Fifteen applied sciences developed both wholly or partly by MIT Lincoln Laboratory have been named recipients of 2024 R&D 100 Awards. The awards are presented by a web-based publication serving the global community of data analysis scientists and engineers. Dubbed the “Oscars of Innovation,” these prestigious awards recognize the top 100 most impactful applied sciences that have been brought to market or launched in the past year, acknowledging groundbreaking innovations that are transforming industries and improving lives. A neutral group of expert judges makes the selections.
“The R&D 100 Awards are a big recognition of the laboratory’s technical capabilities and its position in transitioning expertise for real-world influence,” says Melissa Choi, director of Lincoln Laboratory. “It’s exhilarating to witness such a remarkable array of innovations honored, and we’re deeply gratified by everyone who brought their unique blend of creativity, curiosity, and technical prowess to the table, thereby making these advancements at Lincoln Laboratory a reality.”
Awarded sciences in various fields serve multiple purposes. A few of these emerging technologies hold immense potential to mitigate human suffering – for example, by proactively monitoring for heatstroke or cognitive impairment. Companies are developing innovative manufacturing processes to produce 3D printed glass, create silicon-based imaging sensors, and integrate discrete electronic components into a single entity. Scientists are making strides in understanding complex systems by tackling longstanding challenges, such as mapping the intricate workings of the human brain and the vast, uncharted seafloor. The collective achievement of the winners showcases the boundless creativity and diverse breadth of innovations that have emanated from Lincoln Laboratory. Since 2010, the laboratory has obtained 101 R&D 100 Awards.
This yr’s R&D 100 Award–successful applied sciences are described under.
The NeuroTrALE software programme leverages synthetic intelligence techniques to generate high-resolution maps, or atlases, of the brain’s neuronal networks from complex biomedical data. The proprietary software serves as a comprehensive, end-to-end platform for processing and annotating dense microscopy data, producing neuron segmentations, and enabling experts to review, refine, and edit NeuroTrALE’s annotations through a secure online interface. The award was shared with the lab of Kwanghun “KC” Chung, affiliate professor at MIT’s Department of Chemical Engineering, Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, and Picower Institute for Learning and Memory.
Numerous naval and law enforcement personnel are frequently exposed to controlled, low-level blast simulations during training exercises. While these blasts typically do not cause immediate, diagnosable harm, prolonged exposure has been correlated with increased risk of anxiety disorders, depression, and other cognitive impairments over time. The EyeBoom is a cutting-edge wearable system designed to monitor individuals’ exposure to harmful publicity, alerting them if their risk level exceeds a certain threshold. The system employs two body-mounted sensors: the first captures consistent eye and bodily movements, while the second measures blast intensity. An algorithm processes this data to identify subtle changes in physiological patterns that, when combined with chronic exposure to loud blasts, can accurately forecast the likelihood of cognitive impairment occurring. Upon immediate implementation, the system is utilized by select U.S. entities. Particular Forces models. The laboratory collaborated with Creare LLC and Lifelens LLC to co-develop EYEBOOM.
Artificial tissue constructs that closely mimic the unparalleled stretchability and toughness of native tissue are in high demand for regenerative medicine applications. Researchers at Lincoln Laboratory and MIT’s Division of Mechanical Engineering collaborated to design novel biomaterials that accurately replicate the mechanical characteristics of natural tissues, thereby promoting the growth and differentiation of emerging stem cells. Researchers have developed innovative wearable stem-cell scaffolds designed to accelerate tissue regeneration, reducing recovery time and minimizing complications in severe burn, laceration, and wound cases, allowing for the prompt revival of skin, muscle, and smooth tissues.
The rapidly evolving field of forensic science has given rise to the innovative application of investigative genetic family trees, wherein law enforcement submits a DNA profile to commercial genealogy databases to identify an unknown person or suspect. A breakthrough in forensic technology has been achieved by Lincoln Laboratory’s software innovation, filling a significant gap in the field: the capability to deconvolute and decompose complex DNA profiles derived from multiple unknown individuals, thereby facilitating efficient database searches. The pipeline software programme calculates the number of contributors in a DNA mixture, assigns proportions of DNA from each contributor and determines the sex of each contributor; it then deconvolves the diverse DNA profiles within the mixture to isolate two contributors, eliminating the need for reference profile matching as previously required.
