Yakov Diskin

Dr. Diskin's background includes nine years of experience in image processing for various computer vision applications, where he has completed 51 publications in the related areas. Dr. Diskin has served on multiple occasions as a technical reviewer for several signal processing journals, including SPIE Journal of Electronic Imaging (JEI), Journal of Computers (JCP), Journal of Optical Engineering (OE), and Elsevier Journal of Optics and Laser Technology (JOLT). Specializing in computer vision, his primary research focus is in the field of object detection and tracking as well as depth estimation in motion imagery. 

Dr. Diskin has completed his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) at the University of Dayton (2010-2015). As a research assistant under the supervision of Dr. Vijayan Asari, Ohio Research Scholars Endowed Chair in Wide Area Surveillance, Dr. Diskin was a distinguished contributor to the Center of Excellence for Computer Vision and Wide Area Surveillance Research (UD Vision Lab) at the University of Dayton. Throughout his Ph.D. pursuit, Dr. Diskin worked as a research contractor with the University of Dayton Research Institute (UDRI), the Institute for Development and Commercialization of Advanced Sensor Technology (IDCAST) and the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL). Prior to his work at the University of Dayton, Dr. Diskin was an undergraduate research assistant at the Old Dominion University Computational Intelligence and Computer Vision Laboratory (ODU Vision Lab), where he specialized in automation of nonlinear and localized image enhancement. Dr. Diskin’s other research experiences and interests include biometrics, 3-D object recognition, 3-D scene reconstruction and visualization, aerial object tracking and real-time image enhancement.

Dr. Diskin joined MZA Associates Corporation, a small-business DOD contractor, in 2012. He is a principal investigator for several AFRL-supported algorithm and technology development efforts for sensor systems. These activities involve computer vision algorithm development for aiding in aerial surveillance and tracking. Dr. Diskin has worked on MZA’s development of HEL engagement AimPoint maintenance tracking algorithms, aero-optics simulation analysis of HEL engagements and imaging, wavefront data analysis, and atmospheric characterization algorithm development.

• Ph.D., Electrical Engineering, University of Dayton, 2015
• M.S., Electrical Engineering, University of Dayton, 2013
• B.S., Computer Engineering, Old Dominion University, 2010

Diskin, Y., & Asari, V. K. (2015, March). Dense point-cloud representation (DPR) of a scene using monocular vision. IS&T/SPIE Journal of Electronic Imaging.

Diskin, Y., Goorskey, D., Whiteley, M., Drye, R., De Lucca, N., Gordeyev, S., & Jumper, E. (2017, August). Image blurring due to turbulent wakes for airborne systems: Simulation and modeling. SPIE Conference on Optical Engineering and Applications: Laser Communication and Propagation through the Atmosphere and Oceans VI, San Diego, CA, USA. doi: 10.1117/12.2275648

Gordeyev, S., De Lucca, N., Diskin, Y., Jumper, E., & Whiteley, M. (2017, August). Image blurring due to turbulent wakes for airborne systems: Flight tests. SPIE Conference on Optical Engineering and Applications: Laser Communication and Propagation through the Atmosphere and Oceans VI, San Diego, CA, USA. 

Diskin, Y., Varney, N., & Asari, V. K. (2015, June). Registration of LiDAR point cloud models using inter-object geometry. Optical Society of America (OSA) Imaging and Applied Optics Congress: Imaging Systems and Applications (IS), Session: Advances for Military Imaging, Arlington, VA, USA.

Varney, N., Diskin, Y., & Asari, V. K. (2015, June). 3D object classification in uncalibrated structure from motion models. Optical Society of America (OSA) Imaging and Applied Optics Congress: Imaging Systems and Applications (IS), Session: Advances for Military Imaging, Arlington, VA, USA.

Albaloosi, F., Smith, S., Diskin, Y., Sidike, P. & Asari, V. K. (2014, October). Automatic detection and segmentation of carcinoma in radiographs. IEEE International Workshop on Applied Imagery and Pattern Recognition - AIPR 2014: Democratization of Imagery, Washington D.C.

Sidike, P., Diskin, Y., Arigela, S., & Asari, V. K. (2014, September). Visibility improvement of shadow regions using hyperspectral band integration. SPIE Remote Sensing Conference: Image and Signal Processing for Remote Sensing, Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Diskin, Y., Sidike, P., Arigela, S., & Asari, V. K. (2014, July). Shadow removal for illumination invariant face detection in hyperspectral imagery. OSA Imaging and Applied Optics Congress: Imaging Systems and Applications (IS), Seattle, WA, USA.

Diskin, Y., Asari, V. K., Hytla, P., & Vasquez, J. R. (2014, February). Illumination invariant 3D change detection. IS&T/SPIE International Conference on Electronic Imaging: Image Processing: Machine Vision Applications VII, San Francisco, CA, USA.

