National Academies Press: OpenBook

2018-2020 Assessment of the Army Research Office (2021)

Chapter: 12 Electronics Division

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Suggested Citation:"12 Electronics Division." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. 2018-2020 Assessment of the Army Research Office. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26324.
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12

Electronics Division

The goal of the Electronics Division is to strategically drive new capabilities through discovery and enhancement of electronic and photonic phenomena and functions in entities ranging from inorganic materials and devices to single living cells that result in visionary performance characteristics that enable the U.S. Army to maintain technological overmatch across the Army functional concepts. The division’s aim is to discover and enhance electronic and photonic interactions and functions in new devices and a broad range of materials. Some of the outstanding achievements encompass inorganic materials such as intercalated graphite for inductors; low-energy, high-speed optoelectronics; and optical control of ion transport in single living cells. Division-level strategy emphasizes interdisciplinary interactions between physics, chemistry, materials science, and biology. The overarching aim is to achieve device and system performance characteristics that enable the U.S. Army to maintain technological superiority vis-à-vis adversaries.

The division is organized into four programs: Biotronics, Electronic Sensing, Optoelectronics, and Solid-State Electronics and Electromagnetics. The division’s total budget was $32.3 million for fiscal year (FY) 2019. The division funds a mix of single investigator (SI) projects—about $143,000 per project per year—and larger Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) projects. The division also funds and manages Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)/Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR); Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE); Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (DURIP); and so on. During FY 2019, 75 SI awards were funded and 94 were active, along with several Short-Term Innovative Research (STIR) awards focused on jump-starting high-risk projects.

BIOTRONICS PROGRAM

The vision of the Biotronics Program is to exploit the unique capabilities of electronic systems to unravel the intracellular electronic and bioelectric processes among or between organelles within the living cell and its immediate surroundings, not amenable to traditional cellular sensing approaches. The program includes nontraditional acoustic, vibrational, mechanical, and phonon approaches as well. This program’s research strategy is to address the following two key scientific questions: (1) How can the unique new capabilities of electronics, optoelectronics, and mechanics be used to stimulate a signature from a single cell providing information about its internal biological processes and to modulate and control the intracellular processes? (2) How can the unique capability of electronic instrumentation be used to observe and interpret the electrical, mechanical, electronic, and optoelectronic signatures of intracellular biological processes?

Suggested Citation:"12 Electronics Division." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. 2018-2020 Assessment of the Army Research Office. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26324.
×

Overall Scientific Quality and Degree of Innovation

Over the FY 2017 to FY 2019 review period, the Biotronics Program has focused on two key scientific questions, stated above. In an effort to address the first question, results were presented from a project funded at the University of Chicago on “Coaxial Silicon Nanowires for Photoelectrochemical Modulation of Cardiomyocytes.” Currently in its third year, the PI has successfully developed a method to optically modulate cardiac beating frequency, at the subcellular level, of both cultured cardiomyocytes and adult rat hearts. This project developed a polymer elastomer-silicon nanowire composite where the Si nanowires have p-i-n dopant modulation that produces a photoelectrochemical effect. Upon laser scanning, a massive number of optical inputs are produced at biointerfaces that can be used to modulate cardiac beating frequency. The project creates exciting opportunities to develop less bulky and invasive alternatives to devices such as today’s pacemakers. The results were disseminated in a 2019 peer-reviewed publication in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Related to the second question, three projects at Northwestern were presented. All three are in their first year of funding and broadly relate to neuroscience. One aims to develop three-dimensional (3D) microscale electronic frameworks to monitor neural activity and neurological biomarkers for studies of human 3D brain tissue cultures. The availability of microfabricated soft and compliant 3D frameworks will provide a versatile platform that will expand the scope of electrophysiological and biochemical studies of the brain. Another effort aims to study processes of neuromodulation using human brain organoids. These studies could provide for the scientific foundation leading to effective cures for impaired warfighters. A third study will develop customized 3D frameworks for human brain assembloids. These will serve as a foundation to study neurodevelopmental diseases and processes of neuroregeneration, leading to new therapies and rehabilitation protocols.

