Researcher Collaborates in $108,431 Grant for Data Thinning

Dr. Steven Lazarus, Florida Tech assistant professor of marine and environmental systems, is
participating on a collaborative project in the area of data thinning, which is similar to digital imaging. Under the new $108,431 NASA grant, he is
working with the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) Information Technology and Systems Center Research Laboratories and NASA personnel.

To be practical, researchers must transform vast quantities of data into products that can benefit users. To address this problem, Florida Tech and UAH are
refining, testing and customizing an existing automated intelligent data thinning algorithm, which was developed by UAH. They are working with this tool in
conjunction with commonly used data assimilation systems for numerical weather prediction models.

The collaborators’ goal is to create a data-reduction tool useful for real-time applications in NASA data streams, which apply in NASA operations and
research as well as in private industry communities.

“Our desired outcome is to develop a real-time data-thinning tool that reduces data volume and computational requirements substantially, while maintaining
or improving forecast accuracy over that of current data reduction methods,” said Lazarus.