Miramar Beach, Florida, United States
PROGRAM: Electrical & Computer Engineering

The IEEE Research and Applications of Photonics in Defense (RAPID) 2019 conference was an amazing experience. A large group of students and professional members from the Electrical and Computer Engineering research group CVORG (at the University of Delaware) attended to present various interesting research topics. I attended as co-author of multiple research papers. These included five different papers: Advanced Software for User Interface, User Control; Data/Image Input, and Test Automation for Infrared LED Scene Projectors, Longitudinal Study to Evaluate Reliability, Repeatability, and Reproducibility of Infrared LED Scene Projectors; “Hybrid DAC” approach to increasing dynamic range and signal to noise in IRSP systems; Fabrication, Evaluation, and Improvements of 1Kx1K and 2Kx2K infrared LED Scene Projector Systems; and Demonstration of Packetized Display Protocol (PDP) to overcome speed and resolution limitations of conventional display protocols.

There were many interesting sessions at the conference, such as, Microwave Optics & RF Photonics; in which implementing microwave technology in photonic processing systems and applying different techniques for using frequency conversion were discussed. These applications showcased cutting edge technology and the future application of optics in defense and industry roles. At the conference, there were also sessions devoted toward bringing more young women into the field; which is an issue that is close to my heart. So I am very happy to see more conferences discussing and promoting this topic. Finally, the conference provided resources for educators to promote science and technology to children from the ages of kindergarten to twelfth grade. This included demos of lasers and refraction. I believe these demos will be very interesting to kids because they have unique and interesting properties such as different types of patterns, colors, and cool imagery. It was very nice to have such an amazing experience at this conference. I hope to be able to attend more in the future.