CURRICULUM VITAE
S.V. Mohankumar
Head, Atmosphere Technology Division
Space Physics Laboratory, VSSC, ISRO PO.
Trivandrum, India 695 022
Email sv_mohankumar[at]vssc[dot]gov[dot]in
Designation / Grade Scientist/Engineer SG
Academic Qualifications
Qualification Year Subject
Institution / University
M Tech 1994 Electronics &
Communication
College of Engineering
Trivandrum
Marks Grade
72.5 I Class
Bsc Engg 1979 Electronics &
Communication
College of Engineering
Trivandrum
71.5 I Class with
Distinction
Fellowships / Memberships
1.
Fellow, Institution of Engineers (India)
2.
Member, Indian Meteorological society
Award
ISRO Award 2008 - ‘Team Excellence Award for payload instruments science and mission operations’ (Chandrayaan I)
Training / Short-term Courses attended
1.
"Current Signal Processing Techniques in Radar Navigation" conducted by
Research and Training Unit for Navigational Electronics, Osmania University,
Hyderabad during May 15-25 1985.
2.
"Digital Signal Processing" sponsored by ISRO-IITM Space Technology Cell,
IIT Madras, during October 12-23, 1992.
3.
"Object Oriented Programming in C++" conducted by Computer Society of
India, Trivandrum Chapter during March 21-April 8, 1994.
4.
"Internal Auditor Training" for ISO 9000, conducted by TQM International
India during September 12-13, 1996.
5.
“Training Programme on GNU/Linux Operating System”, conducted by HR
Division , VSSC during April 26-27, 2004.
6.
“Management Development Program for ISRO Scientists/Engineers”, sponsored by ISRO at Administrative Staff College of India, Hyderabad during March 9-20, 2009.
Last updated in June 2014

Experience
Post Held
Sci/Engr SB
Sci/Engr SC
Period
1980 – 84
1984 – 88
Major assignment
DAS for Acoustic Radar
DAS for Meteor Trails Radar
Sci/Engr SD
Sci/Engr SE
1988 – 92
1993 – 97
DAS for HF Radar
DAS for Multi Wavelength Lidar
Sci/Engr SE (EOL)
Sci/Engr SF
Project Manager
1998(Jan-Sep) DAS for RADAR ESCO
Fellowship at INPE, Brazil
1998(Oct)-2006 DAS for Partial reflection Radar
Development of Imaging LIDAR system
2004 -2006 Space Borne Lidar Project
Nodal Person
Sci/Engr SG
DPD
DPD
DPD
2004-2008
2006-
2011-
2011-
2014-
SARA, Chandrayaan-I
Head, ATD, SPL
MENCA, Mars Mission
CHACE 2, Chandrayaan-II
PAPA, Aditya-L1
PUBLICATIONS
1.
Sreelatha, P., P Pradeepkumar & S V Mohankumar, ”A LabVIEW based extended (10,5) binary hamming code generator for telecommanding applications”, International Journal of Soft
Computing and Engineering (IJSCE), Vol4 (2), pp. 70-73, 2014.
2.
Manju, G., R. Sridharan, Sudha Ravindran, M.K. Madhav Haridas, Tarun K. Pant, P. Sreelatha,
S.V. Mohan Kumar (2012) “Rocket borne in-situ Electron density and Neutral Wind measurements in the equatorial ionosphere—Results from the January 2010 annular solar eclipse campaign from India”, JASTP, Vol. 86, pp. 56–64, 2012. (Listed among the top 25 articles)
3.
Tirtha Pratim Das , Prasanna Mahavarkar, Gogulapati Supriya, Satheesh Thampi, P. Sreelatha, P.
Pradeepkumar, Neha Naik, S V Mohankumar and Anil Bhardwaj “Accurate Estimation of the
Total Pressure using a Mass Spectrometer below the X-ray limit” ; Proc. International
Conference on Innovative Science and Engineering Technology (ICISET 2011), ISBN 978-81-
906377-5-6, Vol 1 , page 76, 2011
4.
