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Naveen Ramachandran

Photo of Naveen Ramachandran

Address:

4800 Oak Grove Drive

Pasadena, CA 91109

Member of:

Carbon Cycle And Ecosystems

Biography

Naveen is a postdoctoral fellow in the Carbon Cycle and Ecosystems Group at JPL. His current research is centered on advancing active remote sensing techniques to quantify dynamic variations in vegetation structure and aboveground biomass across spatial and temporal scales, employing both airborne and spaceborne platforms, along with ground-based observations.

Before joining JPL, Naveen conducted his PhD research, focusing on the application of various Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) techniques for mapping aboveground biomass in tropical forests. His professional background includes roles as a Research Scientist at the North Eastern Space Applications Centre, ISRO, and as a Consultant at Geo Climate Risk Solutions Pvt. Ltd., where he worked on projects related to forest biomass, deforestation and flood inundation mapping, disaster management, and machine learning for remote sensing applications.

At JPL, Naveen's research concentrates on the development, calibration, and validation of spaceborne aboveground biomass estimates, with a specific emphasis on the upcoming NISAR and BIOMASS satellite missions. He will be also actively contributing to the Surface Topography and Vegetation science goals.

Education

  • 2009: B. E. in Electronics and Communication Engineering - C.S.I, Institute of Technology, Anna University, India.
  • 2011: M. Tech. in Remote Sensing - Anna University of Technology Tirunelveli, India.
  • 2023: PhD. In Civil Engineering - Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, India.

Professional Experience

  • 2023 - Present: Post-doctoral Researcher, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, USA.
  • 2022: Consultant (SAR Expert), Geo Climate Risk Solutions Pvt. Ltd., India
  • 2020 - 2022: Research Scientist, North Eastern Space Applications Centre, ISRO, India.
  • 2019 - 2020: Graduate Research Assistant, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, India.
  • 2019: Visiting Research Scholar, Politecnico Di Milano, Italy.
  • 2017 - 2019: Graduate Research Assistant, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, India.
  • 2012 - 2017: Graduate Teaching Assistant, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, India.
  • 2011 - 2012: Senior Research Fellow, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India.
  • 2011: Postgraduate Research Fellow, Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, India.
  • 2010: Postgraduate Research Fellow, Anna University of Technology Tirunelveli, India.
  • 2009: Undergraduate Research Fellow, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, ISRO, India.

Community Service

  • Reviewer for Scientific Journals: IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, GIScience & Remote Sensing, Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, Geo-spatial Information Science, Journal of Spatial Science
  • Conference Scientific Reviewer: IEEE Mediterranean and Middle-East Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium 2024, Oran, Algeria., IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, 2024, Athens, Greece.
  • Country Coordinator (India): The 8th International Conference on Climate Change 2024, Colombo, Sri Lanka.
  • Co-convener: IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium 2022 session on: Forest and Vegetation: Biomass and Carbon Cycle, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • Lectures and Practical Training for five Outreach Programs organized by North Eastern Space Applications Centre, ISRO, India, 2020-2022.
  • Lead Member of Organizing Committee and Practical Training for five workshops conducted by the DST and UP Revenue department in collaboration with IIT Kanpur, India, 2016-2017.
  • Member: IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society, International Microwave and RF Society.

Research Interests

  • Global Forest Carbon Stocks and Dynamics
  • Remote Sensing of the Environment (Forests, Flood inundation)
  • Geophysical Retrieval Algorithm Development/ Calibration/Validation
  • Machine Learning Applications in Remote Sensing

Selected Awards

  • 2012-2017: Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) Scholarship to pursue PhD at Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, India.

Selected Publications

Book Chapter

  • Naveen, R., Sarma, K.K., Dibyajyoti, C., and Onkar, D., A Survey of Machine Learning Techniques in Forestry Applications Using SAR Data, Advances in Scalable and Intelligent Geospatial Analytics: Challenges and Applications edited by Surya, D., CRC Press, Boca Raton, USA, 2023, pp. 373–398. https://doi.org/10.1201/9781003270928

Selected Journal Publications

  • Naveen, R., Sassan, S., Stefano, T., Mauro, M. D., Onkar, D., Evaluating Tropical Forest Biomass Estimation from TomoSAR Height and Backscatter Measurements, Scientific Reports, 2023, 13 (1):6233. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-33311-y
  • Naveen, R., Sassan, S., Stefano, T., Mauro, M. D., Onkar, D., Evaluation of P-Band SAR Tomography for Mapping Tropical Forest Vertical Backscatter and Tree Height, Remote sensing, Vol. 13 (8), 2021. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13081485

Selected Conference Publications

  • Naveen, R., Onkar, D., and Sassan, S., “Tropical Forest Aboveground Biomass Estimation -The Potential of L-band SAR Backscatter Data and Machine Learning Synergy”, NISAR Workshop, 20-21 March, 2023, Ahmedabad, India. (peer-reviewed)
  • Naveen, R. and Onkar, D., “A stacking ensemble learning framework for improved tropical forest aboveground biomass retrieval from multi-sensor data”, 7th International Conference on Climate Change (ICCC 2023), 9 – 10 February, 2023, Colombo, Sri Lanka. (peer-reviewed)
  • Naveen, R. and Onkar, D., “Forest aboveground biomass estimation from airborne L-band SAR data using machine learning”, The International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS) 2022, 17 - 22 July, 2022, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. (full-paper, peer-reviewed)
  • Naveen, R., Ranjit, D., Arjun, B.M., and Sarma, K.K., “Semi-automated mapping of flood extent using C-band SAR data: A case study”, in the Mediterranean and Middle-East Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (M2GARSS) 2022, 7-9 March 2022, Virtual. (full-paper, peer-reviewed)
  • Naveen, R., Sarma, K.K., Kundu, S.S., and Ranjit, D., “Evaluation of Aerosol Optical Thickness and Columnar Water Vapour using space-borne remote sensing,” in TROPMET-2020 Virtual national symposium on weather and climate services over mountainous regions, 4 – 17 December 2020, Shillong, India. (full-paper, peer-reviewed)
  • Naveen, R., Stefano, T., Mauro, M. D., Sassan, S., and Onkar, D., “Comparative Analysis of Forest Biomass Estimation using SAR Tomographic Techniques,” in International Microwave and RF Conference (IMARC) 2019, 13-15 Dec. 2019, Mumbai, India. (full-paper, peer-reviewed)
  • Naveen, R., Sassan, S., and Onkar, D., “Effect of Temporal Decorrelation on Polarimetric SAR Interferometric Measurement of Tropical Forest Structure: Results from AfriSAR L- and P- band InSAR Campaign,” in 9th International Workshop on Science and Applications of SAR Polarimetry and Polarimetric Interferometry, 28 Jan-1 Feb. 2019, Frascati, Italy. (peer-reviewed)
  • Naveen, R., and Onkar, D., “Experimental Validation of Compact TomoSAR for Vegetation Characterization,” IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS) 2018, 22-27 July 2018, Valencia, Spain. (full-paper, peer-reviewed)