Using seven decades of global research papers, NYU Tandon researchers found that China makes up 47% of publications in remote sensing — a science that uses specialized sensors to gather data from large distances — while the United States makes up just 9%.
This November study sifted through 126,000 Google Scholars papers from 1961 to 2023 for key title words like “machine learning” or “deep learning” to find which country has made advancements in the field. Debra Laefer, lead author and a Civil and Urban Engineering professor, was able to confirm the hypothesis she created after noticing that she was being asked to review increasingly more Chinese papers.
“I thought, ‘Am I just having to work in an area that has a lot of scholarship from this section, or is this something more kind of systematic?’” Laefer told WSN. ‘So that was kind of the question: Is it anecdotal, or is it actually a phenomena?”
Remote sensing uses laser scanners, imagery and hyperspectral imagery from the ground, air and space to pinpoint items on the ground, monitor climate and detect security threats. This technology allows researchers to observe and gather data without having to be near it, and because of its widespread use, many counties have poured resources into further developing the technology.
Laefer and her co-author Jingru Hua, attribute this increase to an uptick in Chinese funding agencies. From 2021 to 2023 alone, China filed over 43,000 patents containing the words “remote sensing.” The study proved a strong correlation between government funding and research output: China’s National Natural Science Foundation was funding about 53% of remote sensing papers in the same time frame while only 5% of papers are credited to U.S. agencies.
“Since the decline of the significant NASA funding there’s really not been a replacement in our own National Science Foundation,” Laefer said. “Certainly, under the current political situation where research funding is generally being cut significantly, the United States will not be catching up anytime.”
According to Hua, the competition to be a leader in remote sensing dates back to the 1957 launch of Sputnik 1. Just like the United States. poured money into space research after Sputnik, both authors expect to see a similar reaction regarding the need to gather data across boundaries and satellites.
“A lot of the initial investment from China focused around satellites,.” Laefer said. “There was a previous study that correlated that as a driver for much of this, but remote sensing has become so much wider, almost omnipresent, that even your phone, if you have a kind of an advanced iPhone, you can do laser scanning.”
These findings come at a time where leadership in remote sensing could lead to quicker breakthroughs across several fields of study. The global market was valued at around $452 billion in 2022 and is projected to reach $1.44 trillion by 2030. With countries like Germany and India starting to climb the ranks of publishing, the United States risks losing ground in the growing field.
“The overall trend is increasing,” Hua said. “It is not just China and the United States — basically everyone is starting to invest more in remote sensing.”
Contact Thomas Cayetanot at [email protected].