Vanishing Programmable Resources (VAPR)
Abstract
The Vanishing Programmable Resources (VAPR) program will create microelectronic and mechanical systems capable of physically disappearing (either in whole or in part) in a controlled, triggerable manner, a characteristic referred to as transience. The program will develop and establish an initial set of materials and components along with integration and manufacturing capabilities to undergird a fundamentally new class of electronics and mechanical structures defined by their performance and transience. These transient electronics and structural systems ideally should perform in a manner comparable to Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) systems, but with limited device persistence that can be programmed, adjusted in real-time, triggered, and/or be sensitive to the deployment environment. Applications include sensors for conventional indoor/outdoor environments (buildings, transportation, and materiel), environmental monitoring over large areas, simplified diagnosis, treatment, and health monitoring in the field and airborne delivery vehicles with vanishing properties. VAPR will explore transience characteristics of electronic devices and structural materials as well as build out an initial capability to make transient electronics and transient structural materials a deployable technology for the DoD and Nation. The technological capability developed through VAPR will be demonstrated through two final test vehicles. The transient electronics test vehicle will be a vanishing sensor with RF link. The sensor with RF link will serve as an application vehicle showing the manufacturability of the research and process developed in the VAPR program being performed in PE 0601101E, Project TRS-01. The sensor with RF link is meant to be functional on its own, but also a leading indicator of the types of circuits possible under the VAPR program. The transient structural materials demonstration will be a vanishing air delivery vehicle capable of precise, gentle drops of small payloads (~3 lbs.). This demonstration will be functional on its own and will also be a leading indicator of the types of complex vanishing mechanical structures enabled by VAPR materials and technologies. The resulting prototype designs will establish a fundamental capability to gently, precisely, and without debris deliver mission-critical payloads and are expected to broadly apply to various concepts of operation (CONOPS) relevant to national security.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Accomplishment
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2017
- Source ID
- ebb49ea57d4d6c0df8f868b669032b63
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- Root: ELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY