 |
 |
 |
 |
| |
|||||
|
|
|
Home > News & Events > MITRE Publications > The MITRE Digest > | |||||||||||||||||||
MITRE Helps Illuminate the Rising Area of Metamaterials December 2009
One of the most intriguing emerging disciplines in technology today is metamaterials, a new class of ordered composites that exhibit unusual properties. (Ordered composites are made up of small metallic and dielectric components that exhibit more useful properties when combined together, rather than when any one element stands alone). The field is so new, in fact, that the scientific community has yet to settle on one firm definition of the term. MITRE's Steven Best hopes to change that in the next year or so. "There has been work in this area for about a decade, but the word 'metamaterial' is interpreted in various ways," explains Best, a senior sensor systems engineer. "In general, metamaterials are artificial, man-made structures not found in nature. They gain their properties from their overall structure rather than directly from their composition and may have unusual properties also not found in nature, such as negative refraction." (See "Negative Refraction: Not Just for SciFi Anymore" below.) According to Best, when the word "metamaterial" first emerged in the scientific community, it was used to describe artificial bulk material with a variety of unique properties. Most of the subsequent research activity in this area has centered on materials with specific or unique electromagnetic properties.
Based on his expertise in the field of electromagnetics and antenna design engineering, Best was asked by the professional engineering society IEEE to author a journal article on the state-of-the-art in metamaterials research. The paper is set for publication in 2010 in the society's Antennas and Propagations journal. Best believes there are many potential ways for metamaterials to contribute to the advancement of antenna design techniques and, in military applications, to improve warfighting capabilities. For example, a conventional antenna protrudes from its platform surface. But Best says metamaterials have the potential to optimize conformal antennas, low-profile antennas and possibly, antennas that are small with respect to the wavelength used. "This is important, because for many applications at low frequencies, antennas are large," he points out. "There is tremendous advantage to the installation of smaller antennas." On military aircraft, conformal antennas integrated into the airframe structure would reduce drag during flight, and on an Army Humvee vehicle, they would reduce the physical profile of the entire complex antenna system. Ideally, the antennas would be invisible to an adversary's radar and invisible to the human eye. A Deep Immersion in the Field For a number of years, Best—who is also an IEEE Fellow—has overseen projects that investigate metamaterials and has served on numerous committees that explore the complex topic. Since 2003, he has served as technical advisor on the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA's) metamaterials program; DARPA is the central research and development office for the U.S. Department of Defense. He is also a technical advisor to the U.S. Air Force Research Lab, and he collaborates with the U.S. Army's Research Office as well as at its Communications-Electronics Research, Development, and Engineering Center. "MITRE brings an objective set of eyes as a manager of federally funded research and development centers, because there are no conflict-of-interest issues," Best explains. "In our role as honest broker for our sponsors, we can evaluate what's new in an emerging or well-established field—whether it's any different from conventional techniques and discoveries, and if there's something better that already exists." An Emerging Technology Because metamaterials have potential to be used in ways that greatly help warfighters, Best and a team of MITRE engineers are applying metamaterials to electromagnetic antennas and artificial electromagnetic conductors. "Our work focuses on electromagnetic band-gap ground planes and surfaces," he says. "We are attempting to design wideband, low-profile antennas for a variety of platforms, like aircraft or Humvees." In the private sector, a small number of companies are working on the development of metamaterial antennas for cell phone applications. A section of Best's paper will be devoted to evaluating commercial technology, answering questions in regard to the current state of the art. "From my perspective, working at MITRE provides a truly unique opportunity to be an objective participant in this emerging technology," he says. "While we conduct our own independent research, we always look at developments across the board and incorporate a comparative view. This positions MITRE well in terms of framing the entire field of metamaterials for the greater benefit of science worldwide." —by Cheryl B. Scaparrotta Related Information Articles and News
Technical Papers and Presentations
Websites |
||||||||||||||||||||
Page last updated: December 21, 2009 | Top of page |
Solutions That Make a Difference.® |
|
|
