2017-Present - Synthetic Tracking for Space Situational Awareness Our team has been developing the synthetic tracking system for both the Air Force GEODSS network and NASA near-Earth object detection and tracking. The Air Force's primary interest was to improve the sensitivity of their Ground-based Electro-Optical Deep-Space Surveillance System (GEODSS). The team demonstrated an overall order of magnitude increase in sensitivity detecting small objects in geosynchronous (GEO) orbit along with other significant capability improvements. My primary contribution has been in the image processing algorithm development and implementation using GPUs to provide near real-time data processing.
2016-2019 - Lunar and Satellite Laser Range-Doppler Measurements Several simultaneous project are expanding JPL’s LADAR capabilities to perform ranging and Doppler measurements of the lunar retroreflectors and LEO to inter-planetary satellites. The facility will use a 1kWatt CW laser at the JPL OCTL facility on Table Mountain. The target will be tracked, actively illuminated, and observed to measure range and velocity at higher resolution than the current RADAR capabilities. I am primarily responsible for the development of the control software for all hardware components of the system and data acquisition. This software includes target position estimation for telescope tracking, real-time target tracking using cameras and PZT fast-steering mirrors, real-time data acquisition, operation of several miscellaneous hardware components (laser, PZTs, frequency synthesizer, GPS clock, etc.), and interfacing with the laboratory laser safety system.
2015-2018 - IR Detector Sub-Pixel Characterization In support of a WFIRST Preparatory Science effort, I have been working on the sub-pixel characterization of a Teledyne H2RG infrared detector. Sub-pixel characterization refers to quantifying the inter and intra-pixel quantum efficiency variation of every pixel on the detector. The main result is a mapping of the effective horizontal and vertical fractional relative pixel position for every pixel. This knowledge can be used to calibrate the detector to compensate for the effective pixel position errors when dithering the focal plane as is done for WFIRST because the focal plane is not Nyquist sampled. This technique has been successfully demonstrated for CCDs; however, transitioning to an IR detector presents several new challenges. I have been responsible for the development of the R&D experiment and the development of the data analysis techniques.
2015-2016 - Inverse Synthetic Aperture LADAR Our team has developed the ISAL testbed and data processing for high resolution imaging investigations in support of the Air Force Research Lab and for internal JPL R&D. The testbed has demonstrated imaging resolution below 2mm in the lab environment. Functionality has been confirmed in simulated atmospheric conditions comparable to observing a GEO satellite from the ground. Groundbreaking results have produced images in photon-starved, low signal-to-noise conditions with about two photons per range-bin per pulse. The low signal-to-noise threshold for successful imaging was derived analytically and confirmed experimentally. My primary responsibilities with the project pertained to the design, construction, and operation of various testbed components and the development and execution of the data processing software.
2012-2015 - GPU Simulation Software Developed a comprehensive, dynamic simulation package targeted at systems with a large number of degrees-of-freedom.
Targeted at systems with over 100,000 degrees of freedom by implementing GPU resources for physics computations.
Simulation and state-of-the-art graphics output are seamlessly combined and user friendly to manipulate.
Simulation accuracy equivalent to commercial software packages and runtime can be real-time with 3-d graphical output.
Combines the flexibility of programing with the convenience of a graphical user interface.
2012-2014 - Phase Retrieval Research with Dr. David Hyland
Algorithm development for phase retrieval with application to stellar interferometry
Asteroid silhouette characterization via stellar occultation
Filtering of image Fourier modulus noise
Exploring new formulations of the traditional phase retrieval problem
2009-2014 - SAE Aerodesign intercollegiate design competition. R/C Aircraft design with the goal of carrying maximum payload with specified design constraints.
2014 team - Technical design lead for a 17 member team & pilot, 1st place overall out of 33 universities, 1st place for oral presentation, 2nd place for technical report
2013 team - Pilot
2012 team - Technical design lead for a 16 member team & pilot, tied 1st place for oral presentation, 4th place overall out of 35 universities
2011 team - Technical design lead & pilot, 1st place for oral presentation, 6th place overall out of 33 universities
2010 team - Pilot
2009 team - Organization founding member, structural design lead, & pilot
2012-2013 - Aircraft Flight Simulation Independent research for the TAMU SAE Aero Design team
Simulation of aircraft flight dynamics
Modeling of landing gear structure withing a flight simulator to provide accurate load cases to Abaqus FEA model
Fall 2011-2012 - Intensity Correlation Imaging Research with Dr. David Hyland in collaboration with the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL)
Algorithm development for coherence estimation
Probabilistic bias estimation in the presence of Gaussian noise
2011 - Aeroelasticity Continuing on the work by Tarek Elgohary and Dr. Tamás Kalmár-Nagy. Nonlinear Analysis of a Two DOF Piecewise Linear Aeroelastic System (May 2010)
2009-2011 - Equilibrium, Stability, and Dynamics of Rectangular Liquid-filled Vessels Presented at the 13th Nonlinear Vibrations, Dynamics, and Multibody Systems Conference (May 2010) and published in Journal of Computational and Nonlinear Dynamics (October 2011). Download
2010 - Apophis asteroid mitigation Asteroid mitigation by surface albedo change. Work performed in conjunction with NASA Ames Research Center and King Abdullaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST).
Responsibilities:
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