#australia #computer-science #earth #remote-sensing #satellite #sensing #satellites

Title: AI in the Context of Satellite Image Analysis

When: Tue 06-Oct-26 7-8 pm (Canberra Time)

Speaker: John Richards, Emeritus Professor of electrical Engineering, UNSW and ANU

The historical development of algorithms for the analysis of earth imagery recorded by remote sensing satellites will be reviewed, showing the parallel development with AI techniques.  It will be shown that the fundamental techniques underpinning modern AI have been known since the 1960s; it has been a few theoretical developments, combined with enormous strides in computing power, that have made modern AI procedures feasible. The talk will conclude with a comment on foundational AI models in remote sensing.

John graduated from the UNSW with the degrees of Bachelor of Engineering (Hons 1) and Doctor of Philosophy, both in Electrical Engineering.  He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering and a Life Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, NY.

He has held the positions of Master of University House, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice President, and Dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science, all at ANU.  He was previously at the University College, the University of New South Wales, Australian Defence Force Academy, where he served as Rector and Head of the School of Electrical Engineering.

In the early 1980s he was foundation Director of the Centre for Remote Sensing at the University of New South Wales.