Major Qualifying Project Center A Term 2005-2006

2005-2006||2006-2007||2007-2008||2008-2009||2009-2010||2010-2011||2011-2012

The MIT Lincoln Laboratory continues a joint collaboration with Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) to have a number of their undergraduate seniors perform their Major Qualifying Project (MQP) at the Laboratory in Lexington MA.

Description of Fall 2005 Projects

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Geiger-mode Avalanche Photodiode (APD) Optimization Study
Group 87– Advanced Imaging Technology (2-3 students)
Dr. Brian Aull
WPI Faculty Advisor – TBD

The Advanced Imaging Technology Group develops advanced silicon based focal-plane technology for both DoD and scientific applications, such as astronomy, remote sensing, and adaptive optics. These applications include both active and passive imaging systems. Examples of research activity include design, fabrication, and testing of world class CCD imaging devices used in a variety of high end scientific applications (for example, the focal planes for the Chandra x-ray telescope and various major telescopes), demonstration of silicon-based photon-counting detector arrays, and development of unique active-pixel sensors.

Using the above technology, arrays of Geiger-mode avalanche photodiodes (APDs) integrated with digital CMOS circuits have been developed and demonstrated for both active and passive imaging systems. Existing CAD tools do a poor job of modeling the characteristics of these APDs, making precise optimization difficult. The students will conduct a systematic experimental study of the dependence of APD performance parameters, such as dark count rate and detection efficiency, on both the fabrication process and the measurement technique. The results of this experimental study will support development of theoretical models that will facilitate optimized design and fabrication of these devices.

This project requires a total of 2 to 3 students majoring in physics or electrical and computer engineering, or applied mathematics (or a combination of the three majors). One of the students has already been selected. Understanding of the physics of semiconductor devices and first-rate experience in experimental laboratory technique are required (either PH 3502 or ECE 3901 is required).

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Design and Measurement of Wideband All-Digital Phased Array Antenna Radiating Elements
Group 101– Air and Missile Defense (3 students)
Dr. Herbert Aumann
WPI Faculty Advisor – TBD

Group 101 is developing wideband all-digital phased array technology. This particular research project will focus on the design, prediction, simulation and measurement of prototype phased array antenna radiating elements.

The students would model phased array elements using WIPL-D or NEC software with particular emphasis on wide bandwidth frequency response. Isolated elements as well as elements embedded in an array grid will be examined. The array grid will be optimized to achieve wide bandwidth. Students will verify the simulations by measuring isolated and embedded phased array element patterns on an antenna range.

The project requires three electrical engineering and/or physics students. Background in electromagnetism (EE 2112 Electromagnetism or PH 2301 / PH3301 Electromagnetism) and Matlab experience are desirable.

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Modeling Multi-Target Track Association and Sensor Fusion
Group 31 – Systems and Architectures (2 or 3 students)
Dr. Stephen D. Weiner
WPI Faculty Advisor – TBD

The Systems and Architectures Group is concerned with modeling the performance of Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) systems comprised of networks of sophisticated radar and optical sensors connected by an overall battle management control structure. In such BMD systems, information collected by several sensors on a number of targets must be combined and used to make decisions regarding which targets should be intercepted and which targets should be rejected. For this process to be successful, it is necessary that the data from “sensor 1” on “target A” be associated with data from “sensor 2” on “target A” and not with data from “sensor 2” on “target B”. To date, most of the analyses of this problem have involved elaborate Monte Carlo simulations which provide high fidelity modeling of the target motion, target signatures and sensor measurement capability but provide limited flexibility to consider target and sensor variations. They also provide limited insight into those threat and defense parameters, which have the greatest influence on overall performance.

The students will develop simple modular parametric models of the association and fusion process to permit rapid evaluation of the overall defense performance as a function of number of targets, density of targets, velocity spread of targets, defense sensor resolution and accuracy in range and angle, any sensor measurement biases and the relative geometry of the different sensors. Major modules will include association of crossing targets for a single sensor, handover of single targets from one sensor to another, sensor bias estimation and removal, association of objects in a target complex seen by one sensor with these objects seen by a second sensor. For each module, the output will be the probability of success and the probabilities of different failure modes as a function of the input parameters. These individual modules will be combined into an overall functional model whose output will be the probability of correctly selecting the object to be intercepted (the warhead) as a function of all the input parameters. This overall model will be used in higher-level simulations of total BMD system performance. It would be nice if versions of the model could be developed as an Excel spreadsheet(s) or a MATLAB script(s). The output of these simple models will be compared with the output from more elaborate Monte Carlo simulations.

