STAFF PROFILE
Professor Kefei Zhang
Professor Kefei Zhang is the founder and director of the Satellite Positioning for Atmosphere, Climate and Environment (SPACE) Research Centre and the Satellite Positioning and Navigation (SPAN) Laboratory at RMIT University. Professor Zhang has over 25-year research experience in satellite positioning, geodesy and geospatial sciences. His current research interest is primarily involved in algorithm development and innovative applications of GNSS/GPS technologies for high-accuracy positioning, atmospheric studies (e.g. radio occultation, space weather, climate change, weather and environment), space situational awareness (e.g. space debris tracking, surveillance and collision warning and orbit determination) and people mobility and object tracking. He is a co-inventor of eight patents and has authored over 250 peer-reviewed publications in these fields and has attracted in excess of 20 million dollars in funding from the Australian Research Council, government, research organisations and industry sectors since 1990.
Over the past 10 years SPACE and the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) have worked together to investigate and incorporate cutting-edge technologies to improve the accuracy of weather forecasts by up to 10 hours in the Australian region. As a result of this important research, GPS RO data was successfully integrated into the Australian weather forecasting system in 2012 and it is now considered one of the top 5 of the 30+ data sources used in reducing forecast error. Our research was ranked as “outstanding“ in the Excellence in Innovation for Australia (EIA) trial (PDF) 2012 and was featured in the ATN of Universities “50 solutions that count (PDF)“. Professor Zhang’s research was also presented in the showcase of the “Partners for a Better Future –Australia and China: Science and Technology Week“ at the Shanghai World Expo 2010. SPACE was also selected as a finalist in “The Australian Innovation Challenge Award“ 2014.
In 2010 Professor Zhang led an international research consortium and won a prestigious, multi-million-dollar Australia Space Research Program project (ASRP-2) in satellite positioning, space tracking and atmospheric studies for climate and space weather. Professor Zhang is currently the PR2 Program Leader of the newly established Australian Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for Space Environment Management.
Areas of expertise
GPS, Global Navigation Satellite Systems, Space Science, Geodesy, Surveying and Geomatics
Responsibilities
- Director, Satellite Positioning for Atmosphere, Climate and Environment (SPACE) Research Centre
- Professor for Satellite Positioning, Geodesy and Surveying
- International Student Coordinator
Teaching activities
Undergraduate
- GEOM2093 - Surveying 4
- GEOM2119 – Geodesy
- GEOM2117 - Map Projections
- GEOM2114 - Geospatial Major Project A
- GEOM2115 - Geospatial Major Project B
Postgraduate
- Bachelor of Engineering, Wuhan Technical University of Surveying and Mapping, China
- Masters of Engineering, Wuhan Technical University of Surveying and Mapping, China
- Doctor of Philosophy, Curtin University of Technology
Adjunct appointment
- Guest Professor, Chinese Academy of Sciences
- Guest Professor, China University of Mining and Technology, China
- Guest Professor, Wuhan University, China
- Guest Professor, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology
- Guest Professor, Hubei University of Technology, China
- Guest Professor, China University of Geosciences
Recent awards, prizes and recognition
- The RMIT University Award for Research Excellence - Innovation Excellence Award 2014
- The Australian Innovation Challenge Award 2014 “Australian weather prediction and climate monitoring using GPS“ (a finalist in the category of ICT)
- Citation by Australian Technology Network of Universities “50 Solutions that Count (PDF)“ (p9) (Improving Weather Forecasting and Climate Modelling for the Australian Region Using GPS Radio Occultation)
- RMIT University Research Excellence Award 2013
- RMIT “2012 Research Income Performance Award“, RMIT Platform Technology Research Institute.
- Ranked “Outstanding“ in the Excellence in Innovation for Australia (EIA) trial (PDF) (pp63-64) for “Improving weather forecasting and climate modelling for the Australian region using GPS radio occultation).
Memberships
- Member, Institute of Navigation (ION)
- Member, International Association of Geodesy (IAG)
- President, International Association of Chinese Professionals in GPS
- Member, Spatial Science Institute.
