SMART SEED Grant Funds New Sensor Systems for the Future Battlespace

Courtesy Photo | The SMART Scholar SEED Grant Program is sponsored by the SMART Program Office and the Laboratories and Personnel Office under the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. SEED Grant recipients receive research grants up to $100 thousand per year for up to a maximum of three years to help support promising SMART scholars establish a foundational research or engineering effort in their area of expertise as they transition from the pursuit of their Ph.D. to a DoD professional.  

ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA, UNITED STATES

05.10.2022

Courtesy Story

SMART Scholarship Program

Modifying the future battlespace starts with new materials and technology. Early adoption of materials and technology brings unique capabilities to the warfighter quicker. SMART SEED Grant recipient, Neil Moser, Ph.D., is hoping to do just that by reducing the cost, size, weight, and power of on-board sensor systems made from gallium oxide. Gallium oxide is a relatively new, high-voltage material which Neil started researching during his SMART-sponsored doctoral pursuit. His current SEED-sponsored research is a continuation of his thesis in the hopes of deploying gallium oxide to the field sooner by analyzing large signal characterization of transistor devices.

Neil is leveraging previous work from the Air Force Research Laboratory to fabricate gallium oxide devices for circuit designs. He is now focusing on testing these devices and establishing a design feedback loop. Gallium oxide is an immature material, so the devices are difficult to test because of high resistance, high amounts of self-heating, variation in the material quality that leads to changes in the measurements, and degradation of the material under testing. Neil’s research intends to overcome these challenges and characterize the devices earlier in the lifecycle, speeding deployment to the field.

If the physical attributes of gallium oxide can manifest in the final devices and circuits, then the material will allow for less expensive high power, high frequency, and high voltage electronics. This will enable new technologies like switch-mode power amplifiers, envelope tracking, point of load power conversion, and fast switching devices to be made at a lower cost and with lower internal losses.

Collaborators from the University of Texas at Dallas and Oklahoma State University are performing the verification testing at high voltages.

Speaking on the importance of his mentors, Neil says, “Having a mentor has aided my ability to understand the bigger Air Force and Department of Defense (DoD) picture rather than just focus on the research. Eventually, my mentor and I will develop a use case for the technology to decide if it can - and should be - fielded in a real system.”

The SMART Scholar SEED Grant Program is sponsored by the SMART Program Office and the Laboratories and Personnel Office under the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. SEED Grant recipients receive research grants up to $100 thousand per year for up to a maximum of three years to help support promising SMART scholars establish a foundational research or engineering effort in their area of expertise as they transition from the pursuit of their Ph.D. to a DoD professional. To foster relationships between SEED Grant recipients and established members of the DoD technical workforce, mentors of SEED Grant recipients are eligible for an additional $25 thousand per year to support close engagement and collaboration with their SEED Grant mentee.

• Date Taken: 05.10.2022
• Date Posted: 05.10.2022 08:32
• Story ID: 420325
• Location: ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA, US