James Carswell

Dr. James R. Carswell is the President and Founder of Remote Sensing Solutions, Inc. He received the Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and the B.S.E.E degree from Tufts University. He is an adjunct professor at UMass.

As co-founder and president of RSS, Dr. Carswell serves as the Company's main technology visionary for providing hardware, digital processing and data management solutions for remote sensing applications. He has lead the development of an FPGA-based digital receiver for the NASA High Altitude Imaging Wind and Rain Airborne Profiler (HIWRAP) that will be deployed on the NASA Global Hawk UAV. He designed the solid-state Ku/Ka-band transceiver for HIWRAP and lead the design and development of a similar transceiver in support of a ground validation Ku/Ka-band radar for the NASA GPM mission (D3R). Dr. Carswell has developed and implemented real-time inversion algorithms to derive the ocean surface wind field from measurements acquired with NOAA's operational instrumentation and has developed real-time inversion algorithms for extracting precipitation rates and ABL winds. This work has been used to support NASA's QuikSCAT mission.

He has also led the development of an adaptable web server and processor to provide real-time and historical access to sensor data on the NOAA WP-3D aircraft and is very familiar with the aircraft and scientific data being collected by this platform. He was the principal investigator on a project with NOAA Aircraft Operations Center to develop the next generation main data system on the NOAA aircraft. This system is responsible for collecting, storing, processing and distributing all data collected on NOAA aircraft.

Dr. Carswell has been designing, developing and deploying remote sensing instrumentation since 1992. His accomplishments prior to founding Remote Sensing Solutions include: leading the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and hurricane remote sensing programs at the University of Massachusetts; developing the first solid-state airborne W-band cloud radar for use on UAVs; developing the first solid-state airborne W-band Cloud Radar utilizing digital pulse compression and achieving sensitivities equal to EIK amplifier based systems; developing the first dual-wavelength Doppler radar for airborne hurricane remote sensing (IWRAP); and leading the development of a wireless broadband network solution based on the 802.16 (WiMAX) draft standard.

Selected Articles and Presentations

  • Lihua Li; Heymsfield, G.; Carswell, J.; Schaubert, D.; McLinden, M.; Vega, M.; Perrine, M.; “Development of the NASA High-Altitude Imaging Wind and Rain Airborne Profiler,” 2011 IEEE Aerospace Conference, pp. 1 - 8.
  • Chandrasekar, V.; Schwaller, M.; Vega, M.; Carswell, J.; Mishra, K.V.; Meneghini, R.; Cuong Nguyen; “Scientific and engineering overview of the NASA Dual-Frequency Dual-Polarized Doppler Radar (D3R) system for GPM Ground Validation,” 2010 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS), pp. 1308 - 1311.
  • Carswell, J.R.; Perkovic, D.; Tao Chu; Frasier, S.J.; Chang, P.; Jelenak, Z.; “Preliminary investigation of splash effect on high wind C-band HH-pol model function,” 2010 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS), pp. 2539 - 2542.
  • Vega, M.; Carswell, J.; Chandrasekar, V.; Schwaller, M.; Mishra, K.V.; “Realization of the NASA Dual-Frequency Dual-Polarized Doppler Radar (D3R),” 2010 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS), pp. 4815 - 4818.
  • Carswell, J.R.; Heymsfield, G.; Lihua Li; Schaubert, D.; Creticos, J.; “A High Altitude Airborne Wind Mapping Radar,” 2008 IEEE Aerospace Conference, pp. 1 - 7.
  • McManus, J.J.; Frasier, S.J.; Carswell, J.R.; “Implementation of Pulse Compression on an Airborne Scatterometer,” IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, 2008. IGARSS 2008. Vol. 4, pp. IV - 1418 to IV - 1421.
  • Contreras, R.; Frasier, S.; Chu, T.; Perkovic, D.; McManus, J.; Chang, P.; Jelenak, Z.; Carswell, J.; Esteban-Fernandez, D.; “The Imaging Wind and Rain Airborne Profiler (IWRAP) Data Archive,” IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, 2008. IGARSS 2008. Vol. 4, pp. IV - 1181 to IV - 1184.