- Life time member, International Association of Chinese Professionals in GIS
- Member, IEEE
- Member, Australian Space Science Society
- Li, L.,Wu, S.,Wang, X.,Tian, Y.,He, C.,Zhang, K. (2018). Modelling of weighted-mean temperature using regional radiosonde observations in Hunan China In: TAO: Terrestrial, Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, 29, 187 - 199
- Carter, B.,Ram, S.,Yizengaw, E.,Pradipta, R.,Retterer, J.,Norman, R.,Currie, J.,Groves, K.,Caton, R.,Terkildsen, M.,Yokoyama, T.,Zhang, K. (2018). Unseasonal development of post-sunset F-region irregularities over Southeast Asia on 28 July 2014: 1. Forcing from above? In: Progress in Earth and Planetary Science, 5, 1 - 12
- Ding, N.,Zhang, S.,Wu, S.,Wang, X.,Zhang, K. (2018). Adaptive node parameterization for dynamic determination of boundaries and nodes of GNSS tomographic models In: Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 123, 1 - 14
- Li, W.,Yue, J.,Guo, J.,Yang, Y.,Zou, B.,Shen, Y.,Zhang, K. (2018). Statistical seismo-ionospheric precursors of M7.0+ earthquakes in Circum-Pacific seismic belt by GPS TEC measurements In: Advances in Space Researcg, 61, 1206 - 1219
- Hu, A.,Wu, S.,Wang, X.,Wang, Y.,Norman, R.,He, C.,Cai, H.,Zhang, K. (2018). Improvement of reflection detection success rate of GNSS RO measurements using artificial neural network In: IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 56, 760 - 769
- Liu, C.,Kirchengast, G.,Sun, Y.,Zhang, K.,Norman, R.,Schwaerz, M.,Bai, W.,Du, Q.,Li, Y. (2018). Analysis of ionospheric structure influences on residual ionospheric errors in GNSS radio occultation bending angles based on ray tracing simulations In: Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, 11, 2427 - 2440
- Qin, K.,Wang, L.,Letu, H.,Zhang, K.,Li, D.,Zou, J.,Fan, W. (2018). Haze optical properties from long-term ground-based remote sensing over Beijing and Xuzhou, China In: Remote Sensing, 10, 1 - 17
- Chen, Y.,Zhang, K.,Tan, K.,Feng, X.,Li, H. (2018). Long-term subsidence in lava fields at Piton de la Fournaise volcano measured by InSAR: new insights for interpretation of the eastern flank motion In: Remote Sensing, 10, 1 - 17
- Li, W.,Yue, J.,Wu, S.,Yang, Y.,Li, Z.,Bi, J.,Zhang, K. (2018). Ionospheric responses to typhoons in Australia during 2005-2014 using GNSS and FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC measurements In: GPS Solutions, 22, 1 - 22
- Kodikara, N.,Carter, B.,Zhang, K. (2018). (In Press) The first comparison between Swarm-C accelerometer-derived thermospheric densities and physical and empirical model estimates In: Journal of Geophysical Research Space Physics, 123, 1 - 59
- Towards a new Australian GNSS RO atmospheric retrieval system. Funded by: CRC for Space Environment Management - Scholarship from (2018 to 2021)
- Monitoring of the Atmosphere over the Australian and Antarctic regions using GNSS radio occultation.. Funded by: 021-Australian Antarctic Science Program Grant 2017 from (2017 to 2020)
- Next generation space weather forecasts. Funded by: ARC Linkage Grant 2016 from (2016 to 2019)
- Tracklet Correlation and Multi-target Tracking of Space Debris Initial Orbit Determination for Enhanced Catalogue Maintenance and Conjunction Analysis (Student - Han Cai). Funded by: CRC for Space Environment Management from (2016 to 2019)
- Monitoring, mapping and modelling atmospheric density using the Swarm mission (PhD student: Alea Yeasmin). Funded by: CRC for Space Environment Management from (2016 to 2019)
14 PhD Completions and 6 Masters by Research Completions7 PhD Current Supervisions