Microsystems Technologies Office: Creating A New Electronics Revolution For National Defense: Since its inception in 1992, DARPA'S Microsystems Technology Office (MTO) has helped create and prevent strategic surprise through its investments in compact microelectronic components such as microprocessors, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), and photonic devices.
MTO's revolutionary work applying these advanced capabilities in areas such as wide-band gap materials, phased array radars, high-energy lasers and infrared imaging have helped the United States establish and maintain technological superiority for more than two decades.
As widely successful as these initial investments have proven to be, a new set of challenges has emerged. For example, although commercialization of advanced technologies has made military systems more affordable, it has also proliferated global access to advanced electronics, reducing U.S. strategic advantage.
This reality requires MTO to remain focused on developing new leap-ahead technologies to maintain America's military hi-tech edge, while the scientific landscape, national security threats, and military missions continue to evolve.
MTO has a history of being on the forefront of emerging technologies. Most recently, MTO initiated a number of programs at the intersection of biology and engineering. The first programs of DARPA's new Biological Technologies Office (BTO) came from MTO and the Defense Sciences Office (DSO).
