Duminda Ranganath Welikanna is currently a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Surveying and Geodesy, Faculty of Geomatics. His research interest mainly focuses on statistical pattern recognition from satellite images including Fuzzy Markov Random Fields and super-resolution mapping. Further he also carries out his research work in the areas of Geo-Statics, Radar image analysis and interferometry, Hyperspectral Image analysis, Astronomy and Land Surveying applications. He has been awarded the Japanese Government Scholarship 2011 and the Sri Lanka Parliamentary Scholarship for Engineering 2006. He enjoys playing Cricket and he spends his leisure in reading and photography. He is passionate about Buddhism and its correlation to scientific thinking.

University Activities - Administration

• Served as the Head of the Department of Surveying and Geodesy, Faculty of Geomatcs from March 2015 to March 2018.
• Served as the Reserch Coordinator Faculty of Geomatcs from the year 2014 to 2017

Professional Experience:

2016 – Visiting  Lecturer, Microwave Remote Sensing, Dpt. of Town and Country Planning, University of Moratuwa

2017 – Visiting  Lecturer, Dpt of Forestry, University of Sri Jayewardenepura

Image analysis: classification, segmentation

Super resolution Mapping (Markov Random Fields)

Radar image analysis and Radar interferometry

Geo-statistical modelling

• Marine Oil Spill detection using SAR polarimetry
• Nonlinear Subsidence estimation using L-Band D-InSAR and PS methods for the central mountains of Sri lanka (Proposal Submitted to SUSL Research grant 2017)
• Flood and Forest canopy loss estimation using Sentinel-1 C Band SAR imagery/ (Using polarimetry and Interferometry) (Completed)
• Total Electronic content (TEC) mapping using single point positioning GNSS measurements (completed)
• Wind patterns and Wind speed mapping using Geo-statistical Interpolation Methods (External Drift Kriging/ KED) (completed)
• Healthy Tea growth monitoring using Landsat_8 Wave length information (completed)
• Deforestation or Reforestation: Estimation using varied  satellite vegetation indices and Support Vector Machines (SVM) (completed)
• Monitoring the “Samanla Wava” Dam for movements, using first order and second order GNSS control networks (completed)
• Tunneling: Whether it is suitable for Sri lanka or not, A GIS based Modelling approach (End of completion)
• Rapid traversing for detail surveying: A novel Total station Guided Drone approach (Proposal Submitted to SUSL Research grant 2017)
• Extinction Modelling using Remote Sensing: A case study on Sri Lankan Elephants
• Determination of regional gravimetric geoid model using  REMOVE-COMPUTE-RESTORE method
• Analyzing the Diversification of Digital Level measurements accuracy with respect to the position of the Sun
• Movement of the Southern Central hills in Sri Lanka – Using third order time series Triangulation positioning data
• Assessment of sediment deposition in Victoria Reservoir using Remote sensing satellite   imageries
• Deflection of the Vertical Components: Analyzing the GPS, Leveling Measurements and their Distribution Geometry
• Cloud Mask and Patch Based Image Restoration for Landsat 8
• Extract buildings by using fuzzy C-Mean clustering and morphological filtering
• Analyzing Effect of “LakVijaya” Coal Power Station on Land Surface Temperature by using Remote Sensing Techniques
• Phenology of Rubber and its Temporal Change: A Remote Sensing Perspective
• Surveying through the Time – A case Study of ancient “Yapahuwa Kingdom”
• Effect of Temperature, Humidity, Atmospheric Pressure to the EDM Observation with Various Prism Constants
• Mapping Dispersion of Air Pollution Surrounding the “Norochchole” Coal Power Plant using Remote Sensing Technique
• Coherence Drop In SAR Amplitude due to Floods
• Disaster Resilience and Urban Composition a Comparable Analysis

