What role is Luna Innovations terahertz division playing in the new Northrup Grumman B-21 Raider?

 

 

Last week investors in Luna Innovations, (LUNA), were excited to learn that a new multi-year, multi-million dollar contract had been entered into with Northrup Grumman:

"Luna Innovations Incorporated  a global leader in advanced fiber optic-based technology, today announced that it has extended its existing relationship with Northrop Grumman by securing a new multi-year, multi-million-dollar agreement. The agreement includes an initial receipt of an over $3 million incremental, multi-unit purchase order for the OBR 6200 portable backscatter reflectometer."

This announcement came only four days after the Pentagon unveiled the new stealth bomber the B-21 Raider which was developed by Northrup Grumman. Readers of this blog well know the prior involvement of Luna's terahertz imaging which was used to insure the stealthy nature of the paint and outer coating on the F-35 for Lockhead Martin:  

https://terahertztechnology.blogspot.com/2017/06/lockheed-martin-is-close-to-winning.html 

 

as well as the use of the backscatter reflectometer developed by Luna, called the OBR 6200 in the sustainment equipment for the F-35. "The OBR 6200 instrument is included with the sustainment equipment when F-35s are deployed globally."

Curious investors such as me have to wonder if LUNA isn't  also playing a foundational role in insuring the stealthy coating used on the new B-21 Raider? Thus far I haven't seen any press release which specifically states this, but I have to believe the recent price increase in the shares of Luna stock are directly related to both the new contract with Northrup Grumman as well as the development of the new B-21 Raider. Time will hopefully tell, (or perhaps given the sensitive nature of the technology we will just have to continue to guess). 

Email from Irl Duling Director of Terahertz Business Development- F-35 and other news

(My note: Out of the blue I just got this email from Dr. Irl Duling Director of Terahertz Business Development at Picometrix, which he gave me permission to share with readers here. Thank you Dr. Duling for the update!).

Hi Randy,

Steve asked me to contact you.

As you have probably heard there are big tidal shifts here as:

1. API was purchased by Luna

2. Rick Kurtz left the company

3. Rob Risser took over and then passed away

4. Luna sold the HSOR business (and the Picometrix name) to MACOM

We are currently working on settling the THz portion of the company within Luna without the rest of what was Picometrix.

In spite of all that turmoil we have been making good progress on the THz product line.

All sales volumes are on an upward trajectory.

I hope that as things settle you will start seeing a steady flow of information, since some of the impediments to that have now been removed.

Concerning our work with the F-35, we have continued working with Lockheed Martin (LM) and Northrop Grumman Corp (NGC).

With NGC we have been measuring the external coating as it is applied in the paint booth.  That required a CID1 certification, which we have obtained (for the measurement head).

At LM, our SPG (Single Point Gauge), which is a handheld THz measurement tool is being used on the production floor to verify the coating thickness as the plane is being assembled, and before it goes into final test.

The SPG is also being tested on other airframes.

The third application that is being developed is our LSG (Line Scan Gauge) which runs a Step-Chek software package to measure the step and gap between panels as the plane is assembled.  We have delivered the first items to LM and they are going through the testing process.  The LSG is also being used by NASA on the Orion spacecraft.

As with any government program, the pace is slow, but steady, and we expect to see increased traction in the coming years.

Best regards,

Irl

Irl Duling, PhD
Director of Terahertz Business Development
Picometrix, a division of Luna Innovations
2925 Boardwalk
Ann Arbor, MI 48104

AFRL demonstrates improved measurement capabilities for aircraft engine inlets

AFRL completed a series of tests to enable the use of the Terahertz Coating Thickness tool, shown here mounted on a robotic arm along with a spray attachment, for F-35 inlet production. This tool is a non-contact, non-destructive device that allows users to measure coating thickness quickly and easily without risk of damage to coating surfaces. (Photo courtesy of Northrop Grumman Corp. and Picometrix, LLC)

http://www.wpafb.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/995429/afrl-demonstrates-improved-measurement-capabilities-for-aircraft-engine-inlets

WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio -- AFRL Materials and Manufacturing Directorate researchers recently completed a series of tests that are enabling the use of a new measurement tool and quality assurance process for F-35 inlet production.

Now users can measure for proper thickness of inlet material coatings quickly and easily without risk of damage to coating surfaces.

The Terahertz Coating Thickness probe is a non-contact, nondestructive approach that uses a high-frequency terahertz signal to penetrate materials and allow the measurement of material thickness. The change in refractive index between two adjacent layers causes some of the energy in the signal to reflect back toward the probe. Users can measure the time-of-flight and strength of the reflected signal to calculate the material thickness. The energy of the signal that is not absorbed by the medium and is not reflected by the boundary continues into the next material layer, and the process repeats.  Multiple layers generate multiple reflections across the received signal, allowing the user to calculate the thickness of each individual material layer in the stack-up.

