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The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) Concept Design and Realization Branch offers an array of engineering, design, and fabrication capabilities that support the Laboratory’s mission and broad sponsored work. Until 2023, the Johns Hopkins APL Technical Digest had not published a comprehensive review of the branch’s work in more than two decades. During those years, manufacturing technologies and the Lab’s capabilities have advanced significantly, as has the complexity of the challenges APL seeks to solve. This issue, the final in a series of two, further highlights APL’s contributions in hardware design, mechanical and electrical fabrication, systems integration, and pioneering manufacturing science. This work not only benefits the Laboratory’s programs and missions of today but also positions APL to contribute to solving the challenges of the future.

At the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), microelectronics packaging includes a wide range of microelectronics fabrication and assembly technologies. Conventional microelectronics packaging integrates electronics on a bare die level. At APL, microelectronics packaging has evolved to include packaging of customized miniature electrical, mechanical, and electromechanical devices. APL’s engineers design, fabricate, assemble, inspect, screen, repair, and provide depackaging solutions for diverse projects and sponsors. Because of its technological capabilities and facilities, along with the skill sets of its staff members, APL is able to prototype and produce a broad range of devices, such as sensors, detectors, and communications and computing hardware, for mission-critical projects supporting research and development, defense, near-Earth and deep-space missions, and medicine. This article highlights microelectronics packaging capabilities at APL.

Highly nonlinear and dynamic mechanical behavior involving impact, crash, and blast is common in some of the work done at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL). Modeling these behaviors involves finite element analysis (FEA) that reaches beyond typical static analyses. APL researchers are able to model complex nonlinear dynamic behavior without oversimplifying or converting the problem to a so-called equivalent static problem. Presented here is an overview of dynamics and nonlinearity and a brief summary of the options available for modeling these behaviors. The article concludes with several case studies that demonstrate how APL’s expertise in this area contributes to the safety of our nation’s warfighters and diplomatic personnel.

Prototyping techniques have significantly advanced in the last decade, providing engineers with quick ways to iteratively modify designs of parts and systems with greater precision and at lower cost than ever before. The Research and Exploratory Development Department (REDD) at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) has made the most of these advancements, using rapid prototyping tools and quick-turn manufacturing that was not possible a decade ago to achieve success in many applications. Examples highlighted in this article include human–machine interfaces conceived through a Navy program called Tactical Advancements for the Next Generation (TANG), confined-area autonomous mapping devices like the Enhanced Mapping and Positioning System (EMAPS), and personal protective equipment to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 during the unprecedented and uncertain times of the early pandemic. These three case studies demonstrate the benefits of rapid prototyping.

Mechanical engineering design is a traditional discipline that has advanced with the advent of new technology and techniques. Engineers can now combine traditional concepts with novel technologies and techniques to deliver creative solutions. These techniques include geometric dimensioning and tolerancing (GD&T), reverse engineering, advanced surfacing, haptics, augmented and virtual reality, and new methods of communicating designs. Mechanical design engineers at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) leverage these advances every day to make critical contributions to diverse domains, such as space exploration and military dominance.

The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) solves complex research, engineering, and analytical problems that present critical challenges to our nation. Its work requires collaboration across a broad realm of scientific domains and technologies, including manufacturing. APL has established modern fabrication techniques and processes for real-world applications, enabling fabrication of components for a diverse set of systems operating from the depths of the oceans to the farthest parts of the solar system. APL delivers high-quality, cutting-edge hardware by pairing state-of-the-art equipment with knowledgeable manufacturing personnel who directly interact with engineers, designers, and research scientists to achieve creative solutions. This synergy allows for rapid iteration and swift system integration. To highlight the impact of this approach, this article describes a few of APL’s critical manufacturing contributions: (1) the rapid redesign of components for the Didymos Reconnaissance and Asteroid Camera for Optical navigation (DRACO), the lone instrument in the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) payload; (2) the close collaboration of engineers, scientists, and fabricators on the Boundary Layer Transition (BOLT) hypersonic flight experiment; (3) the advantages of multiaxis turning for the Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) feed horn; and (4) the use of additive manufacturing to produce novel solutions for fabricating the shielding components for instruments on the Europa Clipper and Martian Moons eXploration missions.

With their proven performance, unique properties, and manufacturability, composite materials lend themselves to many applications. The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) uses composite materials for advanced prototypes and flight-worthy assemblies in support of a variety of systems and missions, from spacecraft components and instruments, to ground- and air-based communication hardware, to uncrewed aerial vehicles of all shapes and sizes. APL designers and engineers typically use thermoset polymer resins reinforced with a variety of fiber types and architectures to create high-performing composite structures. Leveraging its expertise in several composite molding techniques, APL is able to manufacture parts that meet complex requirements and perform as intended to ensure mission success. This article describes APL’s composite fabrication capabilities and contributions.

This reflective discussion by the head of APL’s Research and Exploratory Development Department (REDD) looks back at the Concept Design and Realization Branch’s first decade and a few of the successes made possible by the visionary strategy to position the design and fabrication capabilities alongside APL’s traditional research and development corps, an organizational move that created REDD more than 10 years ago. In discussing some of the emerging trends in fabrication and APL’s contributions, the article illustrates that the branch is well equipped to continue pursuing the department’s vision of accelerating transformative innovation and inventing the future for APL.