The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory has been a pioneer in the development of MEMS technologies for close to 25 years. Application areas for Draper discoveries have included guidance & navigation, environmental monitoring, chem-bio sensing, microfluidics, and wireless communications. Heading into the future, the health care arena may hold the most promise; there have been numerous advances in regenerative medicine and drug delivery because of MEMS-based technology. Here is a brief summary of the lab’s achievements in the realm of MEMS:

Draper MEMS Timeline

1984: Lab begins the development of silicon MEMS

1987: Draper Laboratory is the first to detect rate with a silicon MEMS gyroscope

1993: Draper engineers produce the first micromachined silicon tuning-fork gyroscope

1993: Rockwell International enters a commercial alliance with Draper, with the intention of bringing inertial MEMS sensors into a variety of consumer applications, from antilock brakes to camcorders (image stabilization).

1994: Draper, in collaboration with the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, develops micromachined  condenser hydrophones.

1996: The first all silicon-sensor inertial measurement unit (IMU) is gun-launched for an Extended-Range Guided Munition (ERGM) Demonstration.

Draper published its work on MEMS microphones with on-chip electronics, licensing the technology to three companies: Noise Cancellation Technologies, National Semiconductor, and Siemens.

1998: Under the Competent Munitions Advanced Technology Demonstration (CMATD) program, Draper develops enabling technologies for low cost miniature guidance systems. A miniature INS/GPS guidance system, which occupies eight cubic inches, is developed using a Draper Micro-Mechanical Inertial Sensor Assembly (MMISA).

2000: The Special Projects Office of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) sponsor Draper Laboratory to develop and demonstrate the MEMS IMU (DARPA MMIMU). The first MMIMU system is built and tested in August 2002 – this represents the highest performance attained on an all-silicon IMU.

Draper reports on development of the Silicon Oscillating Accelerometer (SOA), a MEMS-based sensor which could be applied in strategic missile guidance.

2001: Honeywell, in partnership with Draper Laboratory, is funded to develop a common MEMS guidance system suitable for use in the majority of the military’s tactical weapons.

The Precision Guided Mortar Munition (PGMM) has a successful hi-g test firing at Meldorf Proving Grounds in Germany . Team members include Lockheed Martin, the prime contractor and systems integrator, and Diehl, which provides the airframe. Draper assumes responsibility for MEMS and the flight processor.

In collaboration with Massachusetts General Hospital and the Center for the Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology, Draper researchers develop a new microfabrication technology for vascularized tissue engineering. MEMS process technology could serve as a method for organizing capillary networks.

With an eye towards commercializing more of its intellectual property, Draper Laboratory contributes to the establishment of Sionex Corporation. Sionex is an independent, for-profit company commercializing technology developed at Draper by Dr. Raanan Miller in the area of field asymmetric ion mobility spectrometry(FAIMS).  Miller developed a micromachined version of the technology which could be applied to high performance sensors.

2002: Draper researchers collaborate with Symmetricom and the Sandia National Laboratories to develop a Chip-Scale Atomic Clock (CSAC), aimed at providing precise timing for military applications.

2003: Draper licenses its MicroCANARY technology to a Boston company, BioScale. MicroCanary uses microfluidics and sensor technology for pathogen detection; it can detect the pathogenic strain of E. coli bacteria against a background of non-pathogenic varieties.

2004: Draper reports on the development of a novel MEMS-based system for renal replacement that incorporates fractal microvascular network designs and micromolded flow chambers. This microfabricated device could provide a smaller, less invasive and less expensive therapy for ESRD (End-Stage Renal Disease).

2005: Researchers from Draper and the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary (MEEI) report on the development of a wearable vestibular prosthesis – enabled by a combination of MEMS sensors and small electronics - which could help people suffering from chronic imbalance. This device could be used as a temporary aid during recovery from ablative inner-ear surgery, a permanent prosthesis for the elderly who are prone to falls, and also benefit Meniere’s disease patients.  

2006: Draper researchers report on the development of a MEMS-based, 2-axis micromirror endoscopic device which could be used to rapidly image tissue in three dimensions.

Draper and the Massachusetts Eye & Ear Infirmary (MEEI) report on the development of a fully implantable MEMS-based device for the delivery of drugs to the inner ear; Draper is awarded a Bioengineering Research Partnership by the National Institutes of Health for the development of implantable drug delivery systems for the treatment of inner ear disorders.

Draper’s Inertial Stellar Compass (ISC) becomes fully operational on board the TacSat-2 spacecraft, representing the first use of a MEMS gyro in a spacecraft attitude determination system.

2008: Draper researchers, in collaboration with Children’s Hospital Boston, Harvard Medical School and Boston University, develop a microfluidic device to pump blood out of the body, clear it of infectious agents, and deliver it back to the body. This device could help remove the pathogens that trigger septic shock. The Center for Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology awards a large grant toward further developing this technology.