Students for this project could be Physics, Mathematics, or Electrical and Computer Engineering majors or a combination of these majors. The skills needed for this project include a background in probability and error analysis (MA 2621 or MA 2631), understanding of coordinate systems and simple target motion (PH 1110 or PH 1111; PH 2201 or ES 2503 would be helpful), and understanding of the capabilities and limitations of computers to model these processes. The most important skill is good judgment, to model all the important factors in the problem and ignore all the unimportant factors. Knowledge of MATLAB is also required There are a number of people in Group 31 who can assist in acquiring the background and developing the judgment needed to address this problem.

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Radar Target Signature Modeling and Analysis
Group 34 – Intelligence, Test, and Evaluation (3 students)
Dr. Brian Chwieroth
Dr. Jean E. Piou
WPI Faculty Advisor – Professor David Cyganski,
Electrical and Computer Engineering Department

Radar Signature Modeling and Analysis represent a challenge of considerable importance for defense (BMD) system engineers. A general approach to this problem is to mimic signature data collected on targets by using sets of parameters obtained from one or two-dimensional (1-D or 2-D) signal processing schemes. These parameters or target features can then be analyzed (to study the behavior of the targets within the frequency band) or extrapolated (to estimate the responses of those targets) beyond the region of observation.

Recent developments in spectral estimation allow, the problem to be addressed by generating 3-D radar images. Such images provide for modeling target characteristics and features for specific scatterers on any given target. In the early part of this MQP project, the students will become familiar with the signal processing concepts related to generating 3-D images.

This Major Qualifying Project will present several opportunities to perform signature modeling and analysis on targets exhibiting complex motion and geometrical characteristics at microwave frequencies of interest. The students will develop new approaches and fuse existing algorithms to provide enhanced signature modeling capability and data visualization. The output of the project would be successful demonstration of the developed signature tools with a variety of targets.

This project requires 3 students majoring in electrical engineering, physics, or applied mathematics (or a combination of the 3 majors). Solid understanding of electromagnetism is required (EE 2112 or PH 2301 / PH3301 or similar Applied math courses). Knowledge of MATLAB is required.

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Reconfigurable Computing Infrastructure with High Performance FPGA Intellectual Property (IP) Cores for Signal Processing
Group 102 – Embedded Digital Systems (3 students)
Dr. Michael Vai and Dr. Huy T. Nguyen
WPI Faculty Advisor – Prof. Edward Clancy,
Electrical and Computer Engineering Department

The Embedded Digital Systems Group is involved in the design and development of advanced signal processor technology based on hybrid architectures that use a combination of programmable digital signal processors (DSPs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), and application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs). Systems with throughput on the order of 100s of billion operations per second (GOPS) are required to meet the needs of next generation of applications.

The seamless incorporation of a high performance FPGA coprocessor into a software application is highly desirable. Besides the apparent benefit of application acceleration, this capability will support the implementation of a target system in multiple stages using technologies of increasingly higher performance and risk factors (e.g., DSP, FPGA, and ASIC). This project is aimed at developing an infrastructure with a high level middleware library that will allow the use of high performance FPGA IP cores to support heterogeneous, reconfigurable signal processors capable to deliver 100s GOPS of computation in the challenging form factors required for embedded processor found in radars, sonars, and communication systems. The use of FPGA embedded programmable processors to interface IP cores with different host processor architectures will be explored. A total of three or four electrical and computer engineering students with suitable backgrounds (ECE 3801 and 3810) will work under the direction of Dr. Michael Vai and Dr. Huy Nguyen to design and implement the infrastructure. Performance, scalability, and flexibility of a prototype implementation will be demonstrated in a modern radar application. This will be an excellent project for engineering students wishing to work on the forefront of computer technology in the important field of reconfigurable, embedded processing.

