C: Quantum-Enhanced Inertial Measurement Unit (QEIMU)

NSF融合加速器计划支持以使用为灵感，以团队为基础，多学科的努力，以应对国家重要性的挑战，并将在不久的将来为社会提供有价值的成果。目前的高精度惯性传感器体积庞大且令人望而却步，阻碍了广泛的影响，例如，该项目的目标是开发功能性惯性传感模块和控制单元，并将完全集成的量子增强惯性测量单元（QEIMU）原型作为项目结束时的交付成果。该项目的智力价值在于开发一个多层氮化硅平台，团队成员将在该平台上制造和组装量子光源、陀螺仪和加速度计。QEIMU原型将提高陀螺仪和加速度计的关键性能指标，包括角度随机游走（ARW）、灵敏度和偏置一至两个数量级，同时具有低成本、紧凑、高性能、高可靠性和高可靠性等优点。一条通往大规模生产和稳健性的清晰途径。这些独特的功能将使QEIMU广泛和容易地用于自动驾驶汽车、航空航天导航和手持传感设备以及空间和国防应用的商业市场，从而在5-10年内产生短期和深远的社会影响。QEIMU模块预计将安装在1）自动驾驶车辆上，用于无GPS信号的安全导航; 2）移动的设备作为补充的精确室内定位技术;以及3）用于医疗诊断、家庭监控、辅助生活和运动相关应用的活动识别系统。该项目将对惯性传感器市场产生更广泛的影响，并在目前尚未开发的许多市场中采用。这也将对量子技术中代表性不足的群体的参与和教育产生影响。“这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

The NSF Convergence Accelerator program supports use-inspired, team-based, multidisciplinary efforts that address challenges of national importance and will produce deliverables of value to society in the near future. Current high-precision inertial sensors are bulky and prohibitive, holding back a wide impact, e.g., for self-driving cars, wearable healthcare devices, and secure navigation in GPS-denied environment.The goal of this project is to develop the functional inertial sensing modules and control units and converge on a fully integrated quantum-enhanced inertial measurement unit (QEIMU) prototype as the end- of-project deliverable. The intellectual merit of this project is in developing a multilayer silicon nitride platform on which team members will fabricate and assemble quantum-light sources, gyroscopes, and accelerometers.The QEIMU prototype will improve key performance metrics for gyroscopes and accelerometers, including the angle random walk (ARW), sensitivity, and bias by one-to-two orders of magnitude and, at the same time, enjoy low cost, compactness, a clear pathway to mass productivity, and robustness. Such unique features will make the QEIMU widely and readily available for the commercial markets of self-driving cars, aerospace navigation, and handheld sensing devices as well as space and defense-oriented applications, thereby creating near-term and profound societal impacts within 5-10 years.The QEIMU module is envisaged to be installed on 1) autonomous vehicles for secure navigation without GPS signals; 2) mobile devices as a complementary precise indoor positioning technique; and 3) activity recognition systems for medical diagnostics, home monitoring, assisted living, and sport-related applications. The broader impact of this project will be on inertial sensors market and their adoption in many markets that are currently untapped. The impact will also be on engagement and education of underrepresented groups in quantum technology. "This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.