Tirtha Pratim Das, Gogulapati Supriya, Prasanna Mahavarkar, Neha Naik, P. Sreelatha, P.
Pradeepkumar, S V Mohankumar, Anil Bhardwaj and R. Sridharan “Study on the Water Vapor
Desorption Rate from Space-Borne Mass Spectrometers under Simulated Deep Space Vacuum”;
Proc. International Conference on Innovative Science and Engineering Technology (ICISET
2011), ISBN 978-81-906377-5-6, Vol 1 , page 430, 2011
5.
Anil Bhardwaj, S V Mohankumar, P Sreelatha, P Pradeepkumar, B Sundar, T P Das, Amarnath
Nandi, Neha Naik, G Supriya, R S Thampi, G P Padmanabhan, V K Yadav, M B Dhanya, N
Raghu, A V Aliyas “Study of the Lunar Exosphere with the CHACE-2 experiment aboard the
Chandrayaan-2”; Proc. PLANEX Decadal Conference (International), December, 2011
6.
Anil Bhardwaj, S. V. Mohankumar, P. Sreelatha, P. Pradeepkumar, Tirtha P. Das,Neha Naik, G.
Supriya, B. Sunder, Amarnath Nandi, Vipin K. Yadav, M.B. Dhanya, R.Satheesh Thampi, G. P.
Last updated in June 2014

Padmanabhan, N. Raghu, and A.V. Aliyas, “Exploration of Martian Upper Atmosphere-
Exosphere” ; Proc. PLANEX Decadal Conference (International), December, 2011
7.
Stas Barabash, Anil Bhardwaj, Martin Wieser, R. Sridharan, Thomas Kurian, Subha Varier, E.
Vijayakumar, Veena Abhirami, K. V. Raghavendra, S. V. Mohankumar, M. B. Dhanya, Satheesh
Thampi ,“Investigation of the solar wind – Moon interaction onboard Chandrayaan-1 mission with the SARA Experiment”, Current Science (Special issue on Chandrayaan-1 Mission), Volume 96, pp 526-532, Number 4, 25 February 2009.
8.
M. Satyanarayana ; Nair S. Muraleedharen ; B. Presennakumar ; Rao D. Ramakrishna ; S. V.
Mohankumar,"Simulation studies on clouds and aerosols from spaceborne and ground-based lidars and the methodology for validation"; Conference on Lidar Remote Sensing for Environmental
Monitoring VII, Vol. 6409, Proc SPIE 12/2006. DOI:10.1117/12.694209
9.
Ramakrishna Rao Duggirala ; Mohankumar Santhibhavan Vasudevan Pillai ; Presennakumar
Bhargavan ; Muraleedharen Nair Sivarama Pillai ; Satyanarayana Malladi,"Data acquisition and processing of space-borne lidar system"; Conference on Lidar Remote Sensing for Environmental
Monitoring VII, Vol. 6409, Proc SPIE 12/2006; DOI:10.1117/12.694026
10.
Malladi Satyanarayana ; Sangaipillai Veerabuthiran ; Rajappan Sreeja ; Bhargavan Presennakumar
; Sivarama Pillai Muraleedharen Nair ; Duggirala Ramakrishna Rao ; Santhibhavan Vasudevan
Pillai Mohankumar,"Lidar measurement of winter time cirrus clouds at a tropical coastal station in
Trivandrum, India"; Conference on Lidar Remote Sensing for Environmental Monitoring VII,
Vol. 6409, Proc SPIE 12/2006; DOI:10.1117/12.694015
11.
Malladi Satyanarayana ; Sreeja Rajappan ; Presennakumar Bhargavan ; Muraleedharen Nair
Sivaramapillai ; Duggirala Ramakrishna Rao ; Mohankumar Santhibhavan Vasudevan
Pillai,"Significance of the extinction to backscatter ratio and the boundary value term in characterizing the aerosol/cloud layers obtained at a coastal station in Trivandrum, India";
Conference on Lidar Remote Sensing for Environmental Monitoring VII, Vol. 6409, Proc SPIE
12/2006; DOI:10.1117/12.694035
12.
