2022-2023 / GEOG0626-1

Theory of errors

Duration

20h Th, 30h Pr

Number of credits

 Master in geography: geomatics (120 ECTS)5 crédits 

Lecturer

Roland Billen, Andrea Nascetti

Coordinator

Roland Billen

Language(s) of instruction

French language

Organisation and examination

Teaching in the second semester

Schedule

Schedule online

Units courses prerequisite and corequisite

Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program

Learning unit contents

The first part of the course is dedicated to the theory of errors. The basic concepts of the theory of errors and of the least square method are presented. Then, the course studies the notion of error propagation and shows how the concept of variance-covariance matrix (or cofactors) allows to derive the equations giving the maximum acceptable error and the optimal value of the unknown parameters. This theory is applied to practical problems in topography and in GNSS.

Learning outcomes of the learning unit

Students will be able to solve (in an optimal way according to least squares principle) practical problems involving different types of geographical data. This includes the determination of the optimal value of a measured or a computed parameter, the computation of error propagation, of the maximum acceptable error, of the error ellipse, ...).

Prerequisite knowledge and skills

Basic course of mathematics (mainly probability, statistics and matrix algebra).

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

Practical work is given in 10 sessions of 3h00. During these sessions, practical problems (mainly in topography) will be solved using theory of errors and least squares.

Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)

Face-to-face learning.

Recommended or required readings

Lecture notes are available.

Exam(s) in session

Any session

- In-person

written exam ( open-ended questions )


Additional information:

The evaluation consists in a written exam on:
- the material seen during the theoretical lectures;
- practical problems (similar to the one solved during practical work sessions) to be solved using the theory of errors and least squares.

Work placement(s)

Organizational remarks

The course is given during the first semester (3 hour lecture per week).

Contacts

Andrea Nascetti

Roland Billen

Association of one or more MOOCs