Scientific Opportunity

Scientific opportunities for the Biotronics Program are significant. The program is small (FY 2019 total budget of $2.32 million); however, the targeted approach to use electronics—materials, processes, and measurements—to probe, record, and change the internal functionality of biological entities appears distinct from much larger programs funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other agencies. The differentiator offered by the Biotronics Program provides opportunities for interactions with other agency-funded initiatives. For instance, materials, devices, and imaging techniques developed in this ARO program could lead into beneficial collaborations with the biophysics groups that play a dominant role in the brain initiative program of NIH.

The envisioned evolution of today’s Biotronics Program into Bionic Electronics by 2030 appears transformative. In the long term, the articulated strategy will lead to integrated bionic electronics modules capable of performing complex tasks.

Significant Accomplishments

Over the current review period, Biotronics Program funding has led to 47 peer-reviewed publications in high-impact journals. On average, the program has provided funding for 18 graduate students and 6 postdoctoral researchers per year during the FY 2017 to FY 2019 period. Several Biotronics Program PIs are the recipients of significant awards. For instance, Daniel Sievenpiper is the 2019 recipient of the IEEE AP-S John D. Kraus Antenna Award; Bozhi Tian was named as Chemical Society Review’s 2020 Emerging Investigator; and John Rogers was elected to the National Academy of Medicine and was the recipient of the Benjamin Franklin Medal for Materials Engineering, among others.

Suggested Citation:"12 Electronics Division." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. 2018-2020 Assessment of the Army Research Office. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26324.
×

Partnerships and Transitions

While the Biotronics Program is new—established in 2017 out of the 2014-2017 Bioelectronics Program—projects funded by the program are already being transitioned to the commercial sector or leading to partnerships with other organizations. Notably, research on developing new assembloids from three cortical spheroids has led to a collaborative research project to study reduced brain preparations with ARL Weapons and Materials Research Directorate. Research that led to the development of a device able to capture 512 × 512 pixel images—QC Labscope—is an accomplishment of interest to Lumedica. This project was selected for the third-place prize of $250,000 at the Luminate incubator competition in Rochester, New York. More recently, research funded at the University of California, Irvine, on developing a method to identify anit-SARS-COV-2 antibodies could form the basis for an aptamer sensing method. The customer, U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command, is interested in the approach for evaluation as a point-of-care test.

Level of Effort

The program is small—with a FY 2019 total budget of $2.32 million. However, the Biotronics Program has made significant advances that influence global society as mentioned above—for example, development of a method to identify anti-SARS-COV-2 antibodies that forms the basis for the aptamer sensing method. The strategic vision for the program is exciting and challenging. To ensure that the program is able to achieve its future vision, greater effort will be required.

Other

The Biotronics Program aims to use electronics—materials, processes, and measurements—to probe, record, change, and understand the underlying mechanisms of the internal functionality of biological entities. In comparison to other programs, it is relatively new and thus it has a very small budget. The PM defined the Army’s needs clearly and provided good examples. The program supports very high quality scientific work in several leading bioengineering and biomaterials groups at universities. Commensurate with the level of funding, output is small but very significant.

Planned work for the future is well formulated. An important observation is that in the formulation of the future plans, the PM is playing a critical role in leading the program to achieve the program vision.

ELECTRONIC SENSING PROGRAM

The vision of the Electronic Sensing Program is to discover and devise new electronic sensing concepts through advances in the fields of electronics, photonics, and piezotronics to enhance detection capabilities that can enable intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance dominance at remote, warfighter, and mobile platform levels. This program’s research strategy is to address the following three key scientific questions: (1) Can one make (thermal, photovoltaic, or photoconductive) detectors perform at background-limited levels at room temperature? (2) Can Type-II Superlattice (T2SL) detectors compete with and even outperform HgCdTe in detectivity? (3) What epitaxial heterostructure advances can be garnered to enhance photodetection—ultraviolet (UV) or infrared (IR)?