Sangaipillai Veerabuthiran; Malladi Satyanarayana; Rajappan Sreeja; Bhargavan Presennakumar;
Sivarama Pillai Muraleedharen Nair; Duggirala Ramakrishna Rao; Santhibhavan Vasudevan Pillai
Mohankumar,"Lidar measurements of sub-visible aerosol layers in the free troposphere at a tropical coastal station in Trivandrum, India"; Conference on Lidar Remote Sensing for
Environmental Monitoring VII, Vol. 6409, Proc SPIE 12/2006; DOI:10.1117/12.694528
13.
Ramakrishna Rao Duggirala ; Mohankumar Santhibhavan Vasudevanpillai ; Presennakumar
Bhargavan ; Muraleedharen Nair Sivarama Pillai ; Satyanarayana Malladi,"Multiwavelength lidar: challenges of data acquisition and processing"; Conference on Lidar Remote Sensing for
Environmental Monitoring VII, Vol. 6409, Proc SPIE 12/2006; DOI:10.1117/12.694213
14.
B. Presennakumar ; Anoop Kumar S. ; D. Ramakrishna Rao ; S. Muraleedharen Nair ;
Mohankumar Santhibhavan Vasudevanpillai ; S. Veerabuthiran ; M. Satyanarayana ,“Effects of the atmosphere on image quality in the imaging lidar system”; Conference on Lidar Remote
Sensing for Environmental Monitoring VII, Vol. 6409, Proc SPIE 12/2006;
DOI:10.1117/12.694584
15.
Janardhanan, K V., D Ramakrishna Rao, K S Viswanathan, B V Krishna Murthy, K S V Shenoy,
S V Mohankumar, K P Kamath, K K Mukundan, G Sajitha, M Shajahan, C Ayyappan, "HF backscatter radar at the magnetic equator: system details and preliminary results", Indian Journal of Radio & Space Physics, Vol 30, pp77-90, April 2001.
16.
Satyanarayana, M, D Ramakrishna Rao, S V Mohankumar, B Presennakumar, P sreelatha, S
Veerabuthiran, "Multiwavelength laser radar studies in the atmosphere", Asian Journal of Physics,
Vol 9, No.2, 191-195, 2000.
17.
Clezio M. Denardini, Mangalathayil A. Abdu, Jose H. A. Sobral, Kadavallur V.Janardhanan,
Mohankumar S. Vasudevanpillai, "VHF Ionospheric Radar for Studying the Electrodynamics of
Equatorial Electrojet in Brazil", Revista Geofisica, Instituto Panamericano De Geografia E
Historia, No.50, pp151-161, Enero-Junio 1999.
Last updated in June 2014

Project Reports
1.
K.V.Janardhanan, C.Raghava Reddi, D.Ramakrishna Rao, K.P.Khosla, K.S.V.Shenoy, K.P.Kamath,
Sudha Ravindran, S.V.Mohankumar
, Stratosphere and Troposphere Radar (ST Radar), September,
1985.
2.
K.V.Janardhanan, D.Ramakrishna Rao, K.S.V.Shenoy, K.S.Viswanathan, S.V.Mohankumar
,
K.K.Mukundan, Saroja Mohanasundaram, “HF Radar”, October 1990.
3.
Kadavallur V. Janardhanan, Mohankumar S. Vasudevanpillai , Coherent VHF Backscatter Radar
(Radar ESCO) of INPE, September 1998.
Technical Report
Janardhanan, K.V., K.P. Kamath, K.S.V. Shenoy, D. Ramakrishna Rao, C.D. Prasad, George Thomas,
S.V. Mohankumar , M.N. Sasi, and C. Raghava Reddi, "Meteor wind radar of VSSC: Transmitting and receiver systems", Technical Report, SPL:SR:01:86, 1986.
