Biography: Byonghyo Shim received the B.S. and M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Seoul National University (SNU), Seoul, Korea, in 1995 and 1997, respectively, and the M.S. degree in Mathematics and the Ph.D. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), Urbana, in 2004 and 2005, respectively. He was with the Department of Electronics Engineering at the Korean Air Force Academy, modem group of the Qualcomm Inc., San Diego, CA, and the School of Information and Communication, Korea University. Currently, he is a Professor at the Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Seoul National University. Dr. Shim was the recipient of the M. E. Van Valkenburg Research Award from the University of Illinois (2005), Hadong Young Engineer Award from IEIE, and Irwin Jacobs Award from Qualcomm. He is a technical committee member of IEEE Signal Processing for Communications and Networking (SPCOM), an associate editor of IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing (TSP), IEEE Transactions on Communications (TCOM), IEEE Wireless Communications Letters (WCL), Journal of Communications and Networks (JCN), and a guest editor of IEEE Journal of Selected Areas in Communications (JSAC).

Biography: Professor Abhijit Sen obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee, U.S.A. After his postdoctoral work at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S.A., he joined as a faculty in the Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad and subsequently helped establish the Institute for Plasma Research (IPR) at Gandhinagar. He served as Dean of IPR for several years and subsequently held the S. Chandrasekhar Chair Professorship. Currently an Emeritus Professor at IPR, he has a broad range of research interests in plasma physics and nonlinear dynamics including reconnection physics, micro-instabilities in laboratory and space plasmas, intense laser plasma interactions, collective phenomena in dusty plasmas, plasma turbulence and coupled oscillator systems. He has contributed to two important fundamental advances in dusty plasma physics, namely the variability of charge on a dust grain and its consequences on the stability of collective modes and the theoretical and subsequent experimental discovery of transverse shear modes in the liquid state of a strongly coupled dusty plasma. He has applied basic concepts of dynamical equilibria of charged objects to explain the observed fine structure in Saturn’s rings. In coupled oscillator systems, a paradigm for many physical, chemical and biological systems, he predicted the phenomenon of coupling delay induced amplitude death and later demonstrated it experimentally. He has contributed extensively to theoretical investigations of tokamak plasma stability and has been a leader of the MHD Topical Group of the International Tokamak Physics Activity. Dr. Sen has also played a leading role in the founding and development of the magnetic fusion program in India. He is a Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, the Indian National Science Academy, the National Academy of Sciences India and the American Physical Society.

Abstract: A charged object moving in a plasma can excite a trailing wake of electrostatic or electromagnetic waves much like a boat moving on the surface of a lake creates wake structures behind it. However, a fast moving boat traveling more rapidly than the phase velocity of the surface water wave can also emit nonlinear waves ahead of it in the form of precursor solitons or shock structures. Such a phenomenon of fore-wake excitations has been widely studied in hydrodynamics and precursor structures have also been experimentally observed in a number of laboratory studies of model ships being towed in a channel [1, 2, 3]. In principle, a similar phenomenon can also occur in a plasma medium when the charged object moves at a supersonic velocity (e.g. with respect to the ion acoustic speed, Alfven speed etc) and one can expect to see nonlinear structures moving ahead of the object. The conditions for such excitations exist naturally in many space plasma situations, e.g. the interaction of the supersonic solar wind component with the earth or moon, the fast streaming of space craft or charged debris objects interacting with the plasma in the ionosphere etc. Recently a proof-of-principle laboratory experiment observed the excitation of upstreaming dust acoustic solitons when a dusty plasma was made to flow supersonically over a stationary electrostatic potential hill [4]. The experimental results have been well validated by model calculations based on a forced Korteweg-de Vries (fKdV) equation [4] as well as fluid [5] and molecular dynamic simulations [6]. In this talk, the basic concept of nonlinear precursor waves and a review some of these past theoretical and experimental works related to this idea will be presented, followed by a discussion on some potential applications of precursors such as for Space Situational Awareness (SSA) purposes [7]. The basic idea is that multiple emissions of precursor solitons by moving space debris in the ionosphere can create a cloud of plasma irregularity that may be easily detectable from the earth and act as a tracking aid for the debris. The conditions for the excitation of electrostatic (ion-acoustic) as well as electromagnetic (magneto-sonic) structures in the LEO region will be delineated and their relative merits discussed. The possibility of identifying such structures in existing ionospheric satellite data as well as the feasibility of detecting them in a laboratory setup will also be presented.