  • Lihua Li; Heymsfield, G.; Carswell, J.; Schaubert, D.; Creticos, J.; Vega, M.; “High-Altitude Imaging Wind and Rain Airborne Radar (HIWRAP),” IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, 2008. IGARSS 2008. Vol. 3, pp. III - 354 to III - 357.
  • J Carswell, S. Bidwell, R. Menehini, "A Novel Solid-State, Dual Polarized, Dual Wavelength Precipitation Doppler Radar / Radiometer," IGARSS 2008, Boston, MA, July, 2008.
  • Tao Chu; Frasier, S.J.; Fernandez, D.E.; Chang, P.S.; Carswell, J.R.; “The Impact of Surface Scattering on Ocean Atmospheric Boundary Layer (ABL) Wind Profile Estimates from an Airborne Doppler Radar,” IGARSS 2008. Vol. 4, pp. IV - 61 to IV - 64.
  • J Carswell, G. Heymsfield, L. LI, D. Schaubert, J. Creticos, "A High Altitude Airborne Wind Mapping Radar," 2008 IEEE Aerospace Conference, Big Sky, Montana, 2008.
  • E. Uhlhorn, et. al, "Hurricane Surface Wind Measurements from an Operation Stepped Frequency Microwave Radiometer," Monthly Weather Review, accepted for publication in 2007.
  • Sekelsky, S.M.; Carswell, J.; “High power electronic scanning millimeter-wave radar system design,” 2006 IEEE Aerospace Conference, Publication Year: 2006.
  • D. Esteban Fernandez, J.R. Carswell, et. al.,"Dual-polarized C- and Ku-band Ocean Backscatter response to Hurricane Force Winds," Journal of Geophysical Research (Oceans), Vol. 111, Aug 2006.
  • Fernandez, D.E.; Chang, P.; Carswell, J.; Contreras, R.; Chu, T.; “Spectral Behavior of the Ocean Surface Backscatter and the Atmospheric Boundary Layer at C- and Ku-band under High wind and Rain Conditions,” IGARSS 2006. Proceedings. pp. 1871 - 1874.
  • Fernandez, D.E.; Chang, P.S.; Carswell, J.R.; Contreras, R.F.; Frasier, S.J.; “Airborne measurements of rain and the ocean surface backscatter response at C- and Ku-band,” IGARSS '05. Proceedings. Vol. 1.
  • D. Esteban, E. Kerr, J. Carswell, A. Zhang, P. Chang, Frasier, S., "IWRAP: the Imaging Wind and Rain Airborne Profiler for Ocean and Atmospheric Boundary Layer Remote Sensing," IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Vol. 43, No. 8, pp. 1775-1787, 2005.
  • Fernandez, D.E.; Kerr, E.; Frasier, S.; Carswell, J.; Chang, P.; Jelenak, Z.; Connor, L.; Black, P.; Marks, F.; Alex Zhang; “C- and Ku-band ocean backscatter measurements under extreme wind conditions,” IGARSS '04. Proceedings. Vol. 1.
  • Yinghai Ke; Xuehu Zhang; Xiuwan Chen; Jilong Yang; Esteban, D.; Carswell J; Frasier, S.; McLaughlin, D.J.; Chang, P.; Black, P.; Marks, F.; “3-D hurricane boundary layer wind retrieval algorithm for airborne Doppler radar measurements,” IGARSS '04. Proceedings. Vol. 1.
  • Jilong Yang; Xuehu Zhang; Xiuwan Chen; Yinghai Ke; Esteban, D.; Carswell, J.; Frasier, S.; McLaughlin, D.J.; Chang, P.; Black, P.; Marks, F.; “Effect of precipitation on ocean wind scatterometry,” IGARSS '04. Proceedings. Vol. 7, pp. 4913 - 4916.
  • Fernandez, D.E.; Xuehu Zhang; Castells, A.; McLaughlin, D.; Carswell, J.; Paul Chang; Connor, L.; Black, P.; Marks, F.; “The Imaging Wind and Rain Airborne Profiler - a dual frequency dual polarized conically scanning airborne profiling radar,” IGARSS '03. Proceedings. Vol. 7, pp. 4246 - 4248.
