Iain Woodhouse: Understanding Radar Satellite Images - MBM#37

Iain Woodhouse is a Professor of Applied Earth Observation at the University of Edinburgh, the author of multiple books & course on Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and one of the best people to explain radar remote sensing with decades of experience teaching but also working in the industry.

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About Iain

TwitterLinkedInBlogIain's current course on Earth Observation at the University of Edinburgh Shownotes Note: Links to books are Amazon Affiliate links. I earn a small commission if you buy any of these books.

• Introduction to Microwave Remote Sensing ( Affiliate Link • ) Echoes in Space MOOC by ESAHow Earth Observation Ends: or, Everything you wanted to know about typing pools but were afraid to ask.Earthblox • 101 Tips for PhD Students: ( Affiliate link • ) • Book & Podcast recommendation • Thinking Fast & Slow by Daniel Kahneman ( Affiliate Link • ) • Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss ( Affiliate Link • ) Harvard Business Review Podcast

Timestamps

00:00 Introduction

02:03 Conversation Begins: Getting Into Earth Observation

07:30 Remote Sensing in the 80s

10:25 NASA's Inspirational Power

13:47 The Moment Iain Knew He Wanted to Become An Educator

16:10 Free Education

19:11 Explaining SAR from the beginning

24:56 The 'Intuitive' Way of Understanding SAR

29:08 The Most Interesting Aspects of SAR

37:20 Comparing Optical to Radar

40:17 SAR's Military History

45:48 Military Contracts Subsidise Commercial SAR

49:35 The Impact of New Space on SAR

52:41 The trendline of SAR

57:41 What most excites Iain in Earth Observation today

01:01:44 Earthblox

01:03:57 Who is Earthblox for?

01:05:33 Earthblox's business model

01:08:37 Open Source & Closed Platforms

01:13:58 Closed Platforms in an Educational setting

01:20:04 Typing Pools: Automation Is Coming

01:30:30 Having a foot in Academia & Industry

01:35:59 The Importance of Art

01:40:51 Fostering creativity for scientific people

01:44:25 Advice for People entering Earth Observation

01:48:21 Book and Podcast Recommendation

Feel free to reach out! - Website - My Twitter - Podcast Twitter - Read Previous Issues of the Newsletter - Edited by Peter Xiong. Find more of his work