Public technical record — with the primes, the academy, and the agencies.
A selected list of published technical work and recognized awards from the PolyStrata® / Nuvotronics era. Co-authors include BAE Systems engineers, the University of Colorado at Boulder microwave group (Prof. Zoya Popović, Prof. Dejan Filipović), and the Nuvotronics technical team led by Dr. Kenneth Vanhille. Programs reference DARPA 3D-MERFS, DARPA DMT, DARPA ViSAR, and IEEE MTT-S.
This is a representative public list; the full record includes hundreds of conference papers, journal articles, GOMACTech presentations, and 125+ issued U.S. and foreign patents.
Recognition.
- DARPA Innovation Award — awarded to Nuvotronics following Phase III execution of the DARPA 3D-MERFS program.
- IEEE MTT-S IMS 2019 Best Industry Paper Award — "Monolithically Fabricated 4096-Element, PolyStrata Broadband D-band Array Demonstrator" — presented by Jared Williams Jordan, in partnership with Nokia. Source →
Published work alongside engineers from BAE Systems and the broader prime community.
- A.A. Immorlica Jr., R. Actis, D. Nair (BAE Systems) with K. Vanhille, C. Nichols, J.-M. Rollin, D. Fleming, R. Varghese, D. Sherrer, D. Filipović, E. Cullens, N. Ehsan, Z. Popović — PolyStrata MMIC and 3D-MERFS-era work, multiple IEEE venues.
- J.M. Oliver, H. Kazemi, J.-M. Rollin, D. Sherrer, S. Huettner, S. Raman — "Compact, low-loss, micromachined rectangular coaxial millimeter-wave power combining networks," 2013 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium, Seattle, WA, June 2013.
- J.R. Reid, J.M. Oliver, K. Vanhille, D. Sherrer — "Three dimensional metal micromachining: A disruptive technology for millimeter-wave filters," 2012 IEEE Topical Meeting on Silicon Monolithic Integrated Circuits in RF Systems (SiRF), January 2012.
- Z. Popović, K. Vanhille, N. Ehsan, E. Cullens, Y. Saito, J. Rollin, C. Nichols, D. Sherrer, D. Fontaine, D. Filipović — "Micro-fabricated micro-coaxial millimeter-wave components," IEEE International Conference on Infrared, Millimeter, and Terahertz Waves, 2008. DOI: 10.1109/ICIMW.2008.4665595.
Invited technical perspective on PolyStrata and 3D additive RF.
- "PolyStrata Technology: Enabling New Architectures for Phased Arrays" — David Sherrer, President of Nuvotronics, invited talk — IEEE Metropolitan Los Angeles Section, GRSS Chapter.
- "PolyStrata: A new disruptive technology for microwave" — David Sherrer reflection on the 22-year arc from first PolyStrata patents through DARPA 3D-MERFS and DMT to Cubic acquisition. Public post →
- "Executive Interview: David Sherrer, Rohm and Haas Electronics Materials" — Microwave Journal, February 2008. Read →
- "An Enabling New 3D Architecture for Microwave Components and Systems" — Microwave Journal, February 2008.
- "Multiplexer/LNA Module using PolyStrata®" — GOMACTech-15, March 26, 2015.
- "PolyStrata Millimeter-wave Tunable Filters" — J. Reid et al., GOMACTech-12, March 22, 2012.
125+ issued patents. Six assignees.
Named inventor on 125+ issued U.S. and foreign patents. Assignees include Haleos, Shipley / Rohm and Haas, Nuvotronics, Cubic Corporation, BAE Systems, and Samsung Electronics. Representative grants:
- US 9,490,517 B2 — High frequency power combiner/divider — D. Sherrer, JM. Rollin, K. Vanhille, M. Oliver, S. Huettner — Nuvotronics. View →
- US 10,497,511 B2 — Multilayer build processes and devices thereof — D. Sherrer — Nuvotronics → Cubic. View →
- US 9,993,982 B2 — Methods of fabricating electronic and mechanical structures — D. Sherrer, D. Cardwell — Nuvotronics → Cubic. View →
- US 2004/0263290 A1 — Coaxial Waveguide Microstructures — original Rohm and Haas / PolyStrata foundation filing.
DARPA programs and public press, sourced.
- DARPA 3D-MERFS — all three phases executed by Nuvotronics; PolyStrata foundation; DARPA Innovation Award following Phase III. Program managed by Dr. John D. Evans.
- DARPA ViSAR — 2012, Nuvotronics $4.2M alongside Raytheon $2M and BAE Systems $1.14M. Source →
- Cubic acquires Nuvotronics — March 2019, ~$64M plus $8M earn-out. Cubic press release →
- Cubic's Nuvotronics Wins Best Industry Paper Award — Cubic press release, 2019. Source →
- Cubic's Nuvotronics Wins 2 DoD Awards for PolyStrata Tech — Via Satellite, 2021. Source →
- Veritas Capital acquires Cubic — May 2021, ~$3B; Nuvotronics continues to operate.
- Transmission Lines Withstand Vibration — Microwaves & RF, 2011. Read →
For Helicon, public record is part of the credential.
Helicon Defense's pathway is led by an operator who has done the work in public — written it down, presented it at IEEE venues, partnered with primes on it, gotten patents on it, and built production around it. This list is part of how we show, rather than tell, what "founder/operator-led" actually means in practice.