IUCRC Phase I Georgia Institute of Technology: Electronic-Photonic Integrated Circuits for Aerospace (EPICA)

As mankind continues to expand a wide range of activities into space to support essential communications, climate monitoring, research and exploration, it is imperative to establish the viability and safety of key enabling integrated electronics and photonic technologies for operation in harsh environments. Integrated photonics enable systems with unmatched power efficiency, longevity and capability thus improving everything from internet availability and reliability around the planet to improving environmental sensing and enhanced security by enabling robust DoD systems.

The objective of Electronic-Photonic Integrated Circuits for Aerospace (EPICA) is to enable the use of increasingly sophisticated electronics and photonics in communications and sensing applications for space-borne and aerospace platforms. The diverse team of component, systems and aerospace researchers will collaborate to advance knowledge of associated environmental considerations, and craft specific components and architectures to meet the unique reliability and performance requirements.

EPICA’s objective is to enable the next wave of communications and sensing technologies for aerospace and space-borne platforms. The focus is on investigating the reliability of these devices and systems operating in extreme environments such as space. The project has three major thrusts: i) Assessment, understanding, and development of robust integrated photonic hardware for reliable operation under radiation and temperature extremes; ii) Development of components and architectures using system-level methods and tools to extract maximum advantage of integrated photonic systems for aerospace platforms; iii) Definition of flight hardware and mission architectures for subsequent flight demonstration.

A three-university team, comprised of Georgia Tech, The University of Central Florida and Vanderbilt University, with complementary expertise and facilities, will apply both analytical and experimental capabilities to this project. Georgia Tech researchers will define key performance parameters for aerospace systems and develop architectures and components to meet these requirements.

These circuits will be fabricated on a variety of integration platforms. The Georgia Tech team will also define and assess the impact of flight requirements including packaging and mission specific environments. The team will work directly with the Vanderbilt team in the design and assessment of components and will collaborate with the CREOL team on architecture and component design.

EPICA will advance US-based capabilities in the design and manufacture of robust integrated electronics and photonics, enabling reliable internet access around the planet and creating new environmental sensing capabilities. The EPICA team is also actively creating a diverse workforce that includes a mentoring program designed to increase the success of students from underrepresented groups in areas of advanced photonics, electronics and optical sciences.

Each site will engage professional societies and have active Bridge Programs to support and transition underrepresented students from the baccalaureate level to graduate school.

A project repository for data, code, results, IAB meeting summaries and publications will be digitally archived. Each site will maintain their own local storage and Georgia Tech will manage a comprehensive cloud storage site accessible to the project partners. The repository will be maintained continuously from the first year and for three years after conclusion of the award.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.