INDIANAPOLIS (March 26, 2019) – The Indiana Innovation Institute (IN3) is making an additional $300,000 in research investments in Indiana in the development of trusted microelectronics, which are counterfeit resistant and immune to a wide variety of attacks. Securing the nation’s semiconductor supply chain is critical to our national security and affects many Indiana companies which use microelectronics in their products.
As a result of previous IN3 investments, research in this area is already underway at several of Indiana’s top research universities. The funding enhances research at Purdue University, Indiana University and IUPUI.
- Purdue University – $100,000
- Atomistic Modeling of FinFET Devices
- Indiana University – $100,000
- Tools for Reverse Engineering Embedded Systems
- Purdue University and IUPUI – $100,000
- Non-Destructive Test of Integrated Circuits
“The collaborative research the universities in Indiana are doing will make a significant impact in securing microelectronics for the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and industry,” General Gene Renuart, USAF (Ret.), chairman and CEO of IN3, said. “Warfighters and consumers use microelectronics in numerous devices on a daily basis, so making sure the technology is secure and free from tampering by our adversaries is of the utmost importance.”
In 2018, IN3 awarded a $2.3 million contract to Purdue University to establish a broad consortium of researchers from Purdue, Indiana University and the University of Notre Dame in an effort entitled Achieving Scientifically Secured User Reassurance in Electronics (ASSURE). The ASSURE program comprises nine complementary projects that are specifically designed to develop technologies that help alleviate the issues of reliability, anti-counterfeiting and cyber security in the semiconductor supply chain.
The two-year program combines researchers from the three universities and IUPUI with personnel from IN3 and Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division (NSWC Crane), to rapidly find solutions that can be used by the DoD and industry.
The Principal Investigators leading the ASSURE program include Purdue University’s Dr. Peter Bermel and Indiana University’s Dr. David Crandall. All of these groups are partnering to combine their complementary strengths in science, engineering, and mission focus to address cyber security capability gaps in three critical research areas:
- Inherently secure designs in hardware and software
- Ultra-reliability through tests, tools, and techniques
- Counterfeit prevention and detection
The major deliverables expected from the ASSURE program include:
- New hardware architectures and designs
- Hardware capable of extended lifetimes
- Tools to predict reliability issues
- Anti-counterfeit prevention and detection capabilities
These goals support the IN3 mission to transform ideas into capabilities to support the DoD, industry and NSWC Crane by using purpose-built teams to address these types of critical issues.
About Indiana Innovation Institute (IN3):
The Indiana Innovation Institute (IN3) is a non-profit applied research institute that brings together top leaders from government, military, industry and research universities in collaboration with Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division (NSWC Crane). IN3 facilitates and manages collaborative research teams from Indiana University, Purdue University, the University of Notre Dame and other Indiana colleges and universities to perform research in participants’ areas of technical expertise. IN3’s focus is on trusted microelectronics technology and security, hypersonics, electro-optics, sensor fusion, data assurance and energy storage. Work conducted through IN3, accelerates technology commercialization that supports economic prosperity across Indiana with a specific focus on the Indiana Uplands region. For more information about the Indiana Innovation Institute (IN3), visit www.IN3Indiana.com.