Dr. Sreeja Nag Awarded “Best Presentation” at Latin American Symposium on Small Satellites

On March 10, 2017, Dr. Sreeja Nag was acknowledged for having delivered the Best Paper/Presentation at the International Academy of Astronautics Latin American Symposium on Small Satellites in Buenos Aries, Argentina.  Dr. Nag’s paper addressed the concept of sensor webs of agile, small satellite constellations and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (“UAVs”) connected by Satellite-to-Air Communication Links.

Small satellites are now capable of rapid onboard processing and path planning, based on georeferenced, processed targets. Sensor webs of UAVs and small satellites can be used for better calibration of such satellite images because the UAVs can complement measurements made by satellites, with minimum delay and cloud obfuscation.  The UAVs can also obtain better characterization of the Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (“BRDF”) of the calibration targets so that similar surface types in the region can be better corrected for BRDF effects.

Caption: Dr. Sreeja Nag (third from the right), Dr. Conrado F. Varotto, Executive and technical director of the Comisión Nacional de Actividades Espaciales (CONAE)/Argentine space agency (leftmost); Dr. Rainer Sandau, Director of Satellites and Space Applications of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) (rightmost); Dr. Livio R. Gratton, Director of the Colomb Institute (Universidad Nacional de San Martín/CONAE) (third from the left).