Mansfield Native and UMass Professor Helps Program Gain a $23 Million Research Grant

In one of the largest grants awarded to the university in its history, a University of Massachusetts Lowell lab has received $23 million from the U.S. Army., in part thanks to Mansfield native Prof. Robert Giles.

The grant is for the UMass Submilimeter-Wave Technology Lab. The submilimeter-wave is term used to describe a type of rediation. Microwaves are bigger than, and infrared waves are smaller. The UMass lab primarily researches terahertz-frequency measurement systems, which have many different applications, from medical devices to military radar installations.

 The lab has developed and applied these technologies in the areas of military surveillance, homeland security, medical diagnostics and scientific and academic research.

The grant adds to 2006 funding from the U.S. Department of Defense, which awarded the lab $27 million to fund its research over five years.

“This latest grant is a continuation of our program to assist the government in acquiring and analyzing surveillance radar imagery,” Giles said. “It is a testament to and recognition of our high level of expertise in the field. Our research is focused on using terahertz-frequency sources and receivers to scale the Army’s millimeter-wave and microwave airborne radar systems.”

The research has been going on since 1979. From a military standpoint, the technology and research allowed for radar machines to get a defined and easily recognizable radar "footprint" for any type of aircraft or vehicle.  Such radar fingerprints are useful for quickly identifying whether an incoming object in the battlefield is a friend or foe.

“As a member of the Expert Radar Signature Solutions consortium developed by the National Ground Intelligence Center, we and our government sponsors are the only research program that uses terahertz-frequency measurement systems to collect real-world radar signature data,” Giles said.

On the medical side, they are useful for detecting non-melanoma skin cancer. Terahertz rays are non-ionizing and have no known harmful effects on living tissue. Also, terahertz rays have a shorter wavelength than microwaves, offering perhaps higher resolution for imaging applications.

Cecil Joseph, a post-doctoral researcher at the lab, has demonstrated there is sufficient contrast between healthy and cancerous tissue at terahertz frequencies. This could lead to a simpler and more cost-effective diagnostic tool for treating skin cancer.

“With sufficient external funding, we are hoping to build the hardware required for clinical studies,” Giles said.

In addition to its work for the Army, the research lab has used its unique capabilities to fulfill radar-measurement requests from other Department of Defense agencies as well as defense-related laboratories and companies, including MIT Lincoln Lab, Raytheon, Boeing and Lockheed-Martin.

For more information, go to http://stl.uml.edu.