geosciences, The University of Texas at Austin

PolyU and HKATG Strengthen Collaboration in Satellite Navigation and Remote Sensing

PolyU and the Hong Kong Aerospace Technology Group (HKATG) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to foster their collaboration in satellite navigation, communication, remote sensing, and payload development. Within this collaboration, HKATG will provide a variety of resources, such as conventional optical remote sensing and synthetic aperture radar observation data in Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area, as well as low-Earth orbit satellite measurement and control services for research and education purposes. Moreover, HKATG has donated the naming rights of a multispectral optical remote sensing satellite to PolyU. With these supports of HKATG, it is believed that the data and equipment provided can benefit LSGI in related research areas, including carbon neutrality research, tree health monitoring, land cover classification, marine water quality monitoring and research on urban surface characteristics. Therefore, PolyU organized an appreciation ceremony on 23 August to appreciate the support from HKATG. In the ceremony, Dr Miranda Lou, Executive Vice President of PolyU, commented that HKATG’s generosity would empower the faculty members to further strive for excellence in education and research, nurture future aerospace-related professionals, and contribute to the Nation. Meanwhile, Dr Daniel Yip, Non-executive Director of HKATG, shared that the collaboration would help nurture future talent for the development of new industries and the advancement of aerospace technology in Hong Kong. As we move forward, we eagerly anticipate the research output that will emerge through this fruitful collaboration, and are confident that the partnership between PolyU and HKATG will continue to yield remarkable advancements in the field of aerospace technology.