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."