Coming Soon

Biography: Prof Shri Kanekal did his BE in Electrical Engineering in 1980 from the University of Bangalore, India and PhD in High energy experimental physics in 1988 from the University of Kanas, USA. Since then he has held several positions, such as – Visiting Fellow, Cornell University, Principal Scientist, Raytheon ITSS and Research Scientist, LASP, University of Colorado. Since 2010 he has been engaged as a Research Astrophysicist, NASA, Goddard Space Flight Centre, USA.

Dr. Kanekal’s research interests include, energization and loss processes of relativistic electrons in the Earth’s magnetosphere, solar energetic particles, Jovian electrons, magnetospheric energetic particle boundary dynamics, space Instrumentation, and space weather. He is currently involved in several NASA missions including the Van Allen Probes as well as two CubeSats, CeREs, and CusPP. As the PI of CeREs, he is responsible for the full mission, from concept to completion. For CeRes, he has designed and is currently building the MERiT (Miniaturized Electron Proton Telescope), a novel instrument comprising avalanche photo diodes and solid state detectors in a particle telescope configuration. The main science objective of CeREs is to measure electron microbursts with high time resolution.

Abstract: The Earth’s radiation belts were discovered by James van Allen more than fifty years ago and are a home to a plethora of fascinating processes ranging from low energy cold plasma to relativistic and ultra-relativistic particle populations. The traditional morphological picture of the radiation belts is that of an outer belt comprising mostly of electrons and an inner belt comprising mostly of protons with a so-called slot region separating the two. The inner belt is somewhat stable, while the outer radiation belt is very dynamical and shows variability in energetic electron populations over a wide range of energies, intensities, and time scales ranging from minutes, days and even years. This variability is due to dynamical processes of energization and loss with a variety of plasma waves playing an important and crucial role. The traditional picture has recently been challenged with new observations coming from the twin spacecraft mission, Van Allen Probes launched in the fall of 2012, which carries a comprehensive suite of instruments that measure particles and plasma waves.  In more than 5 years of observations Van Allen Probes has advanced our understanding of fundamental questions regarding the acceleration and loss of outer Van Allen belt electron population. Van Allen Probes observations have also revealed new phenomena such as the “electron Storage ring” and the “impenetrable barrier”.

A new and exciting development is one of CubeSats and SmallSats that could bring a paradigm shift in the way space based observations are carried out.  CubeSats enable multipoint observations, which are key to future advancement of space physics. I am currently leading a CubeSat mission; CeREs, the Compact Radiation belt Explorer, and actively involved in proposing new interplanetary and multi-CubeSat missions.

I will review electron dynamics in the Van Allen belts focusing on van Allen Probes observations and present exciting new ways of advancing radiation belt science with CubeSats and CubeSat constellations.

Biography: Dr. Archana Bhattacharyya received B. Sc. (Honours) and M.Sc. degrees in Physics from University of Delhi, India, in 1967 and 1969, respectively, and a Ph.D. degree from Northwestern University, USA, in 1975. She joined the Indian Institute of Geomagnetism (IIG) in 1978 and was the Director of IIG from 2005 to 2010. She has been a visiting scientist at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and a National Research Council senior research associate at the Air Force Research Laboratory, Massachusetts, USA, She has worked on theoretical aspects of ionospheric scintillations, development of novel techniques for analysis of scintillation data, space weather effects on ionospheric radio propagation, and plasma instabilities in the equatorial ionosphere. She has been elected Fellow of the three Academies of Sciences in India. She was the Chair of the Joint National Committee for COSPAR, URSI, and SCOSTEP during 2012-2015 and President of the Indian National Committee for URSI during 2012-2015. At present, she is an Indian National Science Academy Senior Scientist at IIG.

Abstract: Two regions of the globe, which are most affected by ionospheric scintillations are the high latitude region and the low latitude region encompassing the dip equator. Our present-day dependence on satellite-based communication and navigation has led to a resurgence of interest in the prediction of ionospheric scintillations. In the low latitude ionosphere, the genesis of intermediate scale (~100m – few km) irregularities, which cause the most severe scintillations on VHF to L-band trans-ionospheric radio signals, is in the growth of the Rayleigh-Taylor (R-T) plasma instability on the bottom-side of the post-sunset equatorial F layer. Theoretical developments and observations by various ground-based instruments as well as in-situ measurements by instruments on board satellites, have identified the parameters of the ambient ionosphere, which play key roles in the occurrence of these irregularities. However, the presence of basic conditions for the linear growth of the R-T instability fails to explain the day-to-day variability in the characteristics of these irregularities, which determine the latitudinal distribution and strength of scintillations, and are a result of the non-linear evolution of the R-T instability. In this talk, the present status of the efforts at prediction of low latitude scintillations on the basis of a multitude of observations and numerical simulation of the development of the R-T instability in the equatorial ionosphere, shall be reviewed. Main focus of the talk would be on how observations of ionospheric scintillations may be used to obtain information about the non-linear evolution of the R-T instability under different ambient conditions, which is yet to be explored through numerical simulation of the phenomenon.

