Speakers: Elena Bankowski & Katherine Duncan
24B-T004 Metamaterials Based on Magnetic Shape Anisotropy for K-band Microwave Applications
OUSD (R&E) CRITICAL TECHNOLOGY AREA(S): Advanced Materials
Objective: Develop a metamaterial utilizing magnetic shape anisotropy of ferromagnetic nanoparticles for operation of ultracompact antenna in the K frequency band of the microwave spectrum.
Description: Metamaterials demonstrating resonant response to electromagnetic radiation in the microwave Ku (12 GHz to 18 GHz) and K (18 GHz to 26.5 GHz) bands are highly desirable for multiple applications, including ultracompact microwave antennae, radar detection and frequency-selective wireless heating. Availability of ferromagnetic materials with high saturation magnetization and low magnetic damping [1,2], combined with recent advances in nanolithography, enable the development of such metamaterials based on arrays of ferromagnetic nanoparticles, where the resonance frequency of the metamaterial is determined by the magnetic shape anisotropy of the nanoparticles [3]. The shape anisotropy enables fabrication of devices with a selection of operation frequencies via lithography. For example, arrays of ultracompact antennae covering a wide band of the microwave spectrum, where each antenna is tuned to its own resonance frequency via control of the fabricated nanoparticle shape, can be used for ultrafast monitoring of the electromagnetic environment. An important advantage of a magnetic metamaterial is independence of its resonance frequency on the antennae dimensions [4], which enables ultracompact antennae for communications with miniature devices. The metamaterial antenna gain can be further boosted via magneto-electric or magneto-resistive effects in nanoparticle-based heterostructures to reach record levels of sensitivity to microwave signals [5].
The goal of this proposal is development of magnetic metamaterials based on arrays of ferromagnetic nanoparticles that show resonant response to electromagnetic radiation tunable by the nanoparticle shape. The metamaterial must operate at room temperature without a bias magnetic field and must show tunability of its frequency via shape anisotropy in the 2 GHz - 26.5 GHz frequency range (covering S, C, X, Ku and K bands). The metamaterial must exhibit resonant response to the frequency of incident electromagnetic radiation with the quality factor exceeding 100. To enable commercial applications, the metamaterial must be fabricated from a polycrystalline or amorphous ferromagnetic film deposited at room temperature by a high-throughput technique such as sputtering or electrodeposition. Operation of a K-band ultra-compact microwave antenna based on the shape-anisotropy metamaterial must be demonstrated. The overall antenna dimensions must not exceed 5 millimeters.
A24B-T020 Drone Swarm Detection Using Artificial Intelligence Based on Ultrafast Neural Networks
OUSD (R&E) CRITICAL TECHNOLOGY AREA(S): Advanced Computing and Software
Objective: Drone swarm detection using Artificial Intelligence. Develop a neural network architecture, and learning processing algorithms for drone identification based on ultra-fast neural networks with low power consumption.
Description: The goal of this Army Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) topic is the identification of airborne drones from their radio frequency transmissions or radar signatures using ultra-fast neural networks [1]. The drone identification and classification are done by rapidly analyzing RF signals from one or several receiving antennas. As several target drones are often present in the antenna’s range, the received signal may represent a result of interference of several sources. For such a multiple target identification in a drone swarm, it is crucial to be able to process information in parallel and directly at the carrier microwave frequency.
29 сен 2024
