Research Abstract - Under this program, AKM engineers will be trained in millimeter-wave integrated circuit design as visiting scholars and then AKM and NC State will work jointly to develop advanced millimeter-wave circuits and systems using silicon integrated circuit technology. 

Research Abstract - The objective of this research is to explore the development of first principal and hybrid first principal quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical (QM/MM) simulation techniques that can help to discover novel bio-organic electronic functionalities and test these emerging physics-based modeling approaches in biological (bio) electronic and bio-chemical scenarios and sensing applications.  More specifically, this research will focus on studying molecular conformations, electronic structure of ground and excited states, dynamics of bio-molecular systems and nanostructures that have relevance to future electronic systems and bio-chemical applications of interest to the U.S. Army and U.S. Department of Defense. This project seeks to support the development of novel functionality including portable, light-weight nano-sensors of bio-warfare or chemical threat agents to be used on a battlefield.  For example, a sensing material using functionalized DNA origami panels as unit cells is envisioned where target-molecule- induced change in the tensor dielectric function produces a measurable diffraction of a wave transmitting through the material.  Also, the scientific exploration in this project will be directed toward a research of fundamental mechanisms of stem cell growth with the goal to identify opportunities for novel medical treatments with regenerative capabilities for injured military and civilian personnel that have a potential to dramatically improve outcomes.

Research Abstract - We develop technique to improve the efficiency of multi-junction solar cell structure. The techniques make better use of the solar spectrum, so each cell: Ge-GaAs InGaP will pass the same short circuit current. This will move the effective band gap of both the middle and top cell to lower values. We will maintain the lattice matched conditions in this approach, avoiding defects that may compromise the quality of these materials, specially the top cell.

Research Abstract - The objective of this research project is to develop an experimental framework for testing transient stability, frequency response and oscillation damping of the US Western Interconnection using a Real-time Digital Simulator (RTDS). We will construct detailed dynamic models of the WECC power system, starting from the major generation clusters in Alberta, Washington and Oregon to the load clusters in Southern California, Montana and Arizona with intermediate voltage support at appropriate points. The impact of operating conditions, unforeseen contingencies, and intermittency of renewable generation on the inter-area oscillations in WECC will be studied and validated using an RTDS based emulation framework.

Research Abstract -  We plan to investigate the processes of defect reductions in III-nitride compounds grown on sapphire substrates. We also plan to investigate the accommodations of lattice mismatched defects by the growth on nanowires substrates. We will use several new concepts and approaches based on the overgrowth of coalescence films on low defect density nano wires of GaN and AlGaN. These nanowires will etched from MOCVD grown films.

When asked about the project, Dr. Floyd said "IIRIS will explore a different approach to millimeter-wave imaging which should reduce or eliminate the hardware overhead needed in conventional passive millimeter-wave cameras."

The objective of the DARPA Young Faculty Award (YFA) program is to identify and engage rising research stars in junior faculty positions at U.S. academic institutions and expose them to Department of Defense needs as well as DARPA's program development process.

The YFA program provides funding, mentoring, and industry and DoD contacts to awardees early in their careers so they may develop their research ideas in the context of DoD needs. The program focuses on untenured faculty, emphasizing those without prior DARPA funding. The long-term goal of the YFA program is to develop the next generation of academic scientists, engineers and mathematicians in key disciplines who will focus a significant portion of their career on DoD and national security issues.

"I am very excited to receive this young faculty award and look forward to working with DARPA on the project," said Dr. Floyd

Abstract: Passive millimeter-wave imagers operating at 30-300 GHz are able to see through dust storms, clouds, fog, and clothing, and are useful for aircraft navigation, remote sensing, and concealed object detection. Rather than adding an entire new millimeter-wave camera to defense platforms, this research program will explore techniques to allow existing phased arrays used for radar or communications to be repurposed as an interferometric imager. A two-year research program is proposed to architect the array, evaluate its imaging capabilities, develop new reconfigurable front-end circuit topologies which work equally well for beamsteering and multiplexed interferometry, and then to design, fabricate, and characterize a 94-GHz reconfigurable array prototype in 0.12-um SiGe BiCMOS technology.

For more on the award and the other recipients, please view DARPA's press release.

This research is funded by a grant of $5.15 million over three years awarded from the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E) to support FREEDM's efforts to enhance smart grid distribution of energy from renewable resources.

"TIPS will enable the vision of the smart grid," said Dr. Subhashish Bhattacharya, FREEDM professor and primary investigator for ARPA-E grant project.

"It will be a more cost-effective and efficient means of connecting renewable energy resources to the existing power infrastructure."

FREEDM industry member Cree will lead the ARPA-E grant research by developing power semiconductor devices based on silicon carbide. The ARPA-E research grant partners include North Carolina State University FREEDM researchers, ABB and Powerex.

Bhattacharya, who is also FREEDM's solid state transformer subthrust leader, and Dr. Alex Huang, FREEDM director and co-primary investigator of the ARPA-E grant, say TIPS will provide energy management and improve grid power quality and reliability through enhanced communication.

Research Abstract - This project will develop the basic science of acoustic and electromagnetic interactions leading to the engineering of new sensors that can exploit the knowledge that these interactions provide about the environment. Stand-off probing of surface and buried objects using acoustic probes is complicated by the poor knowledge of nonlinear and diffusive acoustic effects. Great insights, including differentiation of objects, can be obtained by exploiting nonlinear acoustic interactions and by exploiting long-tail effects resulting from acoustic diffusion inside an object. The overall concept is to develop the fundamental knowledge enabling the development of a tricorder-like device for interrogating the environment thus contributing to total situational awareness.

Research Abstract - The large available bandwidth and/or the small wavelengths at millimeter-wave(mmWave) frequencies make possible large-volume applications such as 60-GHz communications, 77-GHz radar, and 94-GHz imaging.  Within these applications, there are requirements to either steer a beam around an obstruction (60 GHz) or focus energy in a specific direction (77/94 GHz); therefore, mmWave phased-arrays in silicon is an important and growing commercial research area.  Critical work remains related to power reduction of the array elements and cost-effective test, both to be pursued in this project.  First, significant power reduction is needed for the phased arrays to make them viable in battery-powered devices or to reduce heat-sinking requirements.  Second, since test can dominate overall cost, built-in-self-test techniques must be developed for the phased array to reduce the time of test of a complete array, to reduce the need for mmWave test equipment, and to enable  phased-array manufacturing test at both wafer and package-level.  In this project, a low-power 60-GHz four-element phased-array transmitter prototype with built-in-self-test will be developed in 0.12-micrometers SiGe BiCMOS technology and then scalable test techniques will be developed for this demonstration platform which are applicable to 60-GHz radios, 77-GHz radars, 94-GHz imagers, and even >100-GHz sensors.