Ames Early Career Researcher Award
Ved Chirayath – Next-Generation Sensing Technologies for Exploring Ocean Worlds
Abstract:
Dr. Ved Chirayath’s Early Career Award seminar will highlight two instrument technologies he invented at NASA including Fluid Lensing, the first remote sensing technology capable of imaging through ocean waves in 3D at sub-cm resolutions, and MiDAR, a next-generation active hyperspectral remote sensing and optical communications instrument. Fluid Lensing has been used to provide the first 3D multispectral imagery of shallow marine systems from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs, or drones), including coral reefs in American Samoa and stromatolite reefs in Hamelin Pool, Western Australia. MiDAR is being deployed on aircraft, and underwater remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) as a new method to remotely sense living and nonliving structures in extreme environments. Finally,Chirayath will present preliminary results from NASA NeMO-Net, the first neural network for global coral reef classification using fluid lensing and MiDAR.
Biography:
Dr. Ved Chirayath directs the Laboratory for Advanced Sensing (LAS) in the Earth Science Division at NASA Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, CA. His research is directed at inventing next-generation sensing technologies and algorithms for NASA’s Earth & Space Science Programs to better understand the natural world around us. His investigations aim to extend our capabilities for studying life on Earth as well as aid in the search for life elsewhere in the universe. Dr. Chirayath invented the fluid lensing algorithm and System and Method for Active Multispectral Imaging and Optical Communications (MiDAR) and is the principal investigator of the NASA FluidCam and MiDAR instruments (Patents No.15/480,318 and No.62/634,803). Currently, he is developing and validating these technologies through airborne and underwater field campaigns around the world through NeMO-Net.In addition, Dr. Chirayath serves as the chair of NASA Ames’ Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Advisory Group.In 2016, Dr. Chirayath received the NASA Equal Employment Opportunity Medal. In 2017, Dr. Chirayath received the NASA Early Career Award in recognition of significant advances in aquatic remote sensing technology.