• Duminda R. Welikanna, Shengye Jin, "Investigating ground deformation due to a series of collapse earthquakes by means of the PS-InSAR t echnique and Sentinel 1 data in Kandy, Sri Lanka," J. Appl. Remote Sens. 17(1), 014507 (2023), doi: 10.1117/1.JRS.17.014507.
• Welikanna, D.R., 2022. Integrating the Spatial Autocorrelation Structure of Irregularly Distributed Wind Measurement Stations to Model Wind Patterns Using R.  Journal of Geospatial Surveying, 2(2), pp.30–42. DOI:http://doi.org/10.4038/jgs.v2i2.42
• D. R.Welikanna. J Susaki., Shenye, J (2021), InSAR analysis of terrain deformation due to an ongoing series of collapse earthquakes in the central highlands of Sri Lanka , Session 7: ISPRS WG session, The 42nd Asian Conference on Remote Sensing (ACRS2021),22-24th November, 2021 in Can Tho University, Can Tho city, Vietnam (Invited paper)
• Welikanna D. R and Tamura M, (2021). Lognormal Random Field models to identify temporal land cover changes using full polarimetric L-Band SAR imagery. Journal of Geospatial Surveying, 1(1), pp.1–15.
• Prasanna H.M.I., Gunathilaka M.D.E.K. and Welikanna D.R. (2021). Development of a unified vertical reference framework for Land and Hydrographic surveying in Sri Lanka, Marine Geodesy, DOI: 10.1080/01490419.2021902889.
• Ann Suvasthika, Welikanna, D. R, Vaigunthan (2021) Mapping healthy Tea plantation using time series multispectral satellite images, Vavuniya University International Research Symposium 2021 (VCIRS) 15^th October 2021.
• A Nadeeka A M T and Welikanna D R , (2020), Developing a Bayesian relationship between Land Cover and Land Surface Temperature using remotely sensed Multispectral and Thermal imagery, 2020 International Graduate Workshop on GeoInformatics, IGWG 2020 Online, December 16-18, 2020
• A Nadeeka A M T and Welikanna D R , (2019), A novel approach to estimate Land Surface Temperature using subpixel Vegetation, Soil and Impervious fraction from Landsat 8 Imagery, ICSUSL, 2019, Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka
• Welikanna D.R (2018) MODELLING WIND PATTERNS WITH IRREGULARLY DISTRIBUTED MEASUREMENT DATA USING- R, 3^rd FOSS4G Asia 2019 (Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial),  Moratuwa, Sri Lanka (Best Paper Award)
• P.Thunendran, Welikanna D.R. & Prasanna, H.M.I. (2018). MRF Super Resolution Approach for Mapping Gravity From Grace Satellite Data. 8^th Annual Research Session (ARS), Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka,13^th December 2018 (Best Poster)
• P.Thunendran, Welikanna D.R. (2018) Development of Gravity variation map for Sri Lanka using MRF based super resolution approaches on Grace Gravity data. 3^rd FOSS4G Asia 2019 (Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial), Moratuwa, Sri Lanka (Best Poster award)
• Arampola, A.M.N.S., Welikanna, D.R., Prasanna, H.M.I. & Sammani, M. (2017). Mapping May 2016 Colombo Floods in the Kelani River Basin Sri Lanka using Sentinel-1 single polarized SAR data. 38^th Asian Conference on Remote Sensing (ACRS 2017), New Delhi, India, 23-27 October 2017.
• K. H. P. T. Senadeera, D.R.Welikanna. (2017). Estimating Forest canopy loss using SENTINEL-1 C BAND SAR images 38^th Asian Conference on Remote Sensing (ACRS 2017), New Delhi, India, 23-27 October 2017
•  K.U.J.Sandamali,  D.R.Welikanna. (2017). Deforestation or Reforestation, A time series Remotes Sesning perspective of Wilpattu National Park, Sri Lanka.  38^th Asian Conference on Remote Sensing (ACRS 2017), New Delhi, India, 23-27 October 2017
• Shanke, D.M.M., Welikanna, D.R., Prasanna, H.M.I. (2017). Wind pattern analysis and mapping using irregularly distributed measurement data by means of geostatistical methods. 38^th Asian Conference on Remote Sensing (ACRS 2017), New Delhi, India, 23-27 October 2017
• Harshini R. Piyathara, Sandun J. Perera, Duminda R. Welikanna, Sanka N. Perera, Madusha Sammani and  Piyal R. Kumara.(2017). Aerial Image based quantification of Grassland encroachment by by Rhododendron arboretum within Horton Plains National Park. 38^th Asian Conference on Remote Sensing (ACRS 2017), New Delhi, India, 23-27 October 2017.
• A. A. Suvasthika, D.R.Welikanna, M G M Sammani. (2017). Detecting Healthy Tea plantation using Multispectral Satellite Images.  38^th Asian Conference on Remote Sensing (ACRS 2017), New Delhi, India, 23-27 October 2017
• Arampola, A.M.N.S., Welikanna, D.R., Prasanna, H.M.I. & Sammani, M. (2017). Flood area extraction using Synthetic Aperture Radar in the Kelani River Basin. 7^th Annual Rsearch Session, Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka,13^th December 2017.
• Sandamali, K.U.J, Welikanna D.R. & Prasanna, H.M.I. (2017). Stuying the Dynamics of Wilpattu National Park, Sri Lanka using Satellite Remote Sensing. 7^th Annual Rsearch Session, Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka,13^th December 2017
• Sammani M G M., Welikanna, D. R Building Detection from Combined Fuzzy C-mean and Morphological Filtering from Landsat-8 Satellite Imagery. Asian Journal of Geoinformatics, Vol.16,No.4 (2016)
