Subsurface Sensing Across Scales: From the Global Environment to Medical Imaging

Mahta Moghaddam
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Monday, May 11, 2009 at 1:00PM
54-134 Engineering IV Building
Refreshments Served

Abstract: Active microwave sensing is key in noninvasive characterization of complex subsurface targets in a variety of high-impact applications today. These include remote sensing of the Earth for global weather and climate studies, planetary exploration, detection and characterization of underground or underwater structures, construction technologies, medical imaging, and exploration of subsurface natural resources. Accurate characterization of spatial distribution and material properties of complex objects on scales as large as the globe and as small as the interior of the human body requires a suite of tools. For example, it requires efficient numerical forward scattering algorithms, appropriate inversion techniques based on stochastic nonlinear optimization approaches, availability of sufficient measurements, and well characterized and optimized instruments and measurement parameters.

This talk will start with a brief introduction to the forward scattering solutions at both large and small spatial scales for subsurface structures, followed by a summary of our research on inversion and estimation techniques applied to quantitative remote sensing of the Earth subsurface, as well as to 3D super resolution medical imaging. The commonalities and distinctions of approaches for the two classes of problems will be discussed. Examples will be shown using various actual and hypothetical measurement scenarios, highlighting the sensitivity of inversion results to data diversity.

Biography: Mahta Moghaddam is Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) at the University of Michigan. She received the B.S. degree (with highest distinction) from the University of Kansas, Lawrence, in 1986 and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, in 1989 and 1991, respectively, all in electrical and computer engineering. From 1991 to 2003, she was with the Radar Science and Engineering Section, Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, before joining the Radiation Laboratory in the EECS department at Michigan.

Dr. Moghaddam has extensive experience in electromagnetic and acoustic scattering modeling of complex and inhomogeneous media, as well as the solution of the associate inverse scattering problems. She was the first to show super resolution in connection with both the electromagnetic and acoustic nonlinear inverse problems. Later she introduced innovative approaches and algorithms for quantitative interpretation of multichannel synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery based on analytical inverse scattering techniques applied to complex and random media. She has also introduced a quantitative approach for data fusion by combining SAR and optical remote sensing data for nonlinear estimation of vegetation and surface parameters. She has led the development of new radar instrument and measurement technologies for subsurface and subcanopy characterization. Her other responsibilities during her tenure at JPL included being a Systems Engineer for the Cassini Radar and the Science Chair of the JPL Team X (Advanced Mission Studies Team).

Dr. Moghaddam's research group is currently engaged in a variety of research topics related to applied electromagnetics, including the development of advanced radar systems for subsurface characterization, mixed-mode microwave/acoustic high resolution medical imaging techniques, and smart sensor webs for remote sensing data collection and validation. She has been the Principal and Co-investigator on numerous research projects, and has authored or coauthored over 170 publications. She is a Fellow of IEEE and a member of URSI Commission B.