Suggested Citation:"12 Electronics Division." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. 2018-2020 Assessment of the Army Research Office. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26324.
×

Overall Scientific Quality and Degree of Innovation

The work presented comprises a strong portfolio demonstrating cutting-edge device concepts that are driving advanced materials development in a very tightly coupled partnership. Almost all the examples were on advancing capabilities in infrared detection, an area with obvious high relevance to Army functional concepts. The PM strategy is based on an integration of theory, advanced materials synthesis, and heterostructure engineering supporting novel design. This strategy was also captured in very well-defined priority questions about impact and outcomes, which focused on the potential for innovations for background-limited sensitivity at room temperature, T2LS material to outperform HgCdTe, and heterostructure engineering from UV to IR.

The sensors area has benefited from a history of PMs who have selected programs that have a demonstrable progression from a well-founded scientific thesis regarding advanced materials synthesis to the successful demonstration of novel device designs with improved performance. Notable examples of foundational scientific advances include results from the MURI on the Fundamental Study of Defects and Their Reduction in Type II Superlattice Materials. This program demonstrated record long carrier lifetime for both medium-wavelength infrared (MWIR) and long-wavelength infrared (LWIR) as well as evidence and modeling to explain the reason for the long carrier lifetime in Ga-free T2SL.

Scientific Opportunity

Proposed future priority scientific questions are natural extensions of the prior activity and remain focused largely on optical detection, including the impact of new designs harnessing metamaterials and microcavities to manipulate or direct incident energy toward sensing regions and enhance the potential for background-limited, room-temperature operation; and the use of novel heterostructure-enabled carrier multiplication for high-speed, room-temperature single-photon detectors.

There is potential to expand the program for impact in sensing modalities other than optical, and in new emerging opportunities for collaboration in quantum information science and sensing with the Physics Division.

Significant Accomplishments

The PM provided an overview of nearly a dozen funded projects from the FY 2017 to FY 2019 review period. While this was only a small fraction of the funded programs—there were 48 programs active in FY 2019 alone—the chosen examples clearly documented the support of outstanding investigators across the nation who are strong leaders in their field with high research productivity.

The results detailed in the presentation ranged from highly promising in the newest areas to powerfully enabling in areas that are maturing with extensive agency partnerships or industry transitions. Some particularly notable examples of ARO-supported areas include resonant-cavity-enhanced pyrometer arrays, the first clear demonstration of staircase avalanche photodiodes, and extensive development of T2SL materials in nBn detectors.

The Electronic Sensing Program has provided an outstanding example of how “device-inspired materials development” can have strong impact. While the majority of major advances in device performance are indeed traceable to advances in underlying materials synthesis, the interplay with device design for critical performance in real applications provides a powerful driver and focus for materials research.

Suggested Citation:"12 Electronics Division." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. 2018-2020 Assessment of the Army Research Office. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26324.
×

Partnerships and Transitions

Within the ARO Electronics Division, the Electronic Sensing Program led in Army transitions. This stems in part from the relatively strong research-portfolio focus on optical sensing, but is also reflected in the overall maturity of the projects and direct linkage to applications relative to the other program areas.

In addition to linkages and impactful transitions to commercial partners (for example, Lockheed Martin Corporation and Raytheon), these programs illustrated strong collaborations and partnerships between ARL in-house research and other programs supported by the overall federally funded research enterprise. Examples include extensive partnerships with DARPA, Army’s CCDC Soldier Systems Center, Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate, ARL Sensors and Electron Devices Directorate (SEDD), and Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) programs.

Level of Effort

The Electronic Sensing Program leveraged ARO’s core average funding of about $2.0 million per year by attracting external partner support and raising the overall average total to about $4.5 million per year; this funding supported an average of 41 students and 20 postdoctoral researchers, and produced about 53 publications annually during the FY 2017 to FY 2019 period.