Each year, numerous fatalities and severe incidents occur due to heatstroke, disproportionately affecting individuals working in high-risk outdoor professions such as the military, construction, or emergency services. The Heat Injury Prevention System (HIPS) provides accurate, timely warnings about the onset of heat stroke several minutes before visible symptoms appear. The system aggregates data from a wearable sensor situated on the chest strap, utilizing computational models to calculate physiological metrics, including body temperature, balance indicators, and adaptive circulatory pressures. The system provides an individual’s heat-injury risk assessment through a mobile application. The widespread adoption of HIPS in naval operations is attributed to its unparalleled affordability, precision, and user-friendliness.
More than 80% of the ocean floor remains largely unmapped and unexplored. Traditionally, deep-sea maps have been created through two primary methods: high-resolution mapping achieved by deploying large sonar arrays from ships, or higher-level mapping conducted using expensive and laborious underwater vehicles. New expertise leverages a swarm of approximately twenty autonomous floor automobiles, which collaborate as a unified giant sonar array to achieve the optimal balance between mapping the deep seabed at 100 times the resolution of ship-mounted sonar and 50 times the coverage rate of an underwater vehicle. Advancements in estimation algorithms and innovative acoustic signal processing techniques have made this expertise possible. The system holds potential for considerably enhancing humanitarian search-and-rescue capabilities and ocean and local weather modeling. The R&D 100 Award is shared with the MIT Division of Mechanical Engineering.
Is a machine learning-based structure for analyzing airborne ground-mapping LiDAR data? Airborne lidar technology operates by emitting a laser beam to the ground, generating a detailed three-dimensional representation, or “point cloud”, which captures an accurate aerial snapshot of the surveyed area. Researchers employ AI-powered tools to scrutinize satellite imagery and categorize landscape features akin to urban structures or thoroughfares. As lidar technology has rapidly evolved and expanded in scope, efforts to analyze its insights have faced growing challenges to keep pace. By leveraging a convolutional neural network, FocusNet bridges the gap between object recognition and cloud-based classification, enabling automated object categorization at scale. The technology enables the acquisition of object recognition through various types of lidar systems without requiring retraining, marking a substantial breakthrough in deciphering 3D lidar environments.
Atmospheric data obtained from in situ aircraft measurements, encompassing parameters such as temperature and wind patterns, constitute the most valuable contributions to climate prediction models. Despite these limitations, the data collection processes are currently hindered by the use of specialized software installed on select platforms. The Platform for Advanced Data Warehousing and Operations System (PADWOS) offers a solution to substantially enhance the standard and volume of available data by harnessing Mode S Enhanced Surveillance (EHS) transponders, which are already installed on more than 95% of business aircraft and nearly all general aviation planes. At the lower altitudes, PADWOS engages with Mode S EHS-equipped aircraft, rapidly gathering millisecond-accurate data on each plane’s state from transmitted transponder reports to inform wind and temperature calculations. The system exhibits significant potential for refining predictive models, tracking regional weather patterns, and fostering a wide range of climate-related initiatives.
Quantum networking has the potential to revolutionise global connectivity, unlocking unparalleled capabilities in computing, sensing, and communication systems. For entangled photons to harness their collective potential, they must converge from various locations within a quantum network, synchronously interacting with distinct photons through precisely orchestrated processes. Lincoln Laboratory has emerged as a pioneer in developing an eco-friendly solution to seamlessly integrate space-to-ground quantum networking connections with unparalleled precision, achieving synchronization down to sub-picosecond levels. Unlike traditional approaches to applied sciences, the system enables free-space quantum entanglement distribution via a satellite television platform, obviating the need to locate advanced entanglement sources in orbit. These sources serve as a foundation for further exploration, providing a readily accessible context that can be refined as advances in quantum entanglement technologies unfold?
