PhD Scholar Receives Grant to Present at Geoscience Symposium

Maitrik Shah, PhD Scholar, School of Engineering and Applied Science, will present his paper at the IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium - iGARSS 2022 organised by the IEEE GRSS society in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, between July 17 and 22. Given the impact of his research on society and the benefits it presents, IEEE has awarded him a grant for attending the conference, a rare honour extended to a select few researchers across the world. Titled 'Deep Learning Perspective to Atmospheric Correction', the paper describes the issues in the existing implementation of Atmospheric Correction (AC) and provides a way to solve those problems using the Deep Learning (DL) Model. Maitrik has categorised and reviewed three approaches for AC - DL-assisted physics-based approach, physics aware DL approach, and physics agnostic DL approach. 

Atmospheric correction, the process of removing the effect of atmospheric molecules on the electromagnetic energy reflected from the earth and retrieving correct surface reflectance values, is necessary and crucial in many remote sensing applications like crop yield prediction, object recognition, and change detection. Maitrik had the School of Engineering and Applied Science's Professor and Associate Dean - Experiential Learning, Mehul S Raval, as his guide and Associate Professor Shrikrishnan Divakaran as his co-guide. He reviewed existing literature that has tried to apply these Deep Learning models to the Atmospheric Correction process, illustrating the possible challenges and providing probable solutions. "The paper overviews each of these approaches by providing the rationale behind them, discusses key open issues, and highlights possible solutions in different contexts for AC using DL," he says. 

For Maitrik, the opportunity to interact at iGARSS 2022 with brilliant minds from across the world is an achievement in itself. "It's really about the fantastic exchange of ideas besides, of course, the international recognition of the paper by the most reputed organisation in this field," he says.

The International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS) is the flagship conference of the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society (GRSS), aimed at providing a platform for sharing knowledge and experience on recent developments and advancements in geoscience and remote sensing technologies, particularly in the context of earth observation, disaster monitoring, and risk assessment.