Other

Noting the critical impact of sensors for the Army, there may be opportunities to supplement the Electronic Sensing Program portfolio by expanding into some new directions. Such an expansion could attempt to repeat the device/materials research ecosystem successes in different sensing modalities beyond IR and UV optical sensors, such as photoacoustic gas detection, vibration sensing, and new field sensing applications.

This could also be explored by looking more closely at synergies with other program areas at ARO, as many of the concepts currently pursued within the Electronics Sensing Program are also well positioned to impact ultra-low-energy nanophotonics in the Optoelectronics Program and quantum sources and detectors that would complement activities centered in the ARO Physics Division.

OPTOELECTRONICS PROGRAM

The vision of the Optoelectronics Program is to develop transformative optoelectronics to process faster and direct energy farther, as well as revolutionary speed-up and miniaturization for electronic systems along with capabilities to provide for a larger area of battlefield dominance. This program’s research strategy is to address the following three key scientific questions: (1) What device architectures can be developed to create low-energy, high-speed optoelectronics? (2) What types of semiconductor active regions need to be advanced to achieve high-intensity radiation? (3) How can directed energy be harnessed to more effectively mitigate against atmospheric conditions?

The Optoelectronics Program aims to utilize advances in optoelectronics for faster processing of information and direct energy farther, by capitalizing on the speed improvement and miniaturization of electronic components and systems. Such improvements will provide increasing capabilities to the Army for battlefield dominance through microlaser structures for intelligence, fires, protection, maneuver, and sustainment. Oxide-free vertical cavity surface-emitting lasers with dramatically improved thermal properties for cryogenic optical connectors will provide increasing capabilities such as high-speed focal plane read-out, chip-scale directed energy weapons, and combat readiness. Nanopatterned UV lasers will provide improved water purification and surface sterilization.

Suggested Citation:"12 Electronics Division." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. 2018-2020 Assessment of the Army Research Office. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26324.
×

Overall Scientific Quality and Degree of Innovation

The work in the Optoelectronics Program was presented in a very clear and compelling fashion, with the bulk of the presentation being divided into three main areas that each addressed one of the three key scientific questions stated above. Each of these main areas has high potential for making significant impact within the scope of the portfolio and the resources available. Significant technical accomplishment was achieved in each of these three main areas. Innovation was evident in many of the supported technologies, demonstrating advances in devices and underlying materials at a variety of important wavelength ranges that have potential application in key Army needs. Results were published in some of the most selective and prestigious journals.

In general, the funded program goals were of high value and pushed the state of the art. Compelling evidence was presented of advances toward achieving these goals. Some examples for optoelectronic devices (e.g., different types of lasers) using advanced fabrication approaches include increasing modulation speed, output power, and temperature range; decreasing size (micro- and nano-cavities) and phase noise; finding limits of quantum noise; exploiting 2D and 3D quantum structures in different wavelength ranges, from ultraviolet to far infrared; increasing switching speed and power efficiency, especially for different temperature ranges; and improving the integrity of light propagation in free-space.

The Optoelectronics Program, including its proposed future focus, appears well positioned to continue its successful vision with significant impact and high scientific quality. It is important to continue the impactful transitioning of projects and the leveraging of other resources. There are a small number of projects that could be terminated to make room for new and higher risk, higher reward directions that may have greater impact in the long run.

Scientific Opportunity

There may be opportunities for strengthening synergy within the portfolio to achieve even more programmatic impact. The future strategic questions within the presentation already illustrate a strong synergy. These include leveraging advances in integrated photonics and advanced optical materials toward high-power photonics, extending wavelength ranges of operation through novel 2D and quantum nanostructured materials, and enhancing performance through microcavity and subwavelength structures.

For emerging device and materials programs that are strongly driven by proposed systems performance gains, such programs need to continue and increase interactions with systems groups to help optimally prioritize investments.

