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Seven innovations conceived at MIT Lincoln Laboratory, either independently or collaboratively, have secured 2025 R&D 100 Awards. This yearly competition for awards honors the most impactful new technologies, products, and materials introduced to the market or transitioned for use within the year. An impartial panel of experts in technology and industry professionals determines the awardees.
“Receiving an R&D 100 Award acknowledges the outstanding ingenuity and dedication of our scientists and engineers. The recognized technologies illustrate Lincoln Laboratory’s mission to convert groundbreaking ideas into practical solutions for U.S. national security, industry, and society,” states Melissa Choi, director of Lincoln Laboratory.
The triumphant technologies from Lincoln Laboratory bolster national security in various ways, from securing satellite communication connections and pinpointing nearby emitting devices to offering a protective layer for U.S. Army vehicles and shielding service members from chemical hazards. Other innovations are pushing boundaries in computing, enabling the 3D integration of chips and meticulous examination of superconducting electronics. Industry is also reaping the rewards of these advancements — for instance, by adopting an architecture that streamlines the development of laser communication terminals.
The online magazine R&D World administers the awards program. Awardees include Fortune 500 corporations, federally funded research institutions, academic and governmental laboratories, and small enterprises. Since 2010, Lincoln Laboratory has amassed 108 R&D 100 Awards.
Saving lives
Tactical Optical Spherical Sensor for Interrogating Threats (TOSSIT) is a throwable, baseball-sized device that remotely identifies harmful vapors and aerosols. It is engineered to warn soldiers, first responders, and law enforcement of the presence of chemical threats, including nerve and blister agents, industrial chemical incidents, or fentanyl particles. Users can simply toss, drone-drop, or launch TOSSIT into a targeted area. To detect specific chemicals, the sensor samples the air using a built-in fan and employs an internal camera to observe color changes on a removable dye card. If hazardous substances are detected, TOSSIT alerts users wirelessly through an app or via audible, light-based, or vibrational alarms in the sensor.
“TOSSIT addresses an unfulfilled requirement for a chemical vapor point sensor that senses the immediate environment surrounding it and can be kinetically deployed ahead of service personnel. It provides a cost-effective sensing solution for vapors and solid aerosol threats — think toxic dust particles — that would otherwise remain undetected by smaller deployed sensor systems,” remarks principal investigator Richard Kingsborough. TOSSIT has undergone extensive field testing and is currently being transitioned to military use.
Wideband Selective Propagation Radar (WiSPR) is a sophisticated radar and communications system designed to safeguard U.S. Army armored vehicles. The system’s active electronically scanned antenna array expands signal range at millimeter-wave frequencies, directing thousands of beams per second to identify incoming kinetic threats while facilitating covert communication among vehicles. WiSPR is crafted to have a low detection probability, aiding U.S. Army units in avoiding adversaries attempting to spot radio-frequency (RF) emissions from radars. The system is presently in production.
“Ongoing global conflicts are revealing the vulnerability of armored vehicles to enemy anti-tank weapons. By merging custom technologies with commercially available hardware, the Lincoln Laboratory team rapidly and efficiently developed a WiSPR prototype,” states program manager Christopher Serino, who supervised WiSPR’s development alongside principal investigator David Conway.
Pushing the frontiers of computing
Bumpless Integration of Chiplets to Al-Optimized Fabric is a method that facilitates the production of next-generation 2D, 2.5D, and 3D integrated circuits. As demands for data processing escalate, designers are investigating 3D stacked assemblies of small specialized chips (chiplets) to enhance device capabilities. Tiny conductive bumps are used to create electrical connections across these stacks, but these microbumps are inadequate for the dense, highly interconnected components required for future microcomputers. To solve this challenge, Lincoln Laboratory developed a method that eliminates microbumps. Central to this technique is a lithographically produced fabric that allows electrical bonding of chiplet stack layers. Researchers employed an AI-driven decision tree to refine the design of this fabric. This bumpless feature can integrate hundreds of chiplets that function like a single chip, boosting data processing speed and power efficiency, particularly for high-performance AI applications.
“Our innovative, bumpless, heterogeneous chiplet integration is a groundbreaking method that tackles two semiconductor industry challenges: increasing chip yield and lowering costs and development time for systems,” claims principal investigator Rabindra Das.
