MEMtronics Corporation,
privately-held company focused on the commercialization of RF micromachined
switch technology, today announced it has received a development contract from
the Defense Advance Research Projects Agency (DARPA) entitled "Reliable
MEMS Ka-band Tunable Filters."
The 24-month $749,695 contract is the second phase of a Small Business Innovation
Research (SBIR) project sponsored by the Department of Defense. The project's
focus is development and demonstration of high-performance tunable filters for
military radar and communications systems.
"These circuits take advantage of MEMtronics' developments in radio frequency
microelectromechanical systems (RF MEMS) technology, which have been demonstrated
to operate with lower loss, less power consumption, and improved linearity compared
to conventional electronics technology," said Dr. Chuck Goldsmith, MEMtronics
president. "We will provide advances in design, manufacturing, and packaging
necessary for the demonstration of narrow-band low-loss tunable filters that
operate in the millimeter-wave frequency range (frequencies above 30 GHz)."
This contract is an extension of a previous SBIR award by DARPA that MEMtronics
successfully completed last year. This phase of the program will build upon
last year's development to produce working prototypes with the necessary form,
fit, and function for integration into radar systems.
"The tunable filters being developed during the course of this program
will be important components for next-generation military phased array antennas,
having applicability to both radar and communications systems," added Goldsmith.
"The control and management of the RF spectrum is important to our military
customers. These concepts will enable significantly smaller and better performing
filters to be manufactured, filling an important need in military electronic
systems."