U.S. NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
2415 EISENHOWER AVENUE
ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA 22314
NSF 24-041
Dear Colleague Letter: Funding Opportunities for Engineering
Research in Advanced Wireless
December 22, 2023
Dear Colleagues:
With this Dear Colleague Letter, the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorate for
Engineering (ENG) encourages the submission of research and education proposals related
to Advanced Wireless as an Emerging Industry.
Future wireless networks and systems will provide the backbone that connects users,
devices, applications, and services that will continue to enrich America's economy. NSF has
a proven track record of investing in fundamental research on wireless technologies and
partners with other federal agencies and industry on such research.
Research supported by NSF and the Engineering Directorate will continue to innovate in
areas critical to future generations of wireless networks and systems. These innovations will
span new wireless devices, circuits, protocols, and systems for “6G” and beyond; security
and resiliency; mobile edge computing; distributed machine learning, and inferences across
mobile devices; fine-grained and real-time dynamic spectrum allocation and sharing; and
other areas. New insights will make wireless communication faster, smarter, more affordable,
and more resilient, robust, and secure, as well as integrated with efficient sensing.
NSF and the Engineering Directorate invest in research and education activities that align
with the needs of the nation and support the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, White House
strategies (such as the 2023 National Spectrum Strategy), and other policy directives to
enable secure, resilient, high-performance wireless technologies.
ENGINEERING DIRECTORATE INTERESTS
The Directorate for Engineering encourages the submission of all types of research and
education proposals related to advanced wireless, including proposals in the following areas:
Novel devices and circuits for future wireless: High-frequency and high-speed device
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technologies and circuit techniques to fully utilize wireless spectrum from microwave to
millimeter-wave and terahertz (THz), and to enable future wireless systems with
unprecedented bandwidth and speed for 6G and beyond.
Integrated wireless transceivers: High-performance wireless transceivers integrated on
semiconductor chips or through heterogeneous integration of various device technologies for
communications and sensing, such as radar and imaging; circuit-algorithm co-design and
optimization for integrated wireless transceivers; ultralow-power wireless interconnects for
intra-chip or inter-chip communications.
Integrated antennas: Antennas co-designed and integrated with other circuit components or
integrated on a semiconductor chip or in its package to enhance wireless system
performance while reducing overall hardware size, weight, and cost; reconfigurable/tunable
antennas for dynamic spectrum access and sharing; electrically small antennas exploring
unconventional modalities (for example, those involving interactions between photons and
phonons, magnons, or plasmons) for embedded applications such as implants and
wearables.
Electromagnetic engineering: Novel concepts and designs using engineered
electromagnetic metamaterials or metasurfaces to control electromagnetic wave reflection,
refraction, or diffraction to enhance wireless system and network performance. In addition,
simulation and design of multi-scale multi-physics wireless systems, wireless signal
propagation, and electromagnetic interference and compatibility leveraging computational
electromagnetics or other advanced tools and methods.
Wireless technologies for healthcare: Noninvasive radio frequency (RF) sensing
technologies from kilohertz (kHz) to THz for medical imaging, health monitoring, and early
disease detection; wireless communication and wireless power transfer for implants; wireless
therapies utilizing interactions between electromagnetic waves and biological tissues; and
wireless technologies and protocols for connected medical and healthcare systems.
Wireless environmental sensing: Novel low-power, energy-efficient, and eco-friendly
wireless sensor technologies that can operate in extreme conditions to monitor environments
and climate change.
Quantum-inspired wireless technologies: Novel wireless communications and sensing
systems exploring quantum devices and quantum information processing to overcome
fundamental limits in classical physics.
AI-empowered wireless devices and systems: Signal processing and machine learning for
wireless systems; dynamic spectrum access and sharing of wireless systems enabled by
machine learning; dynamic data-enabled reconfigurable wireless devices and systems
through sensing and machine learning.
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Security and privacy of wireless systems: Enhancing wireless security and privacy
through hardware, algorithms, or both.
Hybrid wireless technologies: Wireless systems and protocols exploring optical or acoustic
frequencies and techniques for communications and sensing.
Wireless power and energy harvesting: Future wireless power transfer technologies for
multi-scale applications, ranging from a micro-scale wirelessly powered semiconductor chip
with wireless interconnects to a macro-scale safe and resilient wireless power grid; wireless
energy harvesting technologies to recycle vast, unutilized ambient wireless signals; and
systems and protocols of simultaneous wireless power, sensing, and communication sharing
the same spectrum.
Wireless connectivity for power systems: Wireless systems and networks connecting
power systems to enable dynamic data-enabled learning, decision, and control; secured
wireless technologies for monitoring, protection, and resilient operation of power grid.
Wireless technologies for future smart transportation: Wireless sensing, communication,
and control for autonomous vehicles; secured wireless technologies for vehicle-to-vehicle
communication; next-generation automobile radar and lidar; and wireless charging of electric
vehicles.
Wireless technologies for manufacturing: Research to overcome barriers to adoption of
wireless networking and communications in manufacturing, including latency, reliability, and
security issues that are specific to industrial environments; in addition, wireless
communication and coordination between operators, machinery, and the cloud, and ways to
leverage mobile connectivity for operation, troubleshooting and maintenance.
PROGRAMS AND CONTACTS
The Engineering Directorate encourages the submission of proposals related to advanced
wireless to the ENG core programs listed below, and to other relevant programs. To
determine which program best fits a project idea, Principal Investigators are encouraged to
read the program descriptions and reach out to program contacts with questions.
Advanced Manufacturing: [email protected]
Civil Infrastructure Systems: Siqian Shen, [email protected]
Communications, Circuits, and Sensing-Systems: Jenshan Lin, [email protected];
Rosa (Ale) Lukaszew, [email protected]
Electronics, Photonics and Magnetic Devices: Dominique Dagenais,
Energy, Power, Control and Networks: Eyad Abed, [email protected]; Anthony Kuh,
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The Engineering Directorate also encourages proposals for research centers, which tackle
grand challenges and spur industrial innovation, and for workforce development, which
provides experiential learning opportunities and opens new career paths.
Engineering Research Centers (ERC): [email protected]
Industry–University Cooperative Research Centers (IUCRC): Prakash Balan,
Non-Academic Research Internships for Graduate Students (INTERN): Prakash
Balan, [email protected]
Research Experiences for Teachers (RET): Amelia Greer, [email protected]
Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU): [email protected] (REU for ERCs:
SUBMISSION GUIDANCE
Proposals submitted in response to this DCL should focus on scientific research and
education relevant to the topical area of advanced wireless. Proposal titles should begin with
“ENG-ADVWIRE:” followed by any other relevant prefixes and the project name.
For consideration during fiscal year 2024, proposals to programs without deadlines should be
submitted by April 30, 2024; proposals submitted later will be considered for fiscal year 2025.
NSF welcomes proposals that broaden geographic and demographic participation to engage
the full spectrum of diverse talent in STEM. Proposals from minority-serving institutions,
emerging research institutions, primarily undergraduate institutions, two-year colleges, and
institutions in EPSCoR-eligible jurisdictions, along with collaborations between these
institutions and those in non-EPSCoR jurisdictions, are encouraged.
This DCL does not constitute a new competition or program. Proposals submitted in response
to this DCL should be prepared and submitted in accordance with guidelines in the NSF
Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) and instructions found in relevant
program descriptions.
Sincerely,
Susan Margulies
Assistant Director, Engineering
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