Symposium presentations (co-authored)
1.
“An Orbiter-based in situ Study of the Lunar Exosphere: the CHACE-2 Experiment aboard
Chandrayaan-2”, 18 th
National Space Science Symposium (NSSS 2014), January 29- February 1,
2014, Dibrugarh University, Assam.
2.
“MENCA Experiment aboard the Indian Mars Orbiter Mission”, 18 th
National Space Science
Symposium (NSSS 2014), January 29- February 1, 2014, Dibrugarh University, Assam.
3.
“CHACE-2 Experiment Aboard the Chandrayaan-2: exploration of lunar exosphere” ; 17th National
Space Science Symposium (NSSS 2012), February 14–17, 2012, S.V. University, Tirupati, Andhra
Pradesh.
4.
“Studying the Mars Exosphere with the MENCA Experiment on the Mars Orbiter”, 17th National
Space Science Symposium (NSSS 2012), February 14–17, 2012, S.V. University, Tirupati, Andhra
Pradesh.
5.
“Study on the desorption rate of the water vapour adsorbed in space payloads in deep space environment”, 17th National Space Science Symposium (NSSS 2012), February 14–17, 2012, S.V.
University, Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh.
6.
“Embedded Controller Unit for Earth’s Atmospheric Composition Explorer (EACE) payload onboard rockets flown during Sooryagrahan 2010 campaign, 27 th
& 28 th
January 2011, NaWRoSE-2011
(National Workshop on Results of Solar Eclipse –2011).
7.
“Development of Electron density and Neutral Wind (ENWi) probe payload during Sooryagrahan
2010”, 27 th
& 28 th
January 2011, NaWRoSE-2011 (National Workshop on Results of Solar Eclipse –
2011).
8.
“ ‘Prabhav’ – The checkout software for EACE payload data conversion and plotting”, 27 th
& 28 th
January 2011, NaWRoSE-2011 (National Workshop on Results of Solar Eclipse –2011).
9.
“Exploration of Martian Upper Atmosphere-Exosphere”; PLANEX Decadal Conference cum 07 th
Chandrayaan-1 Science Meet, 12-14 December, 2011, at Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad.
10.
“Rocket borne in-situ Electron density and Neutral Wind measurements in the equatorial ionosphere—Results from the January 2010 annular solar eclipse campaign from India”; JASTP., 56–
64, 86
11.
“A new Ionospheric Probe for insitu measurements of neutral wind and electron density”, AOGS, July
2010, Hyderabad, India.
12.
“Electron density and Neutral wind probe (ENWi) insitu measurements during solar eclipse campaign of 14-15, January 2010 – Preliminary results”, NSSS- February 2010, Rajkot, India.
13.
“LENA Imaging on the Moon with SARA Instrument aboard Chandrayaan-I”, 4th Asia Oceania
Geosciences Society meeting in Bangkok, Thailand, July 31-August 4.
14.
“The SARA experiment on the Chandrayaan-1 mission”, National Space Science Symposium, Ooty,
Feb. 26-29, 2008.
15.
“Monitoring Solar Wind in the Near-Earth Environment with SWIM of the SARA Experiment aboard the Indian lunar Mission Chandrayaan-1, Magnetic Coupling between the Interior and the Atmosphere
Last updated in June 2014

of the Sun”, Centenary Commemoration of the discovery of the Evershed Effect, Indian Institute of
Astrophysics, Bangalore, Dec. 2-5, 2008. [Invited Paper]
16.
“Charaterisation of Clouds and Aerosols from a Space Borne LIDAR”, Abstracts of XIV National
Space Science Symposium (NSSS-2006), Visakahapatnam, pp.23, 2006.
17.
“LENA Imaging on the Moon with SARA Instrument aboard Chandrayaan-I”, Abstracts of XIV
National Space Science Symposium (NSSS-2006), Visakahapatnam, pp.135, 2006.
