Dr Thangavel Thevar

Biography

Dr Thangavel Thevar is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Engineering at the University of Aberdeen. He graduated from the same university with a First Class Honours in Electrical Engineering in 1989 and with a PhD in Laser Engineering in 1993. Prior to joining University of Aberdeen in 2005, he had about 10 years of industrial R&D experience in the USA in solid-state laser development and holographic applications. During this time, he developed alexandrite lasers, ruby holographic lasers and Raman converters (US patent 8,494,012 B2). He also worked on several US government contracts to develop non-destructive inspection methods for military aircraft and the space shuttle. In addition, he spent some time in NASA Langley Research Centre on sabbatical working with Dr Norman Barnes to develop diode pumped Thulium YALO lasers.

Thanga’s current research include digital holography for imaging of marine plankton and micro-particles; Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) for subsea applications; and laser-based instrumentation. In 2020, he led a team of researchers to develop a state-of-the-art ultracompact underwater holographic camera (named weeHoloCam) for imaging microorganisms (https://www.abdn.ac.uk/news/15104/). Weighing just 3.5 kg, this is the lightest and most compact system of its kind. It can image 240 ml/s and can continuously record up to 200,000 holograms. Added to the system is a rapid hologram processor and an AI based image classifier to group images. 

weeHoloCam can play an important role in several marine studies: spatial and temporal monitoring of plankton species; monitoring harmful plankton & micro-jellyfish; study of vertical transport of floc; and monitoring microplastic pollution in the ocean, to name but a few. 

DASA Case Study

Exploration in Loch Ness: 

BBC's The One Show (produced by AlleyCats TV)

Aberdeen News

Research Overview

• Digital holographic camera for imaging plankton

• Engineering applications of holography

• Laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS)

• Development of solid-state lasers for scientific, industrial, and medical applications

• Laser based instrumentation

Current Research

Application of digital holography for in-situ imaging of plankton and marine microparticles.

Funding and Grants

• 2024 - Sustainable Aquaculture Innovation Centre (SAIC) funded project - Plankton-Predict (£78,986) - Principle Investigator.
• 2024 - BBSRC funded project - AQUA-Plankton: Early warning system against harmful algae blooms and jellyfish (£216,810) - Principle Investigator
• 2023 - DEFRA funded project - Early warning system for infective sea lice: Development of holographic imaging for in-situ monitoring (£358,929) - Principle Investigator
• 2022 - Defence & Security Accelerator (DSTL) funded project - Development of machine learning software to classify holographic images of plankton (£290,647) - Principal Investigator
• 2020 – SFC Innovation voucher (AFB racing; with S. Aphale) – Anti-pathogen air purification system (£5000)                      
• 2019 - Consultancy project - Ocean Tools Ltd. - Development of subsea leak detection system (£10, 800) - Principle Investigator 
• 2019 - Defence & Security Accelerator (DSTL) funded project - Development of an ultra-compact subsea holographic camera for rapid three dimensional imaging and processing of marine organisms and micro-particles (£180,377) - Principal Investigator
• 2018 - NERC UK-Japan collaboration in Marine Science: RamaCam - In situ holographic imaging and chemical spectroscopy for long term scalable analysis of marine particles in deep-sea environments (£400,000); Aberdeen share (£100,000) - Principal Investigator
• 2016 - Consultancy project (with Dr S. Aphale) - McGregor Tech (UK) Ltd - Techniques to detect defects in hot welds (£17,000) - co-Principal Investigator
• 2015 - EU Horizon 2020 Twinning Programme: STRONGMAR Project (Euro 1 million); Aberdeen share (Euro 125, 000) - Co-Principal Investigator
• 2014 - Defence Science Technology Laboratory funded project: Data and image processing of digital holograms (£126,214) - co-Principal Investigator
• 2014 - NRP Pools Engagement in European Research (PEER) award (£4,000)
• 2013 - UK India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI) Exchange Project:Development of Optical Fibre based devices for Sensing Applications (£30,010) - Co-Principal Investigator
• 2011 - SFC Horizon Fund: Knowledge exchange in the area of subsea sensor systems (£525,000) – Co-Investigator.
• 2011 - Consultancy project (with N. Kaliyaperumal) for Hydro Aluminium: Non-destructive techniques for identification and quantification of elemental changes in extruded aluminium (£11,800) – Co-Principal Investigator
• 2007 - KTP funded project: Development of a laser based solution to the problem of detecting free-spans in subsea pipeline installations (£110,641) – Principal Investigator
• 2006 - SFC funded SRDG feasibility study grant: Innovative instrumentation technologies for 21^st century oil and gas industries in Scotland (£57,299) – Co-Principal Investigator)

Teaching Grants:

• 2013 - Royal Academy of Engineering - Visiting Teaching Fellow Award (£5,000)
• 2012 - Royal Academy of Engineering - Visiting Teaching Fellow Award (£5,000)
• 2011 - Royal Academy of Engineering - Visiting Teaching Fellow Award (£5,000)
• 2010 - Royal Academy of Engineering - Visiting Teaching Fellow Award (£5,000)
• 2008 - PTDF Student Award (£11,250)
• 2007 - PTDF Student Award (£22,500)

Teaching Responsibilities

• EG1008 Principles of Electronics
• EG2503 Electrical & Mechanical Systems
• EG3043 Control Systems
• EG4012 BEng Individual Project (contributor)
• EG4015 MEng Individual Project (contributor)
• EG5908 Individual Project MSc Oil & Gas Engineering (contributor)