Physical Sensors & Devices

Research that includes:

  • Silicon MEMS actuators: comb, electro-thermal, and plastic deformation
  • Precision electronic sensing and measurements of capacitive, frequency, and coulombic MEMS variables
  • Structures and architectures for gyroscopes, accelerometers, micro strain gauges for direct application to rigid structures e.g., steel, and levitated MEMS

BPNX1029: Multi-Mode Multi-Direction High-Resolution Tactile Haptics and Sensing Duo-Functional Device using Piezoelectric Metamaterial

Jiayan Zhang
William Dong
2025

Texture sensing and feedback are critical milestones for unlocking truly dexterous robotics, advancing human-machine interaction, and enhancing teleoperation tasks. While existing systems utilizes pneumatics, vibration motors and other elementary methods to provide basic feedback, they lack the capability to translate data into rich, high-resolution haptic displays required to replicate the nuanced spectrum of human touch. Here, we aim to develop the first-ever fabrics capable of both high-fidelity contact sensing and reproducing touch experiences with the resolution and complexity of...

BPNX1036: Enhanced Gas Sensing with Machine Learning (New Project)

Yuan Gao
Wei Yue
2025

Accurate and real-time gas detection is crucial for applications ranging from environmental monitoring to industrial processes. Traditional methods are often limited by low accuracy, slow response times, and high costs. This project introduces a scalable machine learning fusion system that integrates sensor fusion techniques to enhance detection performance. With encoder-decoder architectures and a decision fusion model, our approach significantly improves the accuracy of carbon dioxide sensing, achieving a mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) of 2.97% while reducing response and recovery...

BPNX1050: In Situ Harsh Environment Testing of Electrical Stiffness-Based Sensors (New Project)

Neil Chen
2025

This project aims to conduct in situ experimental measurements under conditions that closely mimic realistic harsh environments to evaluate the efficacy of electrical stiffness-based sensors in practical product scenarios.

Project is currently funded by: Industry Sponsored Research

BPNX1013: 3D Printing of Architected Hydrophones with Designed Beam Patterns

Victor Couedel
Haotian Lu
2025

Piezoelectric hydrophones are crucial for underwater applications such as communication and seafloor mapping. Limited by the brittleness of piezoelectric ceramics, conventional manufacturing methods restrict hydrophones’ shapes to simple geometries such as disks, cylinders, or spheres, which limits the sensitivity, directivity pattern, and working frequency bandwidth of the device.


We are developping a new class of high-performance 3D printed piezoelectric hydrophones consisting of rationally designed micro-architectures. Using a high-
...

BPNX1035: Six-Axis Control of Electrostatically Levitated Mass

Yichen Liu
Daniel Lovell
Daniel Teal
Emily Tan
Hani Gomez
Alexander Alvara
2025

The research focus of this project is to design, fabricate and develop a six-axis controlled electrostatically levitated mass system. While electrostatic levitation has been demonstrated before, this project focuses on developing a smaller form factor (10cmx10cm), low power (0.5W), and higher mass system. The proof mass will be levitated using actuation electrodes: four top electrodes for levitation and control of z-axis position as well as rotation about x- and y-axes, and six side electrodes for control of x- and y-axis position and z-axis rotation. To achieve stability in equilibrium,...

BPNX1034: Biological Bone Age Assessment via PMUTs

Nikita Lukhanin
Fan Xia
Sean Isomatsu
Megan Teng
Bo Jiang
Jean-Daniel Zanone
2025

It has been well established that the bone age of a child can be estimated by using X-ray, CT, MRI, and other large medical imaging devices. While other less expensive and non-radioactive methodology use ultrasonography, these devices are bulky and often require trained technicians to use properly. This project introduces a low-cost, miniaturized device for bone age assessments by microelectromechanical system (MEMS) technologies in the form of a piezoelectric micromachined ultrasound transducer (pMUT). By integrating Aluminum nitride (AlN) into our 5 mm pMUT, we are capable of...

BPNX1014: Data-Driven Design of Metamaterials

Marco Maurizi
David Hahn
Anish Satpati
Desheng Yao
2025

The rapid development of additive manufacturing technologies has enabled the fabrication of truss metamaterials, i.e., a novel class of lightweight-yet-strong materials with engineered complex hierarchical structures. Manipulating the architecture over chemical composition dramatically expands the achievable materials design space, allowing to largely control the mechanical response of metamaterials. Despite the great advances made in this area, designing three-dimensional (3D) truss metamaterials under complex or extreme conditions with programmable response is still a...

BPN997: Interface Piezoelectricity-Induced Superconducting Qubit Decoherence

Kerry Yu
Haoxin Zhou
Kadircan Godeneli
Zihuai Zhang
Mutasem Odeh
Shahin Jahanbani
2025

Achieving high-performance quantum computing with superconducting qubits requires a good understanding of the various loss mechanisms that can degrade qubit performance. One such potential loss mechanism is undesired electromechanical coupling mediated by piezoelectric effects. It can occur even in centrosymmetric materials due to interface symmetry breaking. In our recent cryogenic microwave transmission measurements, we observed such interface piezoelectricity at the aluminum-silicon and aluminum-sapphire heterostructures, a widely used material combination in superconducting qubit...

BPNX1048: HelioSwarm - Hardware for the Electron Electrostatic Spectrograph (New Project)

Amanda Jung
Phyllis Whittlesey
2025

The HelioSwarm mission aims to characterize plasma turbulence, a fundamental process affecting space weather and cosmic phenomena, including interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) and corotating interaction regions (CIRs) from the sun. These characterizations will be driven by nine spacecraft—one central hub and eight smaller nodes—for multi-scale, multi-point measurements of solar wind and interplanetary magnetic fields. The Electron Electrostatic Spectrograph will be located on the hub and it is the only direct electron measurement tool in the swarm. This project requires the...

BPN972: Temperature-Insensitive Resonant Strain Sensor

Xintian Liu
Kevin H. Zheng
Neil Chen
2025

Explore the ultimate capability of a vibrating ring-based electrical stiffness-based resonant strain sensor, rigorously confirming a superior insensitivity to temperature that should permit it to operate under wide temperature excursions, such as experienced in harsh automotive environments.

Project currently funded by: Industry Sponsored