This process can be automated using a simple, easy-to-use machine/human interface to provide quick and easily interpretable results in real time.  Additionally, because this measurement technique is not affected by subsurface features such as gaps and fasteners, it is a faster, more accurate, and more reliable approach than the currently-used eddy current Fischerscope tool. 

One disadvantage of traditional, manual thickness measurement tools such as the eddy current method is that they require at least four hours of cure time before any coating thickness measurement can be made, and 48 hours of cure time for a final coating thickness measurement. These methods are also comparatively slow and labor intensive, can potentially damage coating surfaces, and are poor at producing repeatable and reproducible results when used on complex curved surfaces.

Conversely, the Terahertz measurement technique does not require contact with the surface, and measurements can be made on wet coatings as the material is being applied. It produces high-resolution images, and accurately predicts the final, cured coating thickness within material tolerances.

To achieve this testing effort, AFRL conducted a thorough gauge reliability and reproducibility study of the Terahertz Coating Thickness probe capability to accurately measure the thickness of robotically-sprayed coatings in F-35 inlet ducts. The study was very successful, showing a drastic improvement in reliability and reproducibility over the baseline manual Fischerscope method. 

“These tests ensured that the terahertz coating thickness tool performed as expected, with repeatable and reliable results,” said Juan Calzada, AFRL project engineer. “This was essential in assuring the efficacy of this tool and its subsequent implementation in the manufacturing and quality assurance process.”

The completion of the AFRL testing effort led to the achievement of a formal Manufacturing Readiness Level 7 assessment. Following the publication of new quality assurance procedures, the Terahertz coating thickness measurement capability will be incorporated into the inlet production line.

Abstract-Northrop Grumman delivers four significant breakthroughs for DARPA’s “Wait, What?” Technology Forum

http://www.ceasiamag.com/2015/09/northrop-grumman-delivers-four-significant-breakthroughs-for-darpas-wait-what-technology-forum/

Leveraging its advanced research expertise, Northrop Grumman will demonstrate unique solutions to national security challenges at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) “Wait, What?” forum on future technologies.

Four breakthrough innovations in microelectronics established by Northrop Grumman on behalf of the agency were represented at the forum, held Sept. 9-11 in St. Louis, Missouri, USA.

Terahertz (THz) Electronics: Development of the world’s fastest microchip, operating at one-trillion cycles per second, and demonstration of the world’s highest frequency wireless link operating at 850 billion cycles per second. THz communications is capable of improving the capability of military systems by expanding a congested and contested electronic spectrum. (Demo number H5)

100G: Demonstration of record-breaking combined data rate and spectral efficiency of 100 Gb/s communications data rate capacity in just 5 GHz of RF bandwidth, providing an assured mobile RF backbone communication network to the warfighter. (Demo number H7)

ICECool: A solution to increase output power of circuits used in high-power military radar, communications, and electronic warfare RF transmitters by significantly cooling transistors. Microfluidic diamond technology is able to dissipate heat exceeding 40 kW/cm2, considerably greater than the 6.3 kW/cm2 power density of the sun’s surface.

DAHI: A new 3-D heterogeneous integration approach that enables the intimate micron scale combination of virtually any microelectronics technology, including high performance compound semiconductors and highly scaled complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology, to improve performance and cost of military systems.

Photo Release -- Northrop Grumman Sets World Record with One-Terahertz Circuit, Achieves One Trillion Cycles per Second

Center, Philip Robertson, representative, Guinness World Records, presents the world record certificate for the fastest integrated circuit amplifier to, from left, Dr. Dale Burton, sector vice president and chief technology officer, Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems; Dr. Arati Prabhakar, director, DARPA; Dr. Dev Palmer, DARPA Terahertz Electronics program manager; and Dr. William Deal, Northrop Grumman Terahertz Electronics program manager. The amplifier uses 10 transistor stages to reach an operating speed of one trillion cycles per second and could lead to revolutionary technologies such as high-resolution security imaging systems, improved collision-avoidance radar, higher-capacity communications networks and advanced spectrometers. - 

http://globenewswire.com/news-release/2014/10/28/677323/10104912/en/Photo-Release-Northrop-Grumman-Sets-World-Record-with-One-Terahertz-Circuit-Achieves-One-Trillion-Cycles-per-Second.html

MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif. – Oct. 28, 2014 – Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC), a leader in advanced microelectronics, has developed the world's fastest integrated circuit amplifier, which has been recognized by Guinness World Records. The amplifier uses 10 transistor stages to reach an operating speed of one terahertz (1012 Hz), or one trillion cycles per second—surpassing the company's own performance record of 850 billion cycles per second set in 2012. 

DARPA CIRCUIT ACHIEVES SPEEDS OF 1 TRILLION CYCLES PER SECOND, EARNS GUINNESS WORLD RECORD

Accomplishments in Terahertz Electronics program could pave way for new areas of research and unforeseen applications in the sub-millimeter wave spectrum

 http://www.darpa.mil/NewsEvents/Releases/2014/10/28.aspx

Officials from Guinness World Records today recognized DARPA’s Terahertz Electronics program for creating the fastest solid-state amplifier integrated circuit ever measured. The ten-stage common-source amplifier operates at a speed of one terahertz (10¹² GHz), or one trillion cycles per second—150 billion cycles faster than the existing world record of 850 gigahertz set in 2012.

