OBJECTIVE - Seeking a full-time position in Radar Science and Technology.

ACADEMIC CREDENTIALS

        ∙ Ph.D candidate (Electrical Engineering)

          2007-12 (Expected),

          University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

        ∙ Master of Science (Electrical Engineering)

          2004-07,

          University of Colorado at Boulder.

       ∙ Bachelor of Engineering (Electrical Engineering)

         2000-04,

         Bharathiar University, India.

AWARDS AND HONORS

∙ Cover article of IEEE newsletter, 2009.

∙ Reviewer for IEEE-GRSS journal.

∙Best paper award for J. Snyder et al., 2010.

∙ Best paper award for K. Orzel et al., 2011.

RELEVANT PROFESSIONAL TRAINING

∙  Engineering Leadership

          I lead a small team of engineers to deliver results on a high visibility project with nation-wide collaborators, which featured as the cover article of an IEEE magazine.       

∙ Technical communication skills

         I have excellent technical writing skills, and have written a  number of conference papers. I also have a Journal article in review. Having presented my research at numerous international conferences, I have polished skills to communicate with large technical audiences.

∙  System level experience on multiple radar projects, from Concept to Field deployment

          I have significant experience in radar system design and integration. I also have experience with radar signal processing and handling large data volumes.

∙  Specialized skills for sub-system development

          Hands-on experience with Ansoft HFSS, Cadence Allegro, Quartus II, VHDL, C and IDL (a Fortan- based programming language that has some similarities to MATLAB). I bring antenna and microwave engineering, PCB design and digital hardware experience to the table. Very familiar with use of lab equipment like spectrum/network analyzers, peak power meters and antenna pattern measurement facilities.

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

University of Massachusetts at Amherst, 2007-present

·         Integration of  phased-array radar sub-systems (Nov. ‘11 - present)

                     I currently work with a team of Engineers who have been responsible for development of various sub-systems on a phased-array radar project. I am responsible for integration of the data-acquisition code with an FPGA-based control subsystem.  Using an in-house near-field scanning facility as a diagnostic, I am assembling  the passive antenna array with a radome and transmit/receive modules.

·         Simulation of a phased-array spaced-antenna radar (July ‘10 - present)

                      I developed a monte-carlo based phased-array radar simulator  using IDL – a Fortran-based programming language similar to MATLAB. I used this simulator to investigate spaced-antenna wind estimation algorithms to retrieve 2-D wind fields using an X-band phased-array radar.

·         Lead Engineer for an  X-band radar during VORTEX2 (May. ‘09 – July ‘10)

                      I lead a small team of Engineers for operation and maintenance of an X-band radar in $10M dollar field experiment. The field experiment  spanned about 2 months a year, where we would nomadically roam the great plains of central western USA on a pickup truck with our radar mounted on. I was also responsible for quality controlling the collected data and sharing them with collaborators.

·         Design and development of a solid-state pulse compressed radar (Aug. ‘08-  Apr. ‘09)

                     I lead a small team of Engineers to develop and integrate various sub-systems on a low peak power solid-state radar. The sub-systems developed were real-time data acquisition software that implemented pulse-compression, FPGA-based control system and the RF sub-system. This system is now being integrated with the phased-array antenna system.

·         Upgrades  on a Magnetron based dual-polarized radar  (Jun. ‘07 – Jul. ‘08 )

               I developed a voltage-translator PCB using Cadence Allegro to replace an already existing but problematic component on the radar. I also upgraded the FPGA sub-system to a state machine based controller. I was also responsible for field experiments that with this radar, and subsequent data processing and quality control.

University of Colorado at Boulder, 2004-2007

·         Temperature retrieval from meteor echo decorrelation times  (Jun. ‘06 – May ‘07)

              Investigated algorithms to extract upper atmospheric temperature from  radar echo decorrelation times. This involved programming using IDL and presenting results at a conference.

·         Design and testing of receiver sub-system for a VHF radar  (Feb. ‘05 – May. ‘06)

              I was responsible for the design and layout of a VHF  receiver sub-system on a PCB using Cadence Allegro. I also assembled and tested the PCB and packaged it using machining tools available in house.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

       [1] V. Venkatesh, S.J. Frasier, “Simulation of spaced-antenna retrieval performance on an X-band phased-array weather radar”, In review, Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, 2011.

      [2]  V. Venkatesh, K. Orzel, S.J. Frasier, “Numerical simulation of a spaced-antenna phased-array  weather  radar,” 35th Conference on Radar Meteorology, AMS, Pittsburgh, PA, 2011.

       [3]  K. Orzel, V. Venkatesh et al., “Mobile X-band dual polarization phased-array radar: System requirements and development,” 35th Conference on Radar Meteorology, AMS, Pittsburgh, PA, 2011.
 

       [4]  S.J. Frasier, V. Venkatesh et al., Invited paper , “An overview of X- and W- band observations from Vortex2 and recent developments”, IEEE Radar conference, 2011.

       [5]  J. Snyder, H. Bluestein, J. Sung, S.J. Frasier, V. Venkatesh, “The Structure and Time Evolution of Polarimetric Signatures in Severe Convective Storms: High-Resolution Numerical Simulations and Data from a Mobile, X-Band Doppler Radar , AMS SLS conference 2010.

      [6] D. Burgess, C. Schwarz, J. Snyder, H. Bluestein, V. Venkatesh, K.Orzel, S.J. Frasier, “Mobile X- Band, Dual-Polarization Radars in VORTEX2 2009: Data Quality, Comparison, and Analysis,” ERAD, 2009.

       [7]  V.Venkatesh, S.J Frasier, “Design considerations for an X-band phased-array spaced-antenna weather radar,” 34th Conf. on Radar Met., AMS, Williamsburg, VA, 2009.

      [8] A. Hopf, J. Salazar, R. Medina, V. Venkatesh, E. Knapp, S.J. Frasier, D.J MacLaughlin, “CASA phased array radar system: Description, simulation and products”,, IEE IGARSS, Cape Town, 2009.

      [9] V.Venkateshet. al, “The UMass X-Pol mobile Doppler radar: Description, Recent observations and new system  developments”, IEEE IGARRS, Boston,  2008.

      [10] V. Venkatesh, S. dela Pena, E. Lau, S.K. Avery, “Estimation of temperature from meteor radar decay times”, MST-10, Gadanki, India, 2006.

SELECTED MEDIA COVEARGE OF MY RESEARCH (mentioning me)

      [1] Daily Hampshire Gazette, “Eye of the storm:UMass researchers follow tornadoes in quest for accuracy”.

      [2] IEEE Institute, Cover article, March 2009.

EXTRA-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

       [1] Internationally FIDE-rated Chess player. For this sport, I have represented India as an ambassador in International youth conventions twice.

        [2] Participated in Cricket leagues across the United states. I have also lead a team to winning the  championship in the Amherst Cricket League , 2011.