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Nearfield anechoic chamber and farfield on-site antenna calibration pattern comparison of an S-band planar phased array radar

Published in:
IEEE Annual Conf. on Wireless and Microwave Technology, WAMICON, 27-28 April 2022.

Summary

The Advanced Technology Demonstrator (ATD) is an active, S-band, dual-polarization phased array radar developed for weather sensing. The ATD is an active electronically scanned array (AESA) with a 4-m aperture comprised of 4,864 individual transmit/receive (T/R) modules. The antenna was calibrated at the element, subarray, and array levels. Calibration, validation, and verification testing was completed in two main stages, first in an anechoic chamber and second after it was installed on site in its permanent location. This paper describes the procedure used to collect antenna patterns at each stage and compares three key performance metrics: beamwidth, mean-squared sidelobe level (MSSL), and integrated sidelobe level (ISL).
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Summary

The Advanced Technology Demonstrator (ATD) is an active, S-band, dual-polarization phased array radar developed for weather sensing. The ATD is an active electronically scanned array (AESA) with a 4-m aperture comprised of 4,864 individual transmit/receive (T/R) modules. The antenna was calibrated at the element, subarray, and array levels. Calibration, validation...

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Effect of a wet spherical radome on the reflected power for an S-band planar phased array radar antenna

Published in:
2021 Antenna Measurement Techniques Association Symp., AMTA, 24-29 October 2021.

Summary

An active S-band dual-polarized multifunction phased array radar (MPAR), the Advanced Technology Demonstrator (ATD), has recently been developed for weather sensing and aircraft surveillance. The ATD is an active electronically scanned array (AESA) with 4864 transmit/receive (T/R) modules and was installed in a spherical radome. Simulations and a novel phased array measurement technique have been explored to assess the impact of high reflectivity from a wet radome during rain that can potentially induce voltages exceeding the transmit amplifier breakdown voltage. The measurement technique uses array elements radiating one at a time to illuminate the radome, and uses superposition to quantify the received signal power in a reference antenna on the face of the array. It is shown that when the radome surface is wet and highly reflective, certain electronic steering angles sum to a large reflected signal focused on the array face. This measurement technique can be used prior to high-power phased array radar operation to monitor the magnitude of reflections and help avoid element transmit amplifier failures.
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Summary

An active S-band dual-polarized multifunction phased array radar (MPAR), the Advanced Technology Demonstrator (ATD), has recently been developed for weather sensing and aircraft surveillance. The ATD is an active electronically scanned array (AESA) with 4864 transmit/receive (T/R) modules and was installed in a spherical radome. Simulations and a novel phased...

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Analog coupled oscillator based weighted Ising machine

Summary

We report on an analog computing system with coupled non-linear oscillators which is capable of solving complex combinatorial optimization problems using the weighted Ising model. The circuit is composed of a fully-connected 4-node LC oscillator network with low-cost electronic components and compatible with traditional integrated circuit technologies. We present the theoretical modeling, experimental characterization, and statistical analysis our system, demonstrating single-run ground state accuracies of 98% on randomized MAX-CUT problem sets with binary weights and 84% with 5-bit weight resolutions. Solutions are obtained within 5 oscillator cycles, and the time-to-solution has been demonstrated to scale directly with oscillator frequency. We present scaling analysis which suggests that large coupled oscillator networks may be used to solve computationally intensive problems faster and more efficiently than conventional algorithms. The proof-of-concept system presented here provides the foundation for realizing such larger scale systems using existing hardware technologies and could pave the way towards an entirely novel computing paradigm.
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Summary

We report on an analog computing system with coupled non-linear oscillators which is capable of solving complex combinatorial optimization problems using the weighted Ising model. The circuit is composed of a fully-connected 4-node LC oscillator network with low-cost electronic components and compatible with traditional integrated circuit technologies. We present the...

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Valleytronics: opportunities, challenges, and paths forward

Summary

A lack of inversion symmetry coupled with the presence of time-reversal symmetry endows 2D transition metal dichalcogenides with individually addressable valleys in momentum space at the K and K' points in the first Brillouin zone. This valley addressability opens up the possibility of using the momentum state of electrons, holes, or excitons as a completely new paradigm in information processing. The opportunities and challenges associated with manipulation of the valley degree of freedom for practical quantum and classical information processing applications were analyzed during the 2017 Workshop on Valleytronic Materials, Architectures, and Devices; this Review presents the major findings of the workshop.
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Summary

A lack of inversion symmetry coupled with the presence of time-reversal symmetry endows 2D transition metal dichalcogenides with individually addressable valleys in momentum space at the K and K' points in the first Brillouin zone. This valley addressability opens up the possibility of using the momentum state of electrons, holes...

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Modeling and validation of a mm-wave shaped dielectric lens antenna

Published in:
2018 Int. Applied Computational Electromagnetics Society Symp., ACES, 29 July - 1 August 2018.

Summary

The modeling and validation of a 33 GHz shaped dielectric antenna design is investigated. The electromagnetic modeling was performed in both WIPL-D and FEKO, and was used to validate the antenna design prior to fabrication of the lens. It is shown that both WIPL-D and FEKO yield similarly accurate results as compared to measured far-field gain radiation patterns.
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Summary

The modeling and validation of a 33 GHz shaped dielectric antenna design is investigated. The electromagnetic modeling was performed in both WIPL-D and FEKO, and was used to validate the antenna design prior to fabrication of the lens. It is shown that both WIPL-D and FEKO yield similarly accurate results...