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Design and Implementation of an Intelligent Distributed Signal Processing Library for Real-Time Computing
Group 102 – Embedded Digital Systems (3 students)
Dr. Jeremy Kepner and Ms. Nadya Travinin
WPI Faculty Advisor – Prof. Michael Ciaraldi
Computer Science Department

The Embedded Digital Systems Group is involved in the design and development of advanced signal processing software technology for rapid prototyping of real-time embedded systems. One of the key technology challenges in the development of embedded processing is the hardware-to-software mapping and optimization of the application software. Overall program efficiencies of 30% or more are needed to make programmable solutions viable for embedded form-factors, and yet initial (unoptimized) efficiencies as low as a few percent are common for C or C++ programs. The problem is exacerbated when the application requires multiple processors in order to meet throughput requirements. To address these challenges, Lincoln Laboratory is researching intelligent middleware technology aimed at delivering high-performance on parallel and distributed architectures.

This project is aimed at developing a high performance middleware library that will be capable of automatically mapping itself onto parallel and distributed processors. The library is being prototyped using the class definition and function overloading features of MATLAB. Neural network and dynamic programming techniques are being developed to facilitate automated mapping strategies. A total of three computer science, electrical and computer engineering (concentration in signal processing), or mathematics students with suitable backgrounds will work under the direction of Dr. Jeremy Kepner and Ms. Nadya Travinin to design and implement the middleware. Performance, scalability, and flexibility of a prototype implementation will be demonstrated on a representative sensor signal processing application using a large Beowulf cluster (192 nodes). This will be an excellent project for computer scientists and engineers wishing to work on the forefront of computer technology in the important field of embedded signal processing.

The three students should have excellent object oriented programming skills. Having taken Introduction to Artificial Intelligence (CS 4341) will be a big plus.

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Design, Development and Evaluation of a Network Secure Tasking Enterprise
Computing and Communications Technology (3 students)
Mr. Gerald Banner
WPI Faculty Advisor – Prof. Michael Ciaraldi
Computer Science Department

The Computing and Communications Technology Group is responsible for the design, development and evaluation of the Laboratory’s state of the art network secure tasking enterprise computer system. In addition, the group investigates and evaluates state of the art secure email techniques and the development of advanced firewall techniques.

The Computing and Communications Technology Group established a medium level assurance public key infrastructure (PKI) in 2003 intended to support some of the information security needs of MIT Lincoln Laboratory. Integration of PKI for use to provide secure email transport, the capability to digitally sign documents, authentication and authorization to applications requires extensive research and testing to find products to work in the heterogeneous computing environment and that would operate at the necessary security levels. In addition to the use of PKI for certificate deployment, smart cards are planned for use to provide an extra layer of security to protect user’s credentials. All applications that integrate with PKI must also integrate with smart cards and be platform independent. This Major Qualifying Project will involve the research and testing, required to integrate one application for use with the Lincoln PKI system.

This project requires 3 Computer Science students. The required experience includes computer network techniques (CS 4514), Computer Architecture (CS 4515) and distributed computer systems (CS 4241). In addition, an understanding of computer security techniques, basic cryptography and public key infrastructure is required.

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Design and Development of a Unified Framework
for Web-based Interactive Applications
Information Technology (3 students)
Mr. Gerald Banner
WPI Faculty Advisor – Prof. Michael Ciaraldi
Computer Science Department

The Information Technology Office (ITO) assists the Laboratories Divisions and groups in defining information technology (IT) architectures and functions for Laboratory-wide use. The ITO is responsible for the new techniques and computer technologies used in the Laboratory’s internal and external web pages. The group develops web applications to interface with the Laboratory’s groups and customers.

In this Major Qualifying Project, the students will design and construct a unified framework for developing web-based interactive applications. The underlying technologies will be either Struts or Java Server Faces supported by custom tag libraries and other resources. The resources will be unified by resource factories, that will contain all of the required resources and will “dispense” them as needed at run-time. The intent is to assure uniformity of control and appearance while freeing the developer from detailed design and implementation issues. An optimal architecture will be developed based on Enterprise Java Beans (EJB) or, possibly, micro-kernel architectures. Data persistence will be implemented using Java Data Objects or some object/relational mapping. The intent will be to provide a common and seamless architecture that is readily adaptable to web-based, interactive applications.