  • Fernandez, D.E.; Xuehu Zhang; Carswell, J.; McLaughlin, D.; Chang, P.; Connor, L.; Black, P.G.; Marks, F.D.; “Hurricane wind and rain measurements using a dual polarized C/Ku-band airborne radar profiler,” IGARSS '03. Proceedings. Vol. 2, pp. 1247 - 1248.
  • Roman-Nieves, J.I.; Sekelsky, S.M.; Carswell, J.R.; Bolton, W.R.; Tooman, T.P.; “High altitude compact solid state 95 GHz cloud radar,” IGARSS '02. Vol. 5, pp. 2672 - 2674.
  • S. Frasier, F. Wang, J. Carswell, E. Knapp, and C. Swift; “Pier-based observations of polarized sea surface emission,” Radio Science, 36, 4, 2001.
  • Castells, A.; Carswell, J.R.; Chang, P.S.; “A high-resolution Imaging Wind and Rain Airborne Profiler for tropical cyclones,” IGARSS '01. Vol. 5, pp. 2013 - 2015.
  • A. Ramanathan, R. Tessier, D. McLaughlin, J. Carswell, S. Frasier, "Acquisition of Sensing Data on a Reconfigurable Platform," Proc. of the IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, Sydney, Australia, 9-13 July 2001, Vol. 1, pp. 222-223.
  • Frasier, S.J.; Carswell, J.R.; Capdevila, J.; “A pod-based dual-beam interferometric radar for ocean surface current vector mapping,” IGARSS '01. Vol. 1, pp. 561 - 563.
  • Carswell, J.R.; Knapp, E.J.; Chang, P.S.; Black, P.D.; Marks, F.D.; “Limitations of scatterometry high wind speed retrieval,” IGARSS 2000. Proceedings. Vol. 3, pp. 1226 - 1228.
  • Knapp, E.J.; Carswell, J.R.; Swift, C.T.; “A dual polarization multi-frequency microwave radiometer,” IGARSS 2000. Proceedings. Vol. 7, pp. 3160 - 3162.
  • Chang, P.S.; Connor, L.N.; Carswell, J.R.; Dunbar, R.S.; “Operational scatterometry: high wind speed retrievals,” IGARSS 2000. Proceedings. Vol. 3, pp. 1045 - 1047.
  • Connor, L.N.; Chang, P.S.; Carswell, J.R.; “Identification and possible correction of rain contamination in QuikScat/SeaWinds wind retrievals,” IGARSS 2000. Proceedings. Vol. 3, pp. 1238 - 1240.
  • Stephens, Ellingson, Vitko, Bolton, Tooman, Valero, Minnis, Pilewskie, Phipps, Sekelsky, Carswell, Miller, Benedetti, McCoy, Lederbuhr, Bambha, "The Department of Energy’s Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Unmanned Aerospace (UAV) Program," Bulletin of American Meteorological Society, 81(12), 2000.
  • J.R. Carswell, W.J. Donnelly, R.E. McIntosh, M.A. Donelan and D.C. Vandemark, "Analysis of C and Ku-band Ocean Backscatter Measurements Under Low-wind Conditions," Journal of Geophysical Research (Oceans), 104(C9), pp. 20687-20701, 1999.
  • W.J. Donnelly, J.R. Carswell, R.E. McIntosh, P. Chang, J. Wilkerson, P. Black, F. Marks, "Revised Ocean Backscatter Models at C and Ku-band Under High Wind Conditions," Journal Of Geophysical Research (Oceans), 104(C5), pp. 11485-11498, 1999.
  • Carswell, J.; Knapp, E.; Goodberlet, M.; Chang, P.; “Active/passive remote sensing of ocean wind vector for hurricane reconnaissance applications,” IGARSS '99 Proceedings. Vol. 3, pp. 1854 - 1856.
  • Donnelly, W.J.; Carswell, J.R.; McIntosh, R.E.; Chang, P.S.; Wilkerson, J.C.; “Investigation of the ocean backscatter during high wind events. II. Analyses and revised high wind backscatter models,” IGARSS '98 Proceedings. Vol. 5, pp. 2314 - 2316.
