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3-D Micro Electromagnetic Radio Frequency Systems (3D MERFS)
Program Manager: Dr. Thomas Kenny
The 3-D Micro Electromagnetic Radio Frequency Systems (3-D MERFS) program was launched in mid-2004 to revolutionize the performance, cost, and form factor for advanced radio frequency (RF) and millimeter wave (MMW) radar and communications systems, thereby fulfilling the unmet military & national security need for widely deployable high-performance multi-function MMW systems. Such systems include secure high-data rate communications, vehicle protection radar, on-the-move satellite communication systems, and compact solid-state missile seekers. Although prototype systems with some level of performance can be realized for most of these applications, these prototypes are typically heavy, bulky, fragile, un-mass producible, lack desired capabilities, and often cost 1000 times more than established cost targets.
Much of the difficulty associated with MMW systems arises because there exists no MMW analog to the Printed Circuit Board (PCB). Thus, instead of integrating MMW components compactly on a single system-scale substrate as is done in digital computers, MMW components are typically manually assembled, first at the module level, then the rack level, and then at the system level, thereby degrading performance and reliability, and making the systems un-mass producible.
Through developing a printed circuit board analog for MMW systems, the 3-D MERFS program seeks to extend the same system-level integration paradigm used in digital systems to MMW systems. The program is developing a novel high performance printed circuit board technology for MWW/RF, that instead of using planar micro-strip waveguide structures, uses 3-dimensional recta-coax structures - recta-coax much like the wire that carries cable-TV to your home, but 1000s and 1000s of them, miniaturized and integrated into one monolithic substrate.
Though made only of low cost metal and plastic, these structures outperform transmission lines printed on the most expensive semiconductor materials - with 10x less loss, carrying 10x-100x more power, with 100x component density, and having >10,000x better isolation. They also have much better dispersion, enabling broad-band operations.
Phase I, which completed in 2005, demonstrated a recta-coax substrate containing over 1000 passive conductors and MMW components that demonstrated the 3-D MERFS concept. Phase II concluded in 2006 with the demonstration of a 4x4 element Ka-band (~36 GHz) transmit and receive antenna. In Phase IIB, the focus will be on improving yield to manufacturable levels. In Phase III, component performance will continue to be improved and system integration will begin.
The primary contractor on this program is BAE Systems, with subcontractors Rohm & Haas, the University of Colorado Bolder and Innovative Micro Technologies (IMT). This program is scheduled to complete in 2009.