Significant Accomplishments

The PM has had strong and influential personal contributions in the broader scientific community and has made significant impact by his activity in prestigious professional societies. Specifically, the PM’s contributions in organizing conferences and workshops—for example, optical interconnects—bring significant attention to the ARO Optoelectronics Program and help the community thrive.

During the current review period, Optoelectronics Program funding—directly through the core program or indirectly through other programs such as MURI, and so on—has resulted in the PIs receiving awards and honors from prestigious science and engineering societies, including SPIE, OSA IEEE Photonics Society, and APS.

Suggested Citation:"12 Electronics Division." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. 2018-2020 Assessment of the Army Research Office. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26324.
×

Partnerships and Transitions

The current strategy and portfolio reflect a priority on strong performers in areas of Army needs, and this has resulted in a portfolio containing impactful contributions. The overall current portfolio of projects can be described by the following three observations:

  1. Stage of projects: There was a healthy mix of projects that were at different stages in terms of time (projects ranged from just starting to being transitioned out) and readiness (even within the category basic research, there was a spectrum of projects ranging from ones that were more speculative to ones that were ready to transition to applied).
  2. Leveraging of resources: Resources from outside core ARO funds are leveraged to enhance the impact of the Optoelectronics Program. This includes DARPA, DURIP, and MURI programs, as well as the directed-energy programs and integrated photonics efforts. The Optoelectronics Program needs to continue to seize on such opportunities for the betterment of the whole program.
  3. Transition: Significant transition examples were provided, notably that of advanced laser technologies by start-up Telaris that led to their acquisition by Intel. Other strong transitions included semiconductor lasers that supported directed-energy programs by the Joint Directed Energy Transition Office and several impactful Phase II SBIR programs.

Level of Effort

The Optoelectronics Program leveraged ARO’s core average funding of about $2.4 million per year by attracting external partner support and raising the overall average total to about $11.0 million per year; this funding supported an average of 55 students and 21 postdoctoral researchers, and produced about 50 publications annually during the FY 2017 to FY 2019 period.

Other

There may be opportunities to refresh parts of the portfolio that are nearing their end with projects in new directions. There is laudable interaction between the Optoelectronics Program and members of the other areas within the Electronics Division, and the Optoelectronics Program needs to take advantage of innovative opportunities with materials programs that could enable new device capabilities.

SOLID-STATE ELECTRONICS AND ELECTROMAGNETICS PROGRAM

The vision of the Solid-State Electronics and Electromagnetics Program is to exploit unique physical phenomena in emerging quantum materials and their heterostructures to create novel electronic capabilities in information processing, communications, radar, and electronic warfare to maintain information superiority and spectral dominance for the Army. This program’s research strategy is to address the following four key scientific questions: (1) What unique carrier transport properties in low-dimensional materials can be exploited for novel electronic functionalities? (2) How do photons with different energies across the electromagnetic spectrum (microwave, THz, optical) interact with topological materials and reveal different materials properties? and (3) How can topologically protected spin-momentum locked carrier transport be utilized for novel electronic functionalities?

Suggested Citation:"12 Electronics Division." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. 2018-2020 Assessment of the Army Research Office. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26324.
×

Overall Scientific Quality and Degree of Innovation

This Solid-State Electronics and Electromagnetics Program aims to exploit unique physical phenomena in emerging quantum materials and their heterostructures to create new electronic capabilities in information processing, communications, radar, and electronic warfare to maintain information superiority and spectral dominance for the Army. The program has been effective in leveraging collaborative opportunities with the Physics and Materials Science Divisions, to make substantial progress in a number of topics of current interest that are additionally Army relevant. For instance, research related to electrochemical doping of 2D Van der Waals heterostructures through interface engineering is expected to lead to reduced size and weight form factors, while intercalation of graphene with AlCl4 may afford high-density energy storage solutions. Planned work for the future is well formulated.