  • Jones, W.L.; Jun-Dong Park; Donnelly, W.J.; Carswell, J.R.; McIntosh, R.E.; Zec, J.; Yueh, S.; “An improved NASA Scatterometer geophysical model function for tropical cyclones,” IGARSS 1998 Proceedings. Vol. 4, pp. 1994 - 1997.
  • Chang, P.S.; Wilkerson, J.C.; Donnelly, W.J.; Carswell, J.R.; McIntosh, R.E.; “Investigation of the ocean backscatter during high wind events. I. Experiment description and results,” IGARSS 1998 Proceedings. Vol. 5, pp. 2311 - 2313.
  • Bambha, R.P.; Carswell, J.R.; Mead, J.B.; McIntosh, R.E.; “A compact millimeter wave radar for airborne studies of clouds and precipitation,” IGARSS 1998 Proceedings. Vol. 1, pp. 443 - 445.
  • David E. Weissman, Fuk K. Li, Shu-hsiang Lou, Son V. Nghiem, Gregory Neumann, Robert E. McIntosh, Steven C. Carson, James R. Carswell, Hans C. Graber, Robert E. Jensen; “Measurements of Ocean Surface Stress Using Aircraft Scatterometers,” Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology Volume 14, Issue 4 (August 1997) pp. 835-848.
  • Petronino, M.; Bambha, R.; Carswell, J.; Burleson, W.; “An FPGA-based data acquisition system for a 95 GHz W-band radar,” IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing (ICASSP-97). Vol. 5, pp. 4105 - 4108.
  • Gasiewski, A.J.; Piepmeier, J.R.; McIntosh, R.E.; Swift, C.T.; Carswell, J.R.; Donnelly, W.J.; Knapp, E.; Westwater, E.R.; Irisov, V.I.; Fedor, L.S.; Vandemark, D.C.; “Combined high-resolution active and passive imaging of ocean surface winds from aircraft,” IGARSS '97. Remote Sensing - A Scientific Vision for Sustainable Development. Vol. 2, pp. 1001 - 1005.
  • Vandemark, D.; Hines, D.; Chapron, B.; Carswell, J.; Donnelly, W.; “Observations of the ocean surface using an aircraft altimeter, scatterometer and ROWS,” IGARSS '96. 'Remote Sensing for a Sustainable Future.', Vol. 2, pp. 1385 - 1388.
  • Carswell, J.; Donnelly, W.; McIntosh, R.; “Remote sensing of the near surface-ocean wind vector under low-wind conditions using scatterometry,” IGARSS '96. 'Remote Sensing for a Sustainable Future.', Vol. 3, pp. 1466 - 1468.
  • Carswell, J.; Donnelly, W.; McIntosh, R.; “Investigation of the azimuthal response of off-nadir backscatter from the ocean surface,” IGARSS '95. 'Quantitative Remote Sensing for Science and Applications', Vol. 3, pp. 1637 - 1639.
  • Nghiem, S.V.; Li, F.K.; Shu-Hsiang Lou; Neumann, G.; McIntosh, R.E.; Carson, S.C.; Carswell, J.R.; Walsh, E.J.; Donelan, M.A.; Drennan, W.M.; “Observations of radar backscatter at Ku and C bands in the presence of large waves during the Surface Wave Dynamics Experiment,” IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Vol. 33, Issue 3, pp. 708 - 721.
  • Carswell, J.R.; Carson, S.C.; McIntosh, R.E.; Li, F.K.; Neumann, G.; McLaughlin, D.J.; Wilkerson, J.C.; Black, P.G.; Nghiem, S.V.; “Airborne scatterometers: investigating ocean backscatter under low and high-wind conditions,” Proceedings of the IEEE, Vol. 82 , Issue 12, pp. 1835 - 1860.
  • Carswell, J.; McIntosh, R.; “Backscatter from the ocean surface under low wind conditions,” IGARSS '94. Surface and Atmospheric Remote Sensing: Technologies, Data Analysis and Interpretation. Vol. 1, pp. 562 - 564.