How to Improve the Reproducibility, Replicability, and Extensibility of Remote Sensing Research

Abstract

The field of remote sensing has undergone a remarkable shift where vast amounts of imagery are now readily available to researchers. New technologies, such as uncrewed aircraft systems, make it possible for anyone with a moderate budget to gather their own remotely sensed data, and methodological innovations have added flexibility for processing and analyzing data. These changes create both the opportunity and need to reproduce, replicate, and compare remote sensing methods and results across spatial contexts, measurement systems, and computational infrastructures. Reproducing and replicating research is key to understanding the credibility of studies and extending recent advances into new discoveries. However, reproducibility and replicability (R&R) remain issues in remote sensing because many studies cannot be independently recreated and validated. Enhancing the R&R of remote sensing research will require significant time and effort by the research community. However, making remote sensing research reproducible and replicable does not need to be a burden. In this paper, we discuss R&R in the context of remote sensing and link the recent changes in the field to key barriers hindering R&R while discussing how researchers can overcome those barriers. We argue for the development of two research streams in the field: (1) the coordinated execution of organized sequences of forward-looking replications, and (2) the introduction of benchmark datasets that can be used to test the replicability of results and methods.