Three technologies developed by MIT Lincoln Laboratory have received 2026 R&D 100 Awards, recognizing innovations that have transitioned to use or become available for licensing in the past year. The projects address security risks in embedded computers, connections between chips in quantum systems, and interference from 5G base stations.
Security built for embedded computers
Embedded computers help operate systems such as satellites, drones, and radars. Their operating systems can be attractive targets because they are complex and often built on legacy designs that predate modern cyber threats. The source also notes that artificial intelligence is increasingly helping adversaries exploit operating system vulnerabilities.
Lincoln Laboratory's response is Magnetite, an operating system designed around the constraints of embedded systems, including real-time performance needs and limited resources. The laboratory contrasts those conditions with general-purpose computing, where failure does not necessarily carry the same physical consequences.
Magnetite uses the seL4 formally verified microkernel as its foundation. Mathematical proofs guarantee that the microkernel code behaves as intended. Its networking, storage, and communication services are written in Rust, which prevents common memory-corruption bugs. Magnetite also runs services as isolated processes with “least privilege,” limiting access to data and helping contain a compromised service while critical functions continue.
The system is free for government use and approved partners and is being integrated into space and flight platforms for the Department of War. The team sees possible use in other embedded fields, including critical infrastructure control systems. It is also working with other laboratory groups to offer Magnetite as a reusable basis for specialized capabilities and an alternative to costly proprietary operating systems. Magnetite was also selected as MIT Lincoln Laboratory's Best Invention of 2025.
A wafer-scale approach to quantum connections
As computing systems grow, the links between chips can become a bottleneck. Electrical connections occupy space, slow data transfer, and produce heat. Quantum systems face a particular challenge: bulky coaxial cables connect superconducting chips, which need cryogenic cooling to achieve zero electrical resistance, with control electronics at room temperature.
The Quantum Microsystems platform aims to address this by integrating hundreds of superconductor and semiconductor chips into one wafer-scale system. An AI decision-tree approach selects routes for connections across a wafer. Once testing identifies defects, digital lithography draws custom wiring layers between chip locations and around defective components, with the aim of getting the highest possible yield from the wafer.
Microbump or bumpless methods bring chips close together, and a superconducting fabric carries connections across the wafer. Integrated, lithographically defined flexible interconnects take the place of coaxial cables, reducing cryogenic wiring overhead and system complexity.
The platform is designed to be reworked, allowing chiplets to be replaced or upgraded without rebuilding the whole system. It supports designs ranging from individual and stitched-reticle architectures to multireticle configurations and fully integrated wafer-scale platforms. Its AI engine adapts to process variations and design changes. The technology is intended for transition to government and commercial foundries and may be available for licensing and collaborative development through Lincoln Laboratory's technology transfer process.
Removing 5G signals from affected radio systems
In some environments, powerful signals from 5G base stations can spill into frequency bands used by nearby non-5G radio frequency antennas. The resulting interference can bury signals used by military radars, aircraft altimeters, satellite ground stations, and radio telescopes.
Lincoln Laboratory researchers developed an algorithm to isolate and remove the 5G signal from an affected antenna's signal. Since 5G networks follow a published international standard, the algorithm can decode the structure of a nearby base station's transmission. It can also estimate distortion caused by multipath scattering in the environment, allowing it to reconstruct a copy of the interference for cancellation.
Recognition for technology transfer
R&D World, an online publication, manages the R&D 100 Awards program, which has run annually since 1963. An independent panel of science and technology experts and industry professionals judges the worldwide competition.
Since 2010, Lincoln Laboratory has received 111 R&D 100 Awards for transfers of its unclassified technologies to industry and government. The laboratory says technology transitions also take place each year for classified projects, reflecting its role as a Department of War federally funded research and development center.
Together, the three recognized projects show how laboratory research can address practical obstacles: protecting embedded systems, linking computing components more efficiently, and reducing interference between neighboring radio technologies.