Scientific Issues and Progress of the Chinese Integrated Earth Observation Sensor Web Project

The sensor web is a new method in the earth observation field, comprising sensors that can sense, compute, and correspond with the World Wide Web. The Chinese Integrated Earth Observation Sensor Web (CIEOSW) project is a five-year national basic research program conducted by Wuhan University since 2011 and is aimed to address the following major challenges: (1) the lack of collaboration within the satellite observation system, (2) the absence of a coupling mechanism in heterogeneous spaceborne -- airborne -- ground sensors, and (3) the limited connection between monitoring and decision-support services. For two years, the CIEOSW project has strived to achieve the following: (1) a theory on the coupling and modeling of the Earth observation sensor web (EOSW), (2) an event-driven multi-sensor collaborative observation method, (3) an EOSW fusion and assimilation method, (4) an EOSW-based information extraction and rapid change detection method, (5) a task-oriented EOSW focusing service model, and (6) an epicontinental environment observation and analysis of typical areas in China.