One or more applications will be selected and implemented using the developed framework. Several existing applications are candidates for being retooled using the new framework. In addition, new applications will become available and may be selected provided that their requirements are well enough established. The project will be managed using open source collaboration tools such as Source Forge and code repositories such as Subversion. This will demonstrate the use of the tools and accumulate “best of breed” experience.

This project requires 3 Computer Science students. The students should have experience with Webware Development (CS 4241) and Human-Computer Interaction (CS 3041).

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Development of Wargame Modeling Displays and Visualization
Group 91 – Space Control Systems (3 students)
Dr. David E. Whited
WPI Faculty Advisor – Prof. Michael Ciaraldi
Computer Science Department

The military uses wargames for a variety of purposes. They can be used to create an environment for training and to increase war-fighting readiness. They can also be used to test and evaluate new systems and/or new technologies. The efficiency of new systems in specific types of conflict can be examined, as can potential vulnerabilities. Further, the game can explore strategies for use of a new system or new uses of existing systems. Lincoln Laboratory is involved in modeling many aspects of "space" for the Wargaming community. This includes modeling systems that monitor satellite activity as well as modeling satellite actions (including satellite maneuvers).

The goal of this project is to simulate space operations and associated satellite orbital mechanics. This effort will include elements such as satellites, ground sensors, micro satellites, ground and space based laser, jammers, dazzlers, etc. The project itself will be accomplished in JAVA by adapting two existing Laboratory software packages - LITMSS and SATORB - and a combination of new wargamming-specific code.

Students should have a solid background in Java, Windows, and LINUX. Web programming and GUI design is suggested. A strong background in physics and mathematics is suggested. The three-person team would be composed of students from electrical engineering, physics, math, and / or computer science.

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Design of a Sensor Resource Scheduler
Group 33 – Ranges and Test Beds (3 students)
Mr. R. William Lapp Jr.
WPI Faculty Advisor – Prof. Michael Ciaraldi
Computer Science Department

Lincoln Laboratory’s Ranges and Test Beds Group is developing the sensor infrastructure for the Pan-Pacific Range and associated mobile range assets and field test-beds.

In this Major Qualifying Project, the students will participate in the design and implementation of a Radar Resource Executive and Radar Pulse Scheduler for a phased array radar. The design will be based upon a common, modular Radar Open Systems Architecture (ROSA), which exploits commercial off the shelf (COTS) hardware and software components. Over the past decade, this architecture has been implemented in seven large instrumentation dish radars, each having a unique frequency and RF front-end.

The phased array radar’s software executive will be aware of all available system resources and resource requests. Each request will be evaluated using arbitration algorithms to determine resource allocation and probability of success.

Technologies incorporated in the design will include XML, Java, C, Linux super computers, SQL, and more. The project requires three computer science students. Solid programming skills (CS 1005 and CS 2005) and knowledge of Object Oriented Design UML is desired. The required academic experience includes computer network techniques (CS 4514), Computer Architecture (CS 4515) and distributed computer systems (CS 4241).

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Design of a Digital Subsystem for a Next Generation Radar
Group 33 – Ranges and Test Beds (2 students)
Mr. R. William Lapp Jr.
WPI Faculty Advisor – TBD

Lincoln Laboratory’s Ranges and Test Beds Group is developing the sensor infrastructure for the Pan-Pacific Range and associated mobile range assets and field test-beds.

The hallmark of the open systems radar architecture, implemented in many of these sensors, is a careful division of radar functionality into subsystem components, each with well-defined interfaces and function. The digital subsystems are stand-alone units that provide specific radar functions. Although the functions are specific, generic subsystems may be created and shared across radar systems. For example, a common Radar Open System Architecture (ROSA) exciter provides master, transmit and receive, timing and waveform generation across seven radars today. These subsystems can be operated in isolation, or in concert with other subsystems under control from the main radar computer. This allows the subsystems to be developed and validated in parallel. Diagnostics can be performed without requiring the entire system, for example, it is possible to exercise the antenna mounts or signal processors with a single subsystem. To support this common capability, each subsystem incorporates core hardware and software, including a vibration isolated rack and VME chassis, a Central Processing Unit (CPU) board, network interfaces, time of day board and diagnostic interfaces.