Biography: Prof Tomoo Ushio received the B.S, M.S., and Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from Osaka University in 1993, 1995, 1998, respectively. Currently, he is a professor in Tokyo Metropolitan University, Tokyo, Japan. His research specialties are radar-based remote sensing, passive and active remote sensing of atmosphere from space born platforms, and atmospheric electricity.

Abstract: Estimation of the global distribution of precipitation with high accuracy and resolution has long been one of the major scientific goals. Precipitation map on a global basis is important for modelling of the water cycle, maintaining the ecosystem environment, agricultural production, improvements of weather forecast precision, flood warning, and so on. GSMaP (Global Satellite Mapping of Precipitation) is a project aiming (1) to produce high-precision and high-resolution global precipitation map using satellite-borne microwave radiometer data, (2) to develop reliable microwave radiometer algorithms, and (3) to establish precipitation map techniques using multi-satellite data for GPM. The GSMaP_MVK system, short for Global Satellite Mapping of Precipitation using Moving Vector and Kalman fiilter, uses a Kalman filter model to estimate precipitation rate at each 0.1 degree with 1-hour resolution on a global basis. The input data sets are precipitation rates retrieved from the microwave radiometers and infrared images to compute the moving vector fields. Based on the moving vector fields calculated from successive IR images, precipitation fields are propagated and refined on the Kalman filter model, which uses the relationship between infrared brightness temperature and surface precipitation rate. This Kalman filter–based method shows better performance than the moving vector–only method, and the GSMaP_MVK system shows a comparable score compared with other high-resolution precipitation systems. In addion to the GSMaP_MVK product, gauge adjusted GSMaP_MVK product has been developed and opened to the public recently. In this presentation, overview of the GSMaP algorithms is given firstly particularly on GSMaP_MVK and GSMaP_Gauge, and then some evaluation results are shown in comparison with radar-rain gauge network around Japan’s main island.

Biography: Rajeev Thottappillil is Professor at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden. He was born in India. He has received Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from University of Florida, Gainesville, USA in 1992. After some years of postdoctoral research, he moved to the High Voltage Research Institute at Uppsala University, Sweden in 1995 where he became full Professor in 2000, in the subject area electricity with special emphasis on transients and discharges. Electromagnetics of lightning, effects of lightning on electrified railways, and intentional electromagnetic interference were the major research topics during this time.  In 2008, he moved to KTH where he is the head of Department of Electromagnetic Engineering within the School of EECS and also the Director of the research centre SweGRIDS – Smart Electric Grids and Storage (www.swegrids.org). He is a Fellow of IEEE.

Prof. Thottappillil has published more than 200 scientific articles related to lightning and electromagnetic compatibility, which also include 5 book chapters.  He was a co-recipient of the Richard B. Schulz award for the best IEEE EMC Transaction Paper for year 2008. In 2010 he was elected as EMP Fellow by the SUMMA Foundation for contributions to the understanding of the effects of lightning and intentional EMI on electrified railway systems, and in 2018 he was awarded the Karl Berger award by the ICLP committee for distinguished achievements in the science and engineering of lightning research

Abstract: Intentional Electromagnetic Interference or IEMI is the result of maliciously created electromagnetic disturbances in sensitive electronic systems. Modern infrastructure such as power supply, wireless communication networks, banking system, and transportation networks are dependent on civilian-off-the-shelf (COTS) equipment for its uninterrupted and reliable operations. Even though COTS equipment are tested for electromagnetic compatibility as per pre-defined electromagnetic environment and test methods, intentionally created electromagnetic disturbances creates a lot of uncertainty in the proper functioning of critical COTS elements of the infrastructure.  Infrastructure is interconnected widely distributed systems and there are several ports where substantial electromagnetic energy can be coupled intentionally by saboteurs and once coupled these disturbances travel through the interconnected system and cause breakdown at one or more weak links. It is probable that some of these breakdowns may lead to widespread disruption of critical infrastructure, such as power supply blackouts, financial service shutdown or disruption in railway network due to signal failures. Due to its inherent nature, EM attacks to civilian infrastructure may happen anonymously and repeatedly without detection.  Protection of civilian critical infrastructure against the effects of IEMI has received a lot of attention recently from the EMC community. This article reviews the work done around the world with special emphasis on the work done in Sweden.