“Terahertz circuits promise to open up new areas of research and unforeseen applications in the sub-millimeter-wave spectrum, in addition to bringing unprecedented performance to circuits operating at more conventional frequencies,” said Dev Palmer, DARPA program manager. “This breakthrough could lead to revolutionary technologies such as high-resolution security imaging systems, improved collision-avoidance radar, communications networks with many times the capacity of current systems and spectrometers that could detect potentially dangerous chemicals and explosives with much greater sensitivity.”

Developed by Northrop Grumman Corporation, the Terahertz Monolithic Integrated Circuit (TMIC) exhibits power gains several orders of magnitude beyond the current state of the art. Gain, which is measured logarithmically in decibels, similar to how earthquake intensity is measured on the Richter scale, describes the ability of an amplifier to increase the power of a signal from the input to the output. The Northrop Grumman TMIC showed a measured gain of nine decibels at 1.0 terahertz and eight decibels at 1.03 terahertz. By contrast, current smartphone technology operates at one to two gigahertz and wireless networks at 5.7 gigahertz

“Gains of six decibels or more start to move this research from the laboratory bench to practical applications—nine decibels of gain is unheard of at terahertz frequencies” said Palmer. “This opens up new possibilities for building terahertz radio circuits.”

For years, researchers have been looking to exploit the tremendously high-frequency band beginning above 300 gigahertz where the wavelengths are less than one millimeter. The terahertz level has proven to be somewhat elusive though due to a lack of effective means to generate, detect, process and radiate the necessary high-frequency signals.

Current electronics using solid-state technologies have largely been unable to access the sub-millimeter band of the electromagnetic spectrum due to insufficient transistor performance. To address the “terahertz gap,” engineers have traditionally used frequency conversion—converting alternating current at one frequency to alternating current at another frequency—to multiply circuit operating frequencies up from millimeter-wave frequencies. This approach, however, restricts the output power of electrical devices and adversely affects signal-to-noise ratio. Frequency conversion also increases device size, weight and power supply requirements.

DARPA has made a series of strategic investments in terahertz electronics through itsHiFIVE, SWIFT and TFAST programs. Each program built on the successes of the previous one, providing the foundational research necessary for frequencies to reach the terahertz threshold.

New vacuum power amplifier demonstrated at 0.85 Terahertz

The world 's first terahertz-class traveling-wave tube amplifier. Credit: Northrop Grumman

http://phys.org/news/2013-11-vacuum-power-amplifier-terahertz.html

The submillimeter wave, or terahertz, part of the electromagnetic spectrum falls between the frequencies of 0.3 and 3 terahertz, between microwaves and infrared light. Historically, device physics has prevented traditional solid state electronics (microchips) from operating at the terahertz scale. Unlocking this band 's potential may benefit military applications such as high data rate communications, improved radar and unique methods of spectroscopy—imaging techniques that provide better tools for scientific research. However, access to these applications is limited due to physics.
Researchers under DARPA 's Terahertz Electronics (THz) program have designed and demonstrated a 0.85 Terahertz power amplifier using a micromachined vacuum tube—a world 's first. The achievement comes from DARPA-funded researchers at Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems, who built the 1 centimeter-wide traveling wave vacuum tube. The vacuum tube power amplifier is only one achievement of the broader THz program, which seeks to develop a variety of breakthrough component and integration technologies necessary to one day build complex THz circuits for communications and sensing.

"Vacuum tubes bring back visions of antique electronics, but these are not your grandparents' TV sets" said Dev Palmer, DARPA program manager. "DARPA-sponsored research has taken tools developed by the semiconductor and MEMS revolution—microfabrication methods and materials—and applied them to reliable, efficient vacuum tube technologies. This mix of old and new gives us a never-before-achieved terahertz-class vacuum power amplifier."

As solid-state and vacuum electronics approach the terahertz band, laser-based technologies are approaching from the other end of the spectrum. Unlike lasers, the electronics produced under THz would be able to handle multiple missions with a single system. For applications like ultra-high data rate digital communications, these technologies could enable wireless networks exceeding 100 gigabits per second—orders of magnitude faster than today 's networks.

Other applications include plans to insert the THz-class amplifier into a demonstration of DARPA 's Video Synthetic Aperture Radar (ViSAR). ViSAR seeks to build a sensor system for aerial platforms that peers through clouds to provide high-resolution, full-motion video for engaging moving ground targets in all weather conditions.

"Further research and development in this field will help unlock applications for our military in this historically difficult to access part of the spectrum," said Palmer.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2013-11-vacuum-power-amplifier-terahertz.html#jCphttp://phys.org/news/2013-11-vacuum-power-amplifier-terahertz.html