Nilesh M. Desai, Distinguished Scientist, is currently the Director of Space Applications Centre (SAC), ISRO, Ahmedabad. During last 5 years, he also served as Deputy Director of Microwave Remote Sensors Area (MRSA) and SatCom &SatNav Adv. Applications Area (SSAA) of SAC. Shri Nilesh Desai is a top ranker and gold-medalist of 1986 BE (Electronics & Communication) batch of L.D.College of Engineering, Gujarat University, Ahmedabad, India. In his about Thirty four and a half years of dedicated and illustrious engineering and research career at SAC/ISRO, he had been involved in design and development of ISRO’s Microwave Radars like RISAT-1 C-Band & Other Airborne & Spaceborne Synthetic Aperture Radars (SAR), Oceansat-II and Scatsat-1 Scatterometers, Chandrayaan-2 SAR & Altimeter etc. as well as associated Signal & Data Processing and Remote Sensing Applications.

In recent years, he has led the activities towards development and realization of advanced and synergetic applications involving earth observation, navigation and communication technologies for societal benefits and strategic uses. He has also provided leadership in developing and strengthening applications of space infrastructure for the benefit of common man. For these applications, he has also been responsible for the design & development of different types of remote sensing data processing techniques, NavIC (Navigation with Indian Constellation) User Receivers, SatCom terminals & ground segments for Mobile, Broadband & High Throughput communication satellites. He is an advocate of outreach activities related to Indian Space Programme, in general and Remote Sensing & Earth Observation Programme, in particular. He has also been involved in the design of courses on Satellite Communication (SatCom) and Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), under the aegis of UN CSSTEAP.

He has been the main author or co-author of about 175 technical papers presented at various national and international conferences within and outside India. He has also contributed significantly in more than 220 technical reports of SAC/ISRO. He has represented ISRO/India at various International forums at Austria, China, France, Germany, Israel, Russia, Singapore, South Africa and United Kingdom, including delegations at International Committee on Global Navigation Satellite System (ICG) meetings & conferences. Most recently, he organized and presided over the ICG-14 held in India during Dec.-2019. He is the recipient of ISRO Performance Excellence Award-2018, ISRO Individual Merit Award-2010 and ISRO Team Award for RISAT-1 Payload Design, Realization and Data products for the year-2012.

He is energetic, enthusiastic and spends considerable time and energy in giving direction towards various professional and outreach activities like Vikram Sarabhai Space Exhibition, Smart India Hackathon (SIH), Popular lectures in Engineering & Science on National Science & Technology days etc. As Chief Nodal Officer of ISRO/DOS for SIH and as a mentor, he has been spearheading the organization of various outreach activities for school and college students, at SAC/ISRO.

His fields of interest and research include Data Acquisition and Digital Signal Processing for Radar, Navigation & SatCom signals, DSP and Microprocessor architectures, FPGA/ASIC hardware and VLSI designs, embedded systems and software quality assurance. He is an active and contributing life member of many professional societies like Indian Society of Remote Sensing (ISRS), Indian Society of Geomatics (ISG), Astronautical Society of India (ASI) and Indian Society of Systems for Science and Engineering (ISSE). Presently, he is serving as National President of ISRS Executive Council, and the Vice President of ISSE-Ahmedabad. Chapter.