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Highly Efficient All-Optical Beam Modulation Utilizing Thermo-optic Effects

Summary

Suspensions of plasmonic nanoparticles can diffract optical beams due to the combination of thermal lensing and self-phase modulation. Here, we demonstrate extremely efficient optical continuous wave (CW) beam switching across the visible range in optimized suspensions of 5-nm Au and Ag nanoparticles in non-polar solvents, such as hexane and decane. On-axis modulation of greater than 30 dB is achieved at incident beam intensities as low as 100 W/cm2 with response times under 200 μs, at initial solution transparency above 70%. No evidence of laser-induced degradation is observed for the highest intensities used. Numerical modeling of experimental data reveals thermo-optic coefficients of up to −1.3 × 10−3 /K, which, to our knowledge, is the highest observed to date in such nanoparticle suspensions.
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Summary

Suspensions of plasmonic nanoparticles can diffract optical beams due to the combination of thermal lensing and self-phase modulation. Here, we demonstrate extremely efficient optical continuous wave (CW) beam switching across the visible range in optimized suspensions of 5-nm Au and Ag nanoparticles in non-polar solvents, such as hexane and decane...

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MOVPE growth of LWIR AlInAs/GaInAs/InP quantum cascade lasers: impact of growth and material quality on laser performance

Summary

The quality of epitaxial layers in quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) has a primary impact on QCL performance, and establishing correlations between epitaxial growth and materials properties is of critical importance for continuing improvements. We present an overview of the growth challenges of these complex QCL structures; describe the metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy growth of AlInAs/GaInAs/InP QCL materials; discuss materials properties that impact QCL performance; and investigate various QCL structure modifications and their effects on QCL performance. We demonstrate uncoated buried-heterostructure 9.3-um QCLs with 1.32-W continuous-wave output power and maximum wall plug efficiency (WPE) of 6.8%. This WPE is more than 50% greater than previously reported WPEs for unstrained QCLs emitting at 8.9 um and only 30% below strained QCLs emitting around 9.2 um.
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Summary

The quality of epitaxial layers in quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) has a primary impact on QCL performance, and establishing correlations between epitaxial growth and materials properties is of critical importance for continuing improvements. We present an overview of the growth challenges of these complex QCL structures; describe the metalorganic vapor...

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Bringing physical construction and real-world data collection into a massively open online course (MOOC)

Summary

This Work-In-Progress paper details the process and lessons learned when converting a hands-on engineering minicourse to a scalable, self-paced Massively Open Online Course (MOOC). Online courseware has been part of academic and industry training and learning for decades. Learning activities in online courses strive to mimic in-person delivery by including lectures, homework assignments, software exercises and exams. While these instructional activities provide "theory and practice" for many disciplines, engineering courses often require hands-on activities with physical tools, devices and equipment. To accommodate the need for this type of learning, MIT Lincoln Laboratory's "Build A Small Radar" (BSR) course was used to explore teaching and learning strategies that support the inclusion of physical construction and real world data collection in a MOOC. These tasks are encountered across a range of engineering disciplines and the methods illustrated here are easily generalized to the learning experiences in engineering and science disciplines.
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Summary

This Work-In-Progress paper details the process and lessons learned when converting a hands-on engineering minicourse to a scalable, self-paced Massively Open Online Course (MOOC). Online courseware has been part of academic and industry training and learning for decades. Learning activities in online courses strive to mimic in-person delivery by including...

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A fully integrated broadband sub-mmWave chip-to-chip interconnect

Published in:
IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Tech., Vol. 65, No. 7, July 2017, pp. 2373-86.

Summary

A new type of broadband link enabling extremely high-speed chip-to-chip communication is presented. The link is composed of fully integrated sub-mmWave on-chip traveling wave power couplers and a low-cost planar dielectric waveguide. This structure is based on a differentially driven half-mode substrate integrated waveguide supporting the first higher order hybrid microstrip mode. The cross-sectional width of the coupler structure is tapered in the direction of wave propagation to increase the coupling efficiency and maintain a large coupling bandwidth while minimizing its on-die size. A rectangular dielectric waveguide, constructed from Rogers Corporation R3006 material, is codesigned with the on-chip coupler structure to minimize coupling loss. The coupling structure achieves an average insertion loss of 4.8 dB from 220 to 270 GHz, with end-to-end link measurements presented. This system provides a packaging-friendly, cost effective, and high performance planar integration solution for ultrabroadband chip-to-chip communication utilizing millimeter waves.
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Summary

A new type of broadband link enabling extremely high-speed chip-to-chip communication is presented. The link is composed of fully integrated sub-mmWave on-chip traveling wave power couplers and a low-cost planar dielectric waveguide. This structure is based on a differentially driven half-mode substrate integrated waveguide supporting the first higher order hybrid...

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Effect of surface roughness and H-termination chemistry on diamond's semiconducting surface conductance

Summary

The H-terminated surface of diamond when activated with NO2 produces a surface conduction layer that has been used to make FETs. Variations in processing can significantly affect this conduction layer. This article discusses the effect of diamond surface preparation and H termination procedures on surface conduction. Surface preparations that generate a rough surface result in a more conductive surface with the conductivity increasing with surface roughness. We hypothesize that the increase in conductance with roughness is the result of an increase of reactive sites that generate the carriers. Roughening the diamond surface is just one way to generate these sites and the rough surface is believed to be a separate property from the density of surface reactive sites. The presence of C in the H2 plasma used for H termination decreases surface conductance. A simple procedure for NO2 activation is demonstrated. Interpretation of electrical measurements and possible alternatives to activation with NO2 are discussed. Using Kasu's oxidation model for surface conductance as a guide, compounds other than NO2 have been found to activate the diamond surface as well.
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Summary

The H-terminated surface of diamond when activated with NO2 produces a surface conduction layer that has been used to make FETs. Variations in processing can significantly affect this conduction layer. This article discusses the effect of diamond surface preparation and H termination procedures on surface conduction. Surface preparations that generate...

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