Symposium Papers (contd.) (1994-2004)
1.
Janardhanan K.V., D.Ramakrishna Rao, K.S.Viswanathan, K.S.V.Shenoy, K.P.Kamath, S.V.
Mohankumar , K.K.Mukundan and G.Sajitha, “A three frequency HF Radar System for ionospheric studies”, National Space Science Symposium (NSSS-94), Trivandrum, December 20-24, 1994.
2.
M.Satyanarayana, D.Ramakrishna Rao, S.V.Mohankumar
, B.Presennakumar, G.P.Sasidharan Nair,
P.Sreelatha, P.Pradeepkumar and M.Kathirvel, "A Multiwavelength lidar for Atmospheric Studies",
National Space Science Symposium (NSSS-94) Trivandrum, December 20-24, 1994.
3.
M.Satyanarayana, D.Ramakrishna Rao, S.V.Mohankumar
, P.Sreelatha, P.Pradeepkumar,
"Differential Absorption Lidar for Measurement of Ozone Vertical Profiles in the Equatorial regions:
A System Analysis", National Symposium on Advanced Technologies in Meteorology (TROPMET-
95) at Hyderabad, 1995.
4.
Janardhanan K.V., D.Ramakrishna Rao, K.S.Viswanathan, B.V.Krishna Murthy, K.S.V Shenoy,
K.P.Kamath, S.V.Mohankumar
, K.K.Mukundan and G.Sajitha, M.Shajahan and C.Ayappan,
“Equatorial Spread F observations with HF radar at 18MHz”, National Space Science Symposium,
Osmania University, Hyderabad, February 6-10, 1996.
5.
M.Satyanarayana, D.Ramakrishna Rao, S.V.Mohankumar
, B.Presennakumar, P.Sreelatha,
P.Pradeepkumar and K.V.Dhananjaya, "Preliminary Results of High Resolution Multiwavelength
Lidar Observations at Trivandrum", National Space Science Symposium (NSSS-96) Hyderabad,
February 6-10, 1996.
6. M.Satyanarayana, D.Ramakrishna Rao, S.V.Mohankumar
, B.Presennakumar, P.Sreelatha,
P.Pradeepkumar and K.V.Dhananjaya, ‘Differential absorption lidar and its applications in environmental studies’, National Laser Symposium, 1996, BARC, Bombay.
7.
M. Satyanarayana, D Ramakrishna Rao, SV Mohankumar , B Presennakumar, P Sreelatha,and S.
Veerabuthiran, “Multi-Wavelength Laser Radar Studies in the Atmosphere”, International Conference on Lasers and their Applications, Tiruchirapalli, pp 113-114, 2000.
8.
Ramakrishna Rao, D., Mohankumar, S.V
., Presennakumar, B., Sreelatha, P., Satyanarayana, M. and
Veerabuthiran, S., “Atmospheric Laser Radar (LIDAR) Receiver System Electronics” proceedings of
National Laser Symposium Delhi, India, pp 253, 2000.
9.
M. Satyanarayana, D Ramakrishna Rao, SV Mohankumar , B Presennakumar, P Sreelatha,and S.
Veerabuthiran, “Multi-Wavelength Laser Radar Studies in the Atmosphere”, International Conference on Lasers and their Applications, Tiruchirapalli, pp 113-114, 2000.
10.
SV Mohankumar , D Ramakrishna Rao and KK Mukundan, “Doppler extraction from SODAR signal using complex covariance technique”, Proceedings of International Radar Symposium India (IRSI-
2001), Bangalore, pp 815-822, 2001.
11.
D Ramakrishna Rao, G Sajitha and SV Mohankumar , "Pulsed Doppler digital receiver for 2.5MHz partial reflection radar”, Proceedings of International Radar Symposium India (IRSI-2001), Bangalore, pp 156-164, 2001.
12.
