MSU to work on hardened EMP chip
NEWS-LEADER STAFF
June 22, 2006
Missouri State University's Center for Applied Science and Engineering has started a $10.95 million project sponsored by the Office of Naval Research to create carbon-based memory chips that could withstand the devastating effects of electromagnetic pulse, or EMP, weapons.
CASE, in conjunction with private companies, Nantero Inc. of Woburn, Mass., and Carbon Nanotechnologies Inc. from Houston, Texas, will work to develop "radiation hardened non-volatile carbon nanotube random access memory."
This chip, when incorporated into electrical devices such as computers and tactical weapons, could guard against EMP attacks and exposure to hostile radiation.
An electromagnetic pulse weapon is a relatively low-yield and inexpensive nuclear weapon designed to knock out communications.
The effect of an EMP weapon is far-reaching.
If such a weapon is exploded in the atmosphere 400 kilometers above the surface, it would affect any equipment within the line of sight of the fireball, nearly horizon to horizon, or more than one million square miles, said Ryan Giedd, CASE director.
Source: news-leader.com |
