Trent Kyono was born and raised on the island of Maui. He graduated with valedictorian honors in 2004 from Baldwin High School. He will be receiving his B.S. degree in Computer Science with a minor in Mathematics in April 2008 from Pepperdine University. In the fall of 2008 he will be attending the University of California Los Angeles to obtain a M.S. in Computer Science with an emphasis in Artificial Intelligence. Apart from academics, he loves to spearfish, lift weights, play the ukulele, and eat good food.

Home Island: Maui
High School: Baldwin High School
Institution when accepted: Pepperdine University

Trent is now an engineer at Boeing on Maui.

Akamai Project title: High-Turbulence Image Restoration
Project Site: Institute for Astronomy, Maui
Mentor: Doug Hope

Project Abstract:

Ground-based space surveillance is the observation of celestial objects through a telescope stationed on Earth. It is important for monitoring the many satellites in orbit that are crucial to the operation of society. Because of atmospheric turbulence such as wind and weather patterns, these images are often blurred and distorted. To remove these imperfections, a mathematical correction known as image restoration is used to attain a high-resolution image. The amount of atmospheric distortion ranges in degree from weak turbulence with minor blur to severe turbulence with major blur. The objective of this project is to understand and restore high-turbulence images. The point-spread- function (PSF) mathematically describes the random blur due to atmosphere disturbance. This project models PSFs for strong turbulence using several different mathematical bases. We present results of PSF model fidelity when using different basis sets and discuss some of the practical limitations when modeling PSFs for strong atmospheric turbulence.