Researchers at Lincoln Laboratory engineered innovative circuits capable of natively storing and processing information in a manner superior to traditional binary systems, by harnessing the unique properties of superconductors and their quantised magnetic fields. This property enables the development of digital logic circuits that transcend binary logic and adopt a ternary approach, thereby increasing memory throughput without substantially increasing the number of components needed or circuit footprint. Researchers comparing the superconducting ternary-logic memory system to traditional memory found that the former could access the entire Digital Library of Congress nearly 30 times faster than its conventional counterpart. The circuits serve as fundamental building blocks for high-performance, extremely fast, and energy-efficient digital logic applications.
System-on-Chip (SoC) is a methodology to integrate numerous small, specialized chips (chiplets) into a single, unified, and monolithic integrated circuit. By integrating billions of transistors, this innovative architecture surpasses the limitations of traditional wafer-level packaging, thereby significantly enhancing system performance. With their expertise, megachips are poised to meet the increasing demands for precision and speed in microelectronics, particularly in artificial intelligence processing, high-performance computing, and applications involving cellular devices and servers.
As Wi-Fi traffic surges, concerns about network congestion grow increasingly urgent? Prior IBFD programmes have consistently showcased the capability of a Wi-Fi system to simultaneously transmit and receive data on the same frequency, achieving remarkable results through effective self-interference suppression, thereby doubling its efficiency within the frequency spectrum. Despite these advancements, the issue of external wireless interference on the same frequency remains unaddressed. For the first time, Lincoln Laboratory’s expertise enables IBFD to effectively minimize multiple interference sources, thereby paving the way for a wireless system that can significantly boost the number of devices supported, data rates, and communication ranges. The proposed IBFD system could potentially enable future vehicles to seamlessly integrate with Wi-Fi networks, exchange real-time traffic information, and autonomously navigate roads – a capability currently unavailable.
Lincoln Laboratory developed a . Utilizing an active-mixing nozzle in deposition, progressive transitions between distinct materials are enabled through graded construction techniques. This technology enables the manipulation of electromagnetic and geometric properties in fabrics, enabling the development of smaller, lighter, and more energy-efficient RF components that can accommodate broad frequency bandwidths. Additionally, incorporating diverse particles into the ink in a modular fashion allows for the absorption of various types of radiation. Predicted to utilize this 3D-printed shielding is the potential for its application in protecting electronics within small satellites. The award is jointly shared with Professor Jennifer Lewis and her analysis group at Harvard University.
The lab has significantly reduced the time and cost associated with developing high-quality silicon-based imaging sensors. These advanced substrates integrate most stages of the backside illumination process – a method to increase the amount of sunlight that hits a pixel – directly onto the starting wafer prior to system fabrication commencing. A specialized course allows for the seamless integration and uniform thinning of detector substrates and readout circuits, down to micron-level thickness, at the die level, rather than during the wafer fabrication process.
Each feature has the potential to save a venture tens of millions of dollars in fabrication costs by facilitating the production of small batches of detectors, rather than a full wafer run, thereby improving sensor noise and efficiency. The platform enables researchers to rapidly prototype innovative imaging sensor concepts, as well as detector designs for upcoming NASA autonomous lander missions, thereby accelerating development by several years compared to traditional methods.
Additive manufacturing, also known as 3D printing, offers considerable potential for producing complex glass structures that might be impossible to achieve through traditional glass fabrication methods. Researchers at Lincoln Laboratory have successfully developed a method for permitting the 3D printing of complex, multimaterial glass objects without the need for expensive high-temperature processing. This low-temperature method, which cures glass at a significantly lower temperature of 250°C compared to the conventional 1,000°C, relies on four distinct components: a liquid silicate solution, a structural filler, fumed nanoparticles, and an optional purposeful additive capable of imparting optical, electrical, or chemical properties to the glass. The proposed methodology has the potential to accelerate the widespread adoption of 3D printing for innovative glass-based applications, including microfluidic systems, free-form optical lenses, and high-temperature electronic components?
The researchers behind every R&D 100 Award–successful expertise will likely be honored at an awards gala on Nov. 21 in Palm Springs, California.