Diskin, Y., & Asari, V. K. (2013, October). Dense 3D point-cloud model using optical flow for a monocular reconstruction system. IEEE Computer Society Workshop on Applied Imagery Pattern Recognition - AIPR 2013, Washington D.C.

Diskin, Y., Nair, B., Braun, A., Duning, S., & Asari, V. K. (2013, October). Vision-based navigation system for obstacle avoidance in complex environment. IEEE Computer Society Workshop on Applied Imagery Pattern Recognition - AIPR 2013, Washington D.C.

Diskin, Y., & Asari, V. K. (2013, October). 3D scene reconstruction for aiding unmanned vehicle navigation. IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man and Cybernetics - IEEE SMC 2013, Manchester, UK.

Diskin, Y., & Asari, V. K. (2012, August). Adaptive noise suppression technique for dense 3D point cloud reconstruction from monocular vision. SPIE Conference on Optical Engineering and Applications: Applications of Digital Image Processing XXXV, San Diego, CA, USA.

Nair, B. M., Diskin, Y., & Asari, V. K. (2012, August). Multi-modal low cost mobile indoor surveillance system on the robust artificial intelligence-based defense electro robot (RAIDER). SPIE Conference on Optical Engineering and Applications: Applications of Digital Image Processing XXXV, San Diego, CA, USA.

Diskin, Y., & Asari, V. K. (2012, April). Dense point-cloud creation using superresolution for a monocular 3D reconstruction system. SPIE Conference on Defense, Security, and Sensing: Visual Information Processing XXI, Baltimore, MD, USA.

Nair, B. M., Foytik, J., Tompkins, R. C., Diskin, Y., Aspiras, T., & Asari, V. K. (2011, November). Multi-pose face detection, recognition and tracking system. Proceedings of the International Conference on Complex Adaptive Systems - CAS 2011, Complex Adaptive Systems (Editor in Chief: Cihan H. Dagli), Chicago, IL, USA, vol. 1, (Procedia Computer Science, vol. 6), 381-386.

Diskin, Y., Tompkins, R. C., Youssef, M., & Asari, V. K. (2011, September). UAS exploitation by 3D reconstruction using monocular vision. The 24th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of the Institute of Navigation - ION GNSS 2011: Robust Navigation in GNSS-Denied and GNSS-Challenged Environments, Portland, OR, USA.

Tompkins, R. C., Diskin, Y., Youssef, M., & Asari, V. K. (2011, September). 3D reconstruction from a monocular vision system for unmanned ground vehicles. Proceedings of the SPIE Conference on Security and Defense: Electro-Optical Remote Sensing, Photonic Technologies, and Applications V, Prague, Czech Republic, vol. 8186, 818608, 1-6.

• Development of HEL engagement AimPoint maintenance tracking algorithms
• Aero-optics simulation analysis of HEL engagement in WaveTrain
• Wavefront analysis and atmospheric characterization algorithm development
• 3D Change Detection: Detection of volumetric anomalies using video of a scene irrespective of lighting and seasonal changes
• Aerial Target Tracking: Feature, motion, and deep-learning based tracking of targets in Full Motion aerial video invariant to illuminations, occlusions and orientation
• 3D Scene Reconstruction: Using computer vision to construct a detailed 3D model designed to assist autonomous machines with self-awareness, navigation, and completion of tasks
• Nonlinear Image Enhancement: Development of a technique capable of simultaneous compression of bright regions and enhancement of dark regions in an image
• Aero-Optic Imaging: Analysis of aero-optical effects via wavefront measurements and associated image blurring aero effects
• Atmospheric Turbulence Diagnostics: Development of sensor systems and algorithms for diagnosing turbulence conditions across a pathway

• EGR 203: Electronic Circuits
• ECE 595: Advanced Image Processing

• Technical Reviewer for the Journal of the Optical Society of America, 2017
• Technical Reviewer for Optical Engineering (OE) Journal, 2015-2017
• Technical Reviewer for Journal of Electronic Imaging (JEI), 2012 - 2017
• Technical Reviewer for the International Conference on Computer & Information Technology (ICCIT), October 2014
• Technical Reviewer for the International Symposium on Visual Computing (ISVC), September 2014
• Preside at OSA Conference Session 2014 – Imaging Systems and Applications meeting Session: Computation Optics and Image Processing, July 2014
• Technical Reviewer for special issue of the Journal of Computers (JCP), 2013
• Technical Reviewer for Journal of Optics & Laser Technology (JOLT), 2013
• Technical Reviewer for IEEE International Conference on Signal Processing, Computing and Control (ISPCC), 2013
• Technical Reviewer for IEEE Symposium on Industrial Electronics & Applications (ISIEA), 2012