{"id":143264,"date":"2024-09-25T09:56:39","date_gmt":"2024-09-25T13:56:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=143264"},"modified":"2025-03-12T12:52:43","modified_gmt":"2025-03-12T16:52:43","slug":"ucf-researcher-refining-magnetic-levitation-technology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-researcher-refining-magnetic-levitation-technology\/","title":{"rendered":"UCF Researcher Refining Magnetic Levitation Technology"},"content":{"rendered":"

UCF and the University of Florida are receiving $1.2 million over two years from Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop a miniature system capable of levitating a large mass with exceptional stability.<\/p>\n

The funding comes from DARPA\u2019s Trapped Accurate microSystems (LeviTAS) program, which aims to explore the feasibility of replacing a spring anchor with a levitation system to trap a mass roughly the size of a sugar cube within a volume about the size of a Rubik\u2019s cube for use in defense systems.<\/p>\n

The specific project awarded to UCF and UF is called Full Levitation In MAgnetically Stabilized Systems (FLi-MaSS), and is one of eight teams selected as part of DARPA\u2019s LeviTAS program.<\/p>\n

Jaesung Lee, an assistant professor in UCF\u2019s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Philip Feng, a professor in UF\u2019s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and graduate faculty Department of Physics, are collaborating on the project.<\/p>\n

Through their FLi-MaSS project, Lee and Feng are hoping to transform levitated systems by achieving unprecedented stability and performance metrics crucial for next-generation navigation sensors that may be applied for defense and civilian uses.<\/p>\n

The team plans to achieve this through diamagnetic levitation or a \u201chovering\u201d effect. Diamagnetic materials are materials that are repelled and stabilized by a magnetic field.<\/p>\n