Most sensors and electronic devices are designed to perform up to a temperature of 125ºC. In a variety of situations (think hypersonic air vehicles, inside combustion chambers, on the surface of other planets), it would be helpful to be able to measure the fluctuating pressure on a particular surface in an extreme environment. Currently, no sensors can take the heat. The HOTS program challenged researchers to create devices not only capable of withstanding such temperatures but also delivering reliable operations up to a million times every second, thus requiring a sensor bandwidth of 1MHz.

From the DARPA program description:

“…the capabilities of sensors can be inhibited by thermal limitations. A sensor may theoretically be able to process inputs such as speed, pressure, or the integrity of a mechanical component, but inside a turbine engine, temperatures far exceed what any existing sensor can withstand. However, if we can design, integrate, and demonstrate high-performance physical sensors that can operate in high-temperature environments, we can advance toward systems that perform at the edge of their capability instead of the limits of uncertainty.”

Technical problems in extreme-temperature pressure sensing have persisted since at least as early as the beginning of hypersonics research in late 1946. Then the term was coined by Cal Tech aerodynamicist Hsue-Shen Tsien. When Sheplak began his dissertation work in the early 1990s at NASA-Langley Research Center in instrumentation development for hypersonic turbulent boundary layer measurements, it was still an open problem. It’s only relatively recently — with advances in materials science, high-bandgap semiconductor circuit design, and MEMS technologies — that the fundamental problems can be tackled in earnest.

The processor was created by Roozbeh Tabrizian, Ph.D., an associate professor in UF’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and marks a shift in wireless communication as the world becomes increasingly connected and rapidly exchanges real-time data.

Comparable to a city with too much traffic, current systems are sending too much data through these planar processors, and new, three-dimensional ones are needed to keep up with demand.

This new processor is more efficient, takes up less space, and can be scaled indefinitely, meaning it will be able to meet future demands. The technology was featured on the cover of the journal Nature Electronics.

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The DARPA YFA is a highly competitive research program among assistant and associate professors in a wide range of research—from engineering, physics, chemistry to computer science and social science. The target of the YFA program is to identify, engage, and develop rising stars in academia to enable pivotal breakthrough technologies for national security. At the end of the initial two-year program, DARPA YFA awardees with exceptional technical accomplishments and leadership are selected for the highly competitive Director’s Fellowship which provides funding and support for a third year to extend their impactful and risk-taking research explorations.

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The Khargonekar Award comes on the heels of recent successes for Dr. Tabrizian—he was a recipient of a 2019 DARPA Young Faculty Award and a 2018 NSF CAREER Award.

The Khargonekar Award is special to ECE Florida—it’s named for Dr. Pramod P. Khargonekar, currently vice chancellor for research at the University of California, Irvine. Prior to his post at UC Irvine, Dr. Khargonekar was Eckis Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering at UF (2001–2016) as well as the dean of the College of Engineering 2001–2009).