George Mason University Receives Air Force Funding for Imaging, Digital Twins Lab

Researchers from George Mason University (GMU) have received $357,868 in funding from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research through the Defense University Research Instrumentation Program to establish the Neuromorphic Imaging and Digital Twins Lab. It will be headed by Harbir Antil, director of the Center for Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence (CMAI), and Rainald Löhner, director of GMU’s Computational Fluid Dynamics Lab.

CMAI director Harbir Antil (left) and Computational Fluid Dynamics Lab director Rainald Löhner. Courtesy of George Mason University (GMU).

Organized under GMU’s CMAI, the lab will be equipped to serve as a testbed for algorithms and subsequent deployment of neuromorphic imaging and digital twin hardware in the field. According to Antil, using generated data from soon-to-be-acquired neuromorphic cameras, drones, and audio sensors, the algorithms will assist in object recognition, motion detection, and scene understanding.

Once received, the hardware will help the researchers create an open environment that will be accessible to several neighboring institutions, including academia, national labs, industries, and historically black colleges and universities. The lab will also serve as a national resource where GMU will host workshops and summer programs to train researchers on its hardware.