Kerri Cahoy

Kerri Cahoy is the Sheila Evans Widnall 1960 Professor in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT. She received her BS degree (2000) in electrical engineering from Cornell University, and her MS (2002) and PhD (2008) degrees in electrical engineering from Stanford University. She joined the MIT faculty in 2011 and leads the space telecommunications, astronomy, and radiation laboratory (STAR Lab), focusing on nano-satellite and space telescope technology demonstrations as well as satellite remote sensing and autonomy.

Presentation Title:

AI-In-the-Loop MEMS Optical Control for Space Imaging and Lasercom

MEMS deformable mirrors and fast steering mirrors have been successfully demonstrated in space on CubeSat platforms for wavefront control and laser communication pointing, acquisition, and tracking. Building on this flight-proven capability, we present an AI-enabled, closed-loop optical control approach that integrates onboard machine learning with MEMS actuation to improve detection and tracking of objects of interest. Using exoplanet direct imaging as an example, we show that convolutional neural networks and vision transformers can both identify candidate exoplanets in speckle-dominated images and guide localized wavefront estimation and control around those candidates. We discuss extensions of this approach to high-contrast imaging and lasercom beacon and data signal tracking.