This Major Qualifying project will consist of assisting in the design and implementation of one of the digital subsystems of the Next Generation surveillance, tracking, and fire control phased array radar. The Next Generation radar system combines multiple radar transmitters and receivers into a large unified sensor, quite similar to the today’s geographically distributed radio telescope arrays.

Technologies incorporated in the design will include digital signal processing, vxWorks, VME technology, digital waveform generation, and more. The project requires two electrical and computer engineering students. The required experience includes Electrical and Computer Engineering Design (ECE 2799) and the prerequisites for that course. Solid C programming skills (CS 1005 and CS 2005) are desired.

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Investigation of Serially Addressing of Deformable Mirrors
Group 902 – Directed Energy (3 students)
Dr. Charles Higgs
WPI Faculty Advisor – TBD

Group 902 operates several laboratories to study techniques for propagating laser beams through atmospheric turbulence. Experiments conducted in these laboratories use propagation geometries that are sub-scale versions of real systems. A key element in these systems is the deformable mirror (or mirrors). These are highly engineered devices containing hundreds of electrostrictive piezoelectric actuators bonded to the back of a thin sheet of optically coated material. By adjusting the voltage on these actuators, the local position of the mirror is perturbed thereby changing the optical figure of the device. These deformable mirrors are extremely expensive both due to the costs of mirror manufacturing but also due to the many high voltage amplifiers used to drive each actuator in parallel. Driving electronics may be equal in cost with the mirror, draw significant power, and occupy significant volume.

The Group would like to investigate an alternative electronic driving scheme for these mirrors. Each actuator can be viewed as a capacitor in series with very high impedance. If that impedance is sufficiently high, sequential addressing of the actuators may be possible. By pushing charge onto (or draining charge from) one capacitor/actuator at a time, the entire mirror may be driven by a single high-voltage amplifier. The primary task for the students would involve understanding the electrical and mechanical behavior of the deformable mirror and testing this concept. A serial (or quasi-serial) driving circuit would be designed to drive the mirror. The students would work with the Laboratory staff to set up appropriate optical diagnostics (interferometer and/or wavefront sensor) to ascertain the effect the driving circuit was having on the mirror operation. This project requires three students with a mixture of electrical and computer engineering, computer science, and physics skills. All of the students should be fluent in C++ (CS 1005 or equivalent required, CS 2005 desired) and knowledge of classical and/or modern optics (PH 2501, PH 2502, PH 2601, and/or PH 3504) by at least one of the students is desired.

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Analytical and Experimental Characterization of Chemical
and Biological Agent Releases
Group 73 – Aerospace Engineering (2 students)
Mr. Scott VanBroekhoven
WPI Faculty Advisors – Prof. Nikolaos A. Gatsonis and Prof. Hamid Johari
Mechanical Engineering Department

Over the last several years MIT Lincoln Laboratory has been involved in the analysis and development of chemical and biological defenses systems. These systems combine sensors and mitigation techniques with operational concepts in order to defend both military and civilian targets against the release of chemical or biological agents. Fluid dynamics modeling has been used extensively in this field to provide both a benefit analysis of potential mitigation techniques and to examine the efficacy of different sensing schemes. The construction and validation of high fidelity models has become a key component in the cost-benefit analysis for examining different system architectures.

This MQP will involve the construction of a high fidelity fluid dynamics model of an indoor environment and the validation of model results through experimental testing. The students will use a commercial fluid dynamics code to examine the behavior of particulate and vapor contaminants within the indoor environment. In a parallel effort, the students will also develop and implement a test plan to both provide inputs into the modeling effort and validate modeling results.

This project will require two students. Both students should posses a strong background in fluid dynamics. Familiarity with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) codes and/or experimental experience would be preferred.