Ramakrishna Rao, D., Presennakumar, B., Mohankumar, S.V., Veerabuthiran, S. and Satyanarayana,
M., “Data Acquisition and Processing systems for LIDAR Systems for Remote Sensing of
Atmosphere”, Proceedings of DAE-BRNS National Laser Symposium Trivandrum, India, pp 241,
2002.
13.
Satyanarayana, M., Veerabuthiran, S., Ramakrishna Rao, D., Presennakumar, B., Mohankumar, S.V. and Muraleedharan Nair, S., “Raman Lidar for simultaneous measurement of water vapour, temperature and aerosol vertical profiles in the lower atmosphere”, Proceedings of DAE-BRNS
National Laser Symposium Trivandrum, India, pp 279, 2002.
14.
M. Satyanarayana, D. Ramakrishna Rao, S.V. Mohankumar, B. Presennakumar, S. Muraleedharan
Nair and S. Veerabuthiran, “Air/space borne laser radar for atmospheric studies and operational systems”, Proceedings of International Radar Symposium India – 2003 (IRSI-2003), Bangalore , pp.
52-57,2003.
15.
K.V.Janardhanan, D.Ramakrishna Rao, S.V.Mohankumar
, K.K.Mukundan, G.Sajitha and
M.Shajahan, “Partial Reflection radar for the measurement of mesospheric and Lower Thermospheric
Drifts”, Proceedings of International Radar Symposium India – 2003 (IRSI-2003), page 408-414,
December 2003.
Last updated in June 2014

16.
S. Muraleedharan Nair, D. Ramakrishna Rao, S.V. Mohankumar, B. Presennakumar, M.
Satyanarayana and S. Veerabuthiran, “Image processing for three dimensional volume imaging laser radar system”, Proceedings of International Radar Symposium India – 2003 (IRSI-2003), Bangalore, pp. 661-665, 2003.
17.
D Ramakrishna Rao, SV Mohankumar , B Presennakumar, S Muraleedharan Nair, S Veerabuthiran and M Satyanarayana, “Multiwavelength Laser Radar (Lidar) at a Coastal Tropical Station for Remote
Sensing of Atmosphere”, Proceedings of International Radar Symposium India – 2003 (IRSI-2003),
Bangalore, pp. 24-31, 2003.
18.
M Satyanarayana, S. Veerabuthiran, D. Ramakrishna Rao, B. Presennakumar, SV Mohankumar , S
Muraleedharan Nair and R Sreeja, “Studies on Tropospheric Aerosol Layers at a Tropical coastal
Station, Trivandrum (8 ° 33’ N, 77 ° E),India using LIDAR”, Abstracts of XIII National Space Science
Symposium (NSSS-2004), Kottayam, pp.10, 2004.
19.
S. Veerabuthiran, M Satyanarayana, D. Ramakrishna Rao, B. Presennakumar, SV Mohankumar , S
Muraleedharan Nair and R Sreeja, “LIDAR Observations of Cirrus Clouds at Low Latitude Tropical
Station, Trivandrum (8 ° 33’ N, 77 ° E): General Characteristics”, Abstracts of XIII National Space
Science Symposium (NSSS-2004), Kottayam, pp.29, 2004.
20.
M Satyanarayana, D. Ramakrishna Rao, S Muraleedharan Nair, SV Mohankumar, B. Presennakumar,
S. Veerabuthiran and R Sreeja, “High Resolution Imaging Laser Altimeter for Interplanetary
Missions”, Abstracts of XIII National Space Science Symposium (NSSS-2004), Kottayam, pp.123,
2004.
21.
SR Prabhakaran Nayar, CV Sreehari, S.Shibu, CV Devasia, KSV Subbarao and SV Mohankumar ,
“Multi-frequency HF Doppler Radar Observations of Vertical Plasma Drift – Preliminary Results”,
Abstracts of XIII National Space Science Symposium (NSSS-2004), Kottayam, pp.85, 2004.
Last updated in June 2014