HRL Laboratories, LLC, has scheduled quarterly multi-project wafer (MPW) runs in calendar years 2021 and 2022 for its T3 gallium nitride (GaN) monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) technology. HRL’s T3 GaN is a leading-edge millimeter-wave (mmW), high-electron-mobility transistor technology for next-generation, high-data-rate wireless communications, high-resolution radar imaging, and many other defense and civilian applications.

A new software system developed by HRL Laboratories will enable open-source intelligence analysts to track down adversarial activity through complex networks of networks worldwide.

HRL Laboratories, LLC, continues its research push to advance the state of the art in additive manufacturing (AM) of high performance alloys. The HRL AM team’s new paper elucidates the fundamental physics behind HRL’s expertise, which enables significantly improved control of how 3D-printed metals melt and solidify. The paper, Grain refinement mechanisms in additively manufactured nano-functionalized aluminum, was published online in September 2020 ahead of the November print issue of the journal Acta Materialia.

HRL Laboratories scientists are aiming for a disruptive improvement in radar, electronic warfare, and communications capabilities they hope will be enabled by their new project. If they are successful, the W-band, nitrogen-polar gallium nitride low-noise amplifier could be the world’s first such device, launching a new generation of defense-oriented electronics applications with a possible improvement of 4 times the output power in W bands over HRL’s existing technology.

At HRL Laboratories, LLC, a team led by Principal Investigator Dr. Jeong-Sun Moon is developing the next generation of gallium nitride (GaN) transistors that will have a dramatic effect on electronic components that amplify electromagnetic signals for communications, radar, and 5G wireless networks. The MMIC amplifiers that utilize these high-speed GaN transistors can see greatly improved linearity, noise reduction, and reduced power consumption.

HRL Laboratories has reached the second phase of its novel system aimed to give autonomous systems such as self-driving cars artificial intelligence the ability to learn new tasks and preserve experience without losing or displacing previous learning—features not possible with current AI systems.

HRL Laboratories, LLC, reports a novel method used to additively manufacture—3D-print—components made from fracture-resistant ceramic matrix composites (CMCs). Published May 28, 2020 in The Journal of the American Ceramic Society, this technique makes possible a new range of complex designs with these durable materials.

Professor Steve Koester of the University of Minnesota came to HRL Laboratories in Malibu, California to access specialized testing equipment. HRL is collaborating with the University of Minnesota on graphene varactors, devices used in artificial impedance surface antennas.

In this Patent Highlight, HRL Researcher Ashley Dustin explains her co-invention of a coating that makes touchscreens easier to clean and smudge resistant. The HRL team combined antithetical elements to achieve the patented emulsion.

HRL Laboratories, LLC, scientists and engineers are taking on the challenge of developing sensors that are doubly-curved, like a bowl, under a new program from the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) sighted on the advancement of infrared (IR) vision. Such curved photographic sensors can enhance clarity throughout an image by bringing its corners into equal focus and brightness as the center.