• Wijesiriwardhana H.G.M.P., Rathnayake R.M.S.P., Prasanna H.M.I., & Welikanna D.R. (2016). Calculation of Deflection of the vertical components: Analysing the GPS, Levelling Measurements and their distribution Geometry. 37th Asian Conference on Remote Sensing (ACRS 2016), Colombo, Sri Lanka, 17-21 October 2016.
• Welikanna, D.R., Tamura, M., Susaki, J. (2014) Incorporating uncertainty into Markov Random Field classification with the combine use of optical and SAR images and adaptive Fuzzy mean vector, ISPRS Annals of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences (ISPRS Annals), Volume II-7, 2014
• Welikanna, D.R., Tamura, M., Tolpekin, V.A., Susaki, J. and Maki, M. (2012) Improving Markov Random Field based Super Resolution Mapping Through FUZZY Parameter Integration, ISPRS Annals of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences (ISPRS Annals), Volume I-7, 2012 . ISSN: 2194-9050. pp. 183-189.
• Chandana Dinesh Parape, Chinthaka Premachandra, Masayuki Tamura, Abdul Bari, Ranjith Disanayake, Duminda Welikanna, Shengye Jin, and Masami Sugiura. (2013), Building Damage and Business Continuity Management in the Event of Natural Hazards: Case Study of the 2004 Tsunami in Sri Lanka, Sustainability 2013, 5, 456-477; doi:10.3390/su5020456
• Sammani M G M., Welikanna, D. R  (2016) Building Detection from Combined Fuzzy C-mean and Morphological Filtering from Landsat-8 Satellite Imagery. ACRS 2016 : proceedings of the 37th Asian Conference on Remote Sensing. (AARS Innovation paper Award)
• Lakshani P A K R., Welikanna, D. R (2016) A time series analysis on Urban resilience.  ACRS 2016 : proceedings of the 37th Asian Conference on Remote Sensing.
• Mafaz M F M., Welikanna, D. R (2016) A comparative analysis on Amplitude and Coherence based change detection using ALOS PALSAR images.  ACRS 2016: proceedings of the 37th Asian Conference on Remote Sensing.
• Lakshani P A K R., Welikanna, D. R (2016) Disaster Resilience and Urban composition a comparative analysis.  IIIRR 2016 : proceedings of the 12th International Conference of the International Institute for Infrastructure Resilience and Reconstruction.
• Ranasighe, A.K.R.N., Welikanna, D. R et al. (2015) Detection of meeriyabedda landslides from high resolution optical satellite data.  ACRS 2015: proceedings of the 36th Asian Conference on Remote Sensing.
• Welikanna, D.R., Tamura, M., Susaki, J. (2014) Incorporating uncertainty into Markov Random Field classification with the combine use of optical and SAR images and adaptive Fuzzy mean vector.  ISPRS Technical Commission VII Synposium, Thematic Processing, Modelling and Analysis of Remotely Sensed Data, Istanbul, Turkey. 29^th September- 02^nd October, 2014
• Welikanna, D.R., Tamura, M., Tolpekin, V.A., Susaki, J. and Maki, M (2012) Improving Markov Random Field based Super Resolution Mapping Through FUZZY Parameter Integration.  In: ISPRS 2012: Proceedings of the XXII congress : The International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, Imaging a Sustainable Future, 25 August - 01 September 2012, Melbourne, Australia. Comm. VII, WG VII/4(1), pp. 183-189.
• Welikanna, D.R., Tamura, M., Tolpekin,(2013) Fuzzy parameter estimation through fuzzy c-means clustering for Markov Random Field (MRF) based Super Resolution Land Cover Mapping (SRM).  In proceeding of: 2013 Canadian Institute of Geomatics Annual Conference and the 2013 International Conference on Earth Observation for Global Changes, 5-7 June 2013, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. TS EOGC3: Land Use and Land Cover Changes, pp.100-105.
• Welikanna, D.R., Tamura, (2013) Multiplicative Autoregressive Random Field model based texture and Complex Coherence to detect the urban change due to 2011 off the pacific coast of Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami Using Full Polarimetric L-Band SAR imagery. In proceeding of: 2013 Canadian Institute of Geomatics Annual Conference and the 2013 International Conference on Earth Observation for Global Changes, 5-7 June 2013, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. TS EOGC4: Hazard Monitoring and Vulnerability Assessment, pp.122-128.
• Welikanna, D.R., Tolpekin, V.A. and Kant, Y. (2008) Analysis of the effectiveness of spectral mixture analysis and Markov random field based super resolution mapping over an urban environment. In: ISPRS 2008 : Proceedings of the XXI congress : Silk road for information from imagery : the International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, 3-11 July, Beijing, China. Comm. VII, WG VII/4(1). Beijing : ISPRS, 2008. pp. 641-649
• Welikanna, D.R., Tolpekin, V.A. and Kant, Y. (2008) Integrating the advantages of Hyperion image with linear spectral unmixing to detect the urban composition. In: ACRS 2008 : proceedings of the 29th Asian Conference on Remote Sensing, 10-14 November 2008, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Colombo : Survey Department of Sri Lanka, Asian Association on Remote sensing, 2008. 9 p