Biography: Tadao Nagatsuma received B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in electronic engineering from Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan, in 1981, 1983, and 1986, respectively. From 1986 to 2007, he was with Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT), Kanagawa, Japan. Since 2007, he has been with Osaka University, where he is currently a Professor with the Division of Advanced Electronics and Optical Science, Department of Systems Innovation, Graduate School of Engineering Science, and a Director of Co-Creative Education Division, Office for Industry-University Co-Creation. His research interests include millimeter-wave/terahertz electronics and photonics, and their applications to communications, sensing, and measurement. He is a Fellow of the IEEE, and a Fellow of the IEICE, Japan, and a Fellow of the Electromagnetics Academy of USA

Abstract: This lecture describes how effectively photonics technologies are implemented not only in generation, detection and transmission of terahertz (THz) waves, but also in system applications such as communications, measurements and imaging. In addition, some unique approaches, which utilize concepts or physical phenomena established in the lightwave region in order to enhance function and performance of THz applications, are presented. Finally, in order to make THz systems more compact and cost-effective, recent challenges in photonic integration technologies are described, which include monolithic and hybrid integration schemes.

Biography: Ari Sihvola received the degree of Doctor of Technology in 1987 from the Helsinki University of Technology, Finland (presently Aalto University). Besides working for TKK, Aalto, and the Academy of Finland, he was visiting engineer in the Research Laboratory of Electronics of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, in 1985–1986. In 1990–1991, he worked as a visiting scientist at the Pennsylvania State University, State College. In 1996, he was visiting scientist at the Lund University, Sweden. He was visiting professor at the Electromagnetics and Acoustics Laboratory of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne (academic year 2000–01), in the University of Paris 11, in Orsay (June 2008), and in the University of Rome La Sapienza (May–June 2015). His research interests include waves and fields in electromagnetics, modelling of complex media and metamaterials, remote sensing, and radar applications. He is presently professor in the School of Electrical Engineering at the Aalto University, Finland.

Abstract: In this talk, I will review our recent work on general boundary conditions in electromagnetics. Boundary conditions constitute an inseparable part of electromagnetic problems. In addition to the “classical” perfect electric conductor (PEC) and perfect magnetic conductor (PMC) boundaries, several other conditions exist, having abbreviations like PEMC, DB, D’B’, SH, GSHDB, etc. (Lindell and Sihvola, IEEE Trans. Antennas Propagat., Vol. 65, No. 9, pp. 4656‐4663, September 2017). In the talk, I will discuss certain interesting phenomena associated with electromagnetic waves interacting with certain boundary conditions, like matched waves in connection with planar boundaries, and sharp resonance structures for small scatterers characterized by impedance surface.

Biography: Joachim Ullrich studied geophysics and physics at Frankfurt University. He held positions at GSI, Darmstadt, at the Kansas State University, the University of Missouri, was chair of Experimental Physics at the University of Freiburg, before he was appointed a Director at the Max-Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg. Since 2012 he is the President of the German National Metrology Institute, PTB. He has published more than 590 research papers and received several awards. Among them the Leibniz Award of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DPG), the David Bates Medal of the London Institute of Physics and the Philip Morris Research Award. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, an External Scientific Member of the Max-Planck Society, member of the German Academy of Science and Engineering, member of acatech, member of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities and Vice President of the German Institute for Standardization, DIN. In 2012 he became a member of the International Committee for Weights and Measures (CIPM) of the Meter Convention and was elected Vice President of the CIPM in 2015 and is the President of the Consultative Committee for the International Units (CCU).

Abstract: In November 2018, the General Conference for Weights and Measures, CGPM, established by the Metre Convention in 1875, decided at its 26th meeting on the revision of the International System of Units (SI). The signatory states of the Metre Convention represent about 98 % of the world’s economic power and, thus, the SI underpins global trade and the reliability of measurements worldwide. As outlined by Max Planck in his famous paper of 1900 postulating the “Planck constant”, the revised SI shall be based on fixing the numerical values of “defining constants”: the Boltzmann, the Avogadro and the Planck constants, the velocity of light, the elementary charge, the Cs hyperfine clock transition and the luminous efficacy. The revision is based on our present theoretical understanding of the microscopic world and is meant to ensure that the units are valid and realizable “for all of time, for all people”, the vision formulated during the French revolution, extended by Max Planck “for all times and civilizations, throughout the universe”.

In the talk an overview will be provided on the progress, challenges and future perspectives of the revised SI, sometimes dubbed “Quantum SI”, illustrated in Fig. 1. If time allows, major current developments in the realisation and dissemination of the second will be reported. For example, next-generation optical clocks using transitions in highly-charged ions that are read out via quantum-logic schemes, or clocks based on nuclear transitions will allow investigation of the question if the fundamental constants are indeed constant in time. These techniques bear the promise to trace potential changes in the fine structure constant a at the level of Da/a ≈10^-20 per year