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Persistent Surveillance Ground Traffic Data Characterization and Detection Algorithm Development
Group 61 – Decision Superiority Systems (2 students)
Dr. Joseph Chapa
WPI Faculty Advisor – TBD

Group 61 is beginning to research technologies needed to enable persistent surveillance systems of the future. Persistent surveillance is defined as the ability to watch a site or organization with a variety of sensors on a periodic basis day in and day out over a span of months. These data should enable us to sense activity levels and event signatures, model behavior, and accurately cue precision sensors to identify events or objects. In-depth research, however, cannot begin without persistent truth data on activity levels, events, and behaviors of sites or organizations. Group 61 plans to deploy over 30 vehicle counters across Hanscom Air Force Base beginning in October 2004 to collect truth data on vehicle activity. The students will need to analyze and characterize this large volume of data. The students will develop statistical models of activity, data conditioning filters, and statistical detectors. We will need to test behavior and event detection algorithms and evaluate performance. The project will include a full traffic analysis of Hanscom AFB and a fully populated database tagged with ground truth for use by staff researchers.

Two students are needed to conduct the tasks described above. They must have demonstrated proficiency in probability and statistics, statistical signal processing, estimation theory, digital signal processing, optimal control theory and linear systems. They should have experience and proficiency with developing algorithms in Matlab and C++. They will be required to give oral presentations and written reports, so they must have good oral and written communication skills.

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Evaluation of Mounting Techniques for Optical Elements
Group 71 – Mechanical Engineering (2 – 3 students)
Dr. Michael Languirand
WPI Faculty Advisors – Prof. Nikos Gatsonis and Prof. Hamid Johari
Mechanical Engineering Department

MIT Lincoln Laboratory has a long history of designing, developing and building systems for air defense, missile defense, space surveillance, tactical surveillance, and advanced communications. These activities involve the complete hardware development cycle from conceptual design and analysis, through fabrication and testing.

Present on-going activities include the design and development of high data rate optical communication systems for both terrestrial and space applications. The optical elements comprising these systems must be highly stable under expected environmental conditions, which often include temperature extremes and dynamic loads.

This MQP will involve the evaluation of mounting techniques used for optical elements, with the goal of characterizing the performance of typical designs and design variations after exposure to environmental conditions, and explore design limitations. In consultation with laboratory staff, the students will develop test plans, procedures; experimental set ups and performs measurements. In addition, the students will perform analyses and compare analyses predictions to test results. The students will then recommend possible improvements in both design and analyses techniques based on obtained results.

The project will require 2 or 3 students with mechanical design and analysis capabilities. Some knowledge of finite element analysis and materials science is helpful.

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Process Development of High Performance Materials used in the
Fabrication & Assembly of Electronic Hardware
Group 72 – Fabrication Engineering (1-2 students)
Mr. Spencer White
WPI Faculty Advisors – Prof. Nikos Gatsonis and Prof. Hamid Johari
Mechanical Engineering Department

The Fabrication Engineering Group is involved with all aspects of mechanical & electronic fabrication of Laboratory sponsored hardware development programs. This multidiscipline group allows for a unique interaction of skills during the problem-solving phase of major programs.

One of the major tasks of the group is the evaluation & characterization of high performance materials that are used to support the advanced electronic circuit designs. Specific areas of interest include:

  • High temperature/low dielectric materials used for multilayer printed circuit boards that are exposed to broad temperature ranges along with high frequency applications.
  • High-density component placement techniques such as embedded capacitors & resistors that allow for the integration of passive components during the print & etch phase of multilayer printed circuit board fabrication.

Responsibilities will include the selection and evaluation of candidate materials along with the conceptualization, layout & implementation of test systems needed for proper system evaluation. The project will require 1-2 manufacturing process-engineering students with a background in material testing & electronic circuit requirements.

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The work described in this web page was and will be performed at Lincoln Laboratory, a center for research and development operated by MIT. The opinions, interpretations, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in this web page are those of the authors and not necessarily endorsed by MIT, the U.S. Air Force, or the United States Government.

Employment at MIT Lincoln Laboratory and/or participation in these projects is restricted to U.S. citizens.
The work described in this web page is sponsored by the U.S. Army, and the U.S. Air Force under Air Force Contract F19628-00-C-0002.

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