Quantum Diamond Magnetic Cryomicroscope is an advancement in magnetic field imaging for characterizing superconducting electronics, an exciting frontier in high-performance computing. Unlike conventional methods, this system provides rapid, wide-field, high-resolution imaging at the cryogenic temperatures essential for superconducting devices. The instrument combines an optical microscopy system with a cryogenic sensor head that includes a diamond engineered with nitrogen-vacancy centers — atomic-scale defects that are very sensitive to magnetic fields. The cryomicroscope enables researchers to directly visualize trapped magnetic vortices that disrupt critical circuit components, aiding in overcoming a significant hurdle in scaling superconducting electronics.
“The cryomicroscope offers us an unparalleled insight into magnetic behavior in superconducting devices, accelerating advances toward next-generation computing technologies,” announces Pauli Kehayias, joint principal investigator with Jennifer Schloss. The instrument is currently propelling the development of superconducting electronics at Lincoln Laboratory and is anticipated to influence materials science and quantum technology more broadly.
Boosting communications
Lincoln Laboratory Radio Frequency Situational Awareness Model (LL RF-SAM) employs advancements in AI to improve U.S. service members’ situational awareness over the electromagnetic spectrum. The contemporary spectrum can be likened to a swamp of mixed signals from civilian, military, or enemy sources. In near-real-time, LL RF-SAM examines these signals to disentangle and identify nearby waveforms and their source devices. For instance, LL RF-SAM can assist a user in identifying a particular energy packet as a drone transmission protocol and classify whether that drone belongs to a group of friendly or adversarial drones.
“This type of enhanced context assists military operators in making data-informed decisions. The future deployment of this technology will have a profound impact across communications, signals intelligence, spectrum management, and wireless infrastructure security,” states principal investigator Joey Botero.
Modular, Agile, Scalable Optical Terminal (MAScOT) is a laser communications (lasercom) terminal architecture that provides adaptable mission-enabling lasercom solutions applicable to various space platforms and operational environments. Lasercom is quickly becoming the preferred technology for space-to-space communication.
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Connections in low Earth orbit due to its capacity to facilitate markedly higher data transmission rates in comparison to radio frequency terminals. Nonetheless, it has not yet been employed operationally or commercially for extended-range space-to-ground connections, as these systems frequently necessitate tailored designs for unique missions. MASCOT’s modular, flexible, and adaptable architecture simplifies the creation of lasercom terminals appropriate for a variety of missions, ranging from near-Earth to deep space. MAScOT made its inaugural appearance on the International Space Station in 2023 to showcase NASA’s first bi-directional lasercom relay system, and is currently being readied for operational utilization on Artemis II, NASA’s lunar flyby mission set for 2026. Two terminals constructed by industry have embraced the MAScOT framework, and technology transfer to further industry collaborators is in progress.
“MAScOT represents the most recent lasercom terminal conceived by Lincoln Laboratory engineers after decades of trailblazing lasercom research with NASA, and it is prepared to facilitate lasercom for many years ahead,” states Bryan Robinson, who co-directed the development of MAScOT alongside Tina Shih.
Protected Anti-jam Tactical SATCOM (PATS) Key Management System (KMS) Prototype addresses the essential issue of securely disseminating cryptographic keys for military satellite communications (SATCOM) during terminal jamming, breaches, or disconnection. Achieving the U.S. Space Systems Command’s vision for resilient and protected tactical SATCOM, the PATS KMS Prototype utilizes groundbreaking, bandwidth-efficient protocols and algorithms to provide real-time, scalable key distribution over wireless connections, even under hostile conditions, ensuring that warfighters can communicate securely in challenged environments. PATS KMS is presently being incorporated as the foundation of the Department of Defense’s forthcoming SATCOM architecture.
“PATS KMS is more than just a technology — it serves as a crucial enabler of resilient, modern SATCOM, designed for the realities of today’s contested battlefield. We collaborated closely with governmental stakeholders, operational users, and industry partners throughout a multiyear, multiphased endeavor to realize this capability,” remarks Joseph Sobchuk, co-principal investigator with Nancy List. The R&D 100 Award is shared with the U.S. Space Force Space Systems Command, whose “visionary leadership has been pivotal in crafting the future of protected tactical SATCOM,” Sobchuk adds.
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