Dan Jiao, professor of electrical and computer engineering, has been selected as a PI of the Electronics Resurgence Initiative (ERI) IDEA program. The ERI initiative - which was unveiled last year, with potentially upwards of $1.5 billion in funding over five years - is meant to jump-start innovation in the electronics industry. The goal is to create an environment that could catalyze the next wave of U.S. semiconductor innovation and broaden the competitive field for circuit design. 

 

The effort includes six programs under three pillars — architectures, design and materials and integration. The software-defined hardware (SDH) and domain-specific system-on-chip (DSSoC) programs are under architectures. The intelligent design of electronic assets (IDEA) and posh open source hardware (POSH) programs are under design. The three-dimensional monolithic system-on-a-chip (3DSoC) and foundations required for novel compute (FRANC) programs are under materials and integration.

 

Prof. Jiao will serve as a PI for the IDEA program. The IDEA program aims to create a “no human in the loop” layout generator that would enable users with limited electronic design expertise to complete the physical design of electronic hardware within 24 hours. The software created under IDEA would be capable of automatically creating circuit design files ready for manufacturing, reducing design time from years to a single day. 

 

“Through the IDEA program, DARPA aims to eliminate the DoD’s resource and expertise gap associated with custom electronic hardware design for the most advanced technologies by enabling full automation and applying machine intelligence,” said Andreas Olofsson, the Microsystems Technology Office program manager leading IDEA.

 

The research teams for the six ERI programs were announced at DARPA’s recent Electronics Resurgence Imitative (ERI) Summit in San Francisco July 23-25th. As PI of the IDEA program, Jiao was recognized with an ERI coin during the opening ceremony of the summit.