The PM presented a summary that pointed to a highly productive program aimed at materials and device development with low-dimensional and topological materials. Overviews of research conducted by groups at Purdue University, University of California, Santa Barbara, Harvard University, Rice University, and University of Southern California point to productive efforts that are leading to significant peer-reviewed publications in premier journals. Similarly, productivity on materials and device development using low-dimensional and topological materials is high. While this program is somewhat narrowly focused, resources have been leveraged to support several DURIP grants to University of Texas, Austin, University of Pennsylvania, and Johns Hopkins University, in addition to a Young Investigator Program (YIP) at the University of Pennsylvania on THz studies of multifold fermions and magnetic Weyl semimetals, and an STTR. The spin-momentum locking initiative is supporting a DURIP and three MURIs, and the efficient THz generation and detection program is supporting several internationally recognized efforts.

Scientific Opportunity

Scientific opportunities for the Solid-State Electronics and Electromagnetics Program are significant. However, the process of making the selection of the specific research topics (e.g., topological materials) against other topics was not clearly articulated. Certainly, topological materials have been the subject of intense research interest for a number of years, with most recent focus being on the topological dependence of their mechanical properties and the use of this for the development of localized memory. Historically, foundational developments with topological materials were driven by other agencies. It is uncertain at this junction whether devices developed using these materials are expected to be the key component in improving communications.

Significant Accomplishments

During FY 2017 to FY 2019, Solid-State Electronics and Electromagnetics Program funding, directly through its core program or through related programs from MURI, and so on, has led to 178 peer-reviewed publications in high-impact journals. On average, the program has provided funding for 62 graduate students and 23 postdoctoral researchers per year. Investigators funded under this program have also been the recipients of several internationally recognized awards. For instance, Allan MacDonald is the recipient of the 2020 Wolf Prize in Physics; Kang Wang is the recipient of the 2018 IUPAP Magnetism Award and Neel Medal; and Eugene Mele was awarded the 2019 Breakthrough Prize in Physics and was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in that same year. It is notable that several additional funded PIs are the recipients of internationally recognized awards during the review cycle.

Suggested Citation:"12 Electronics Division." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. 2018-2020 Assessment of the Army Research Office. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26324.
×

Partnerships and Transitions

Several funded research efforts conducted under the umbrella of the Solid-State Electronics and Electromagnetics Program have transitioned to the commercial sector or led to partnerships with other organizations during FY 2017 to FY 2019. To name just a few, funded efforts at Johns Hopkins University related to THz characterization of a topological insulator led to collaboration with ARL SEDD. The materials are of particular interest for low-power electronics, and the collaboration led to a peer-reviewed publication. Similarly, research on p-diamond Tera-field-effect transistors designs are of interest for ultrawide-bandgap radio frequency and power electronics, which are being explored collaboratively with ARL SEDD. Research at UCLA on high spin-orbit torques in magnetic topological insulator structures is of interest to Intel for spintronic devices.

Level of Effort

The Solid-State Electronics and Electromagnetics Program leveraged ARO’s core average funding of about $2.8 million per year by attracting external partner support and raising the overall average total to about $9.9 million per year; this funding supported an average of 62 students and 23 postdoctoral researchers, and produced about 59 publications annually during the FY 2017 to FY 2019 period.

Other

The Solid-State Electronics and Electromagnetics Program has made significant advances that are expected to have impact to the Army. A strategic vision for the program was not clearly articulated. A strategic vision will lead to even better outcomes.

OVERALL ASSESSMENT

The division’s aim is to discover and enhance electronic and photonic interactions and functions in new devices and a broad range of materials. Some of the outstanding achievements encompass inorganic materials such as intercalated graphite for inductors; low-energy, high-speed optoelectronics; and optical control of ion transport in single living cells. Division-level strategy emphasizes interdisciplinary interactions between physics, chemistry, materials science, and biology. This interdisciplinary strategy has worked well for this division. The overarching aim is to achieve device and system performance characteristics that enable the U.S. Army to maintain technological superiority vis-à-vis adversaries.

