Photonics, Optics and Lasers

Conventional analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) are fundamentally limited by timing jitter in the sampling source, forcing a trade-off between bandwidth and resolution. As a result, radio frequency (RF) systems are typically designed with narrow-bandwidth channels. These engineering constraints present problems when faced with broadband signals and ultra-short pulses. At high carrier frequencies, RF systems are further limited by the tuner that must mix down to baseband for electronic digitization.

Mr. Trung Tran joined DARPA as a program manager in the Microsystems Technology Office in October 2015. Tran earned a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from the US Air Force Academy and a Master of Business Administration degree from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. While in the Air Force, he was stationed at Fort Meade and Hanscom Air Force Base working at the Air Intelligence Agency. In those roles, he developed cryptographic chips and command and control networks, which focused on reducing the amount of time between the acquisition of sensor data and the use of that data by shooters or, more generally, weapons systems. He received four medals in recognition of his work in these areas.