MalaysiaGIS.com

Source: New Straits Times

Believe it or not, Malaysia is not lagging way behind developed nations in terms of research and development (R&D) of space technology.

Malaysian Centre for Remote Sensing or Macres is a body under the Science, Technology and Environment Ministry, whose main concern revolves around the development of satellites remote sensing technology, which is a branch of space technology.

The operationalisation of this technology is for applications in the country particularly resource management, environmental management, natural disaster management and of course, national security management.

According to Nik Nasruddin Mahmood, director for Macres, a facility in Temerloh, Pahang, which costs around RM100 million, supports and provides information to Macres. The facility receives whatever information sent from the satellite. From the facility, the information is transmitted to Macres' office in Kuala Lumpur.

At Macres, the R&D activities are specifically centred around optical, infra-red and microwave sensor technology. These are some of the technologies used to collect information required for further developments at Macres, says Nik Nasruddin.

Related technologies used in the R&D activities include geographical information system (GIS), global positioning system (GPS) and precision support system, he adds.

"All these technologies are at different stages of development. The whole thrust of the research activities at Macres is to explore the usage of these technologies to meet the specific requirements of the country," reveals Nik Nasruddin.

He says that Macres is also involved in fundamental research, which involves the study of the atmosphere's influence in the data collected by the satellite. There are a number of projects running simultaneously at Macres.

"Priorities of these projects are based on the needs of the country and its policy," says Nik Nasruddin. One example is the Natural Resource and Environmental Management (Narem) programme.

"The objective of the project is to establish and to operate a system of integrated databases to support national development planning using satellite remote sensing technique," says Nik Nasruddin. This project has been completed and the system is ready for commercialisation, he confirms.

The Narem system encompasses Nasat (a satelite-based information extraction sub-system), Namos (focuses on using GIS and expert system technique for modelling in the spatial domain), and Nades (a decision-making tool for integrated development planning) sub-systems.

Developed by 40 researchers in a span of five years, the system manages and explores the availability of the natural resources in areas such as agricultural, mineral and water of the country.

The state of Selangor is currently being used for the pilot study. Selangor's state government is now trying to establish a centre in Shah Alam to use the system.

Aside from Narem, Macres is also focused on airborne and space-borne measurements. This led to the setting up of a microwave remote sensing laboratory.

The laboratory is equipped with the bistatic microwave anechoic chamber and mobile scatterometer to investigate and enhance understanding of physics of remote sensing.

SIM
Another interesting project at Macres is satellite image map (SIM). These maps are said to surpass conventional topographical maps. "The conventional production of topographical maps, which depend on the availability of aerial photography and field survey are costly and time consuming," says Nik Nasruddin.

"SIM is basically a 3-D digital map, where the satellite image provides the base for the map with the topographical data on top," he says.

Initiated by Macres in 1998, the project is currently being undertaken together with the Surveying and Mapping Malaysia Department (JUPEM). The system is now ready to be commercialised.

The different layers of information are digitally available on a software such a contour of the Earth, and roads. The technologies involved in this mapping system are GPS as well as remote sensing.

Macres is in the process of making this 3-D map online, but no specific decisions have been made yet.

"This kind of information made available would depend on the policies of the country due to security reasons," says Nik Nasruddin.

Precision Farming
Precision farming is a project that involves a fair amount of collaboration with Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), where the objective is to improve harvest. On the whole, the system can help farmers manage the fertility of their lands.

"Individual plots will be characterised using GPS and GIS technology. The system will then provide the farmer with information such as the amount of fertiliser required, and water level," says Nik Nasruddin.

Right now, he says that the focus is to increase the yield of rice crop in Kedah from the current 2.5 tonne per hactre to 10 tonne per hactre.

The system can help predict which plot of land yields the highest harvest rate. The accuracy of the prediction is currently claimed to be 98 per cent.

Immersive Technology
Another Macres project under development right now is immersive technology.

This technology is being explored and developed to manage natural disasters such as oil spill, flash floods, forest fire and landslide. With the system, an individual can fly through an area virtually. The landscape and atmosphere conditions would be based on actual data.

"The system is ready but we are trying to set up physical facilities right now called Virtual GIS and Immersive Centres," says Nik Nasruddin, adding that centres are being set up in Kuala Lumpur, Sarawak and Penang.

Undoubtedly interesting and of much relevance to the nation, all R&D activities at Macres are funded by an annual budget allocated from the Science, Technology and Environment Ministry.