The division is organized into four programs: Biotronics, Electronic Sensing, Optoelectronics, and Solid-State Electronics and Electromagnetics. The division’s total budget was $32.3 million for FY 2019. The division funds a mix of SI projects—about $143,000 per project per year—and larger MURI projects. The division also funds and manages SBIR/STTR, PECASE, DURIP, and so on. During FY 2019, 94 SI awards were funded, along with several STIR awards focused on jump-starting high-risk projects.

Key performance parameters include, in addition to peer-reviewed publications, transitions to ARL and to industry. There were 55 transitions reported for the 3-year period from FY 2017 to FY 2019, including the transition of fundamental biotronics research funded by ARO at Northwestern University on new assembloids from three cortical spheroids to ARL-SEDD for study of cellular dynamics in reduced brain preparations. An example of the transition of fundamental optoelectronics research funded by ARO includes ultra-narrow linewidth “slow-light laser” transitioned to Telaris, Inc., which garnered two phase II STTR/SBIR programs. Following success with manufacturability and isolator-free performance, Intel Corp. bought out Telaris, Inc., aiming at autonomous navigation and ultra-high-bandwidth data links.

Suggested Citation:"12 Electronics Division." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. 2018-2020 Assessment of the Army Research Office. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26324.
×

The projects highlighted were uniformly of high quality, but only a small percentage of the entire portfolio was presented. Overall, the quality of programs reviewed was high, but there were limited initiatives aimed at new research directions and pursuing high-risk and high-reward projects that could lead to discovery and inventions of greater scientific significance.

Recommendation 5: The Engineering Sciences Directorate (ESD) Electronics Division should expand on new research directions and high-risk, high-reward projects that could lead to discovery and inventions of greater scientific significance.

Suggested Citation:"12 Electronics Division." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. 2018-2020 Assessment of the Army Research Office. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26324.
×
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Suggested Citation:"12 Electronics Division." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. 2018-2020 Assessment of the Army Research Office. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26324.
×
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Suggested Citation:"12 Electronics Division." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. 2018-2020 Assessment of the Army Research Office. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26324.
×
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Suggested Citation:"12 Electronics Division." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. 2018-2020 Assessment of the Army Research Office. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26324.
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Suggested Citation:"12 Electronics Division." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. 2018-2020 Assessment of the Army Research Office. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26324.
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Suggested Citation:"12 Electronics Division." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. 2018-2020 Assessment of the Army Research Office. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26324.
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Suggested Citation:"12 Electronics Division." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. 2018-2020 Assessment of the Army Research Office. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26324.
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Suggested Citation:"12 Electronics Division." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. 2018-2020 Assessment of the Army Research Office. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26324.
×
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Suggested Citation:"12 Electronics Division." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. 2018-2020 Assessment of the Army Research Office. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26324.
×
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Suggested Citation:"12 Electronics Division." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. 2018-2020 Assessment of the Army Research Office. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26324.
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2018-2020 Assessment of the Army Research Office Get This Book
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The mission of the Army Research Office (ARO), as part of the U.S. Army Futures Command—U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command—Army Research Laboratory (ARL), is to execute the Army's extramural basic research program in the following scientific disciplines: chemical sciences, computing sciences, electronics, life sciences, materials science, mathematical sciences, mechanical sciences, network sciences, and physics.

The goal of this basic research is to drive scientific discoveries that will provide the Army with significant advances in operational capabilities through high-risk, high pay-off research opportunities, primarily with universities, but also with large and small businesses. ARO ensures that this research supports and drives the realization of future research relevant to all of the Army Functional Concepts, the ARL Core Technical Competencies, and the ARL Essential Research Programs. The results of these efforts are transitioned to the Army research and development community, industry, or academia for the pursuit of long-term technological advances for the Army.

This report summarizes the findings of the review of ARO's Information Sciences Directorate in 2018, the Physical Sciences Directorate in 2019,and the Engineering Sciences Directorate in 2020 conducted by the panels of the Army Research Laboratory Technical Assessment Board.

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