The project

Overview:

EXTREME is a cutting-edge research funded by project focused on designing active and nonlinear metamaterials to advance the fundamental understanding of wave elastodynamics and enable the development of modular, metasurface-enhanced transducers. These systems will perform tasks for structural health monitoring (SHM) and nondestructive testing (NDT), such as enhanced sensing, signal generation, and real-time signal processing. At the core of EXTREME is the ambition to move beyond traditional sensor technologies by integrating metamaterial functionalities into transducers. By doing so, we aim to reduce dependence on external computation, minimize energy usage, and empower the next generation of monitoring systems with on-device processing.

What We’re Building:

We are developing a suite of tools and systems that blend theory, simulation, and experimentation:

• Analytical models tailored to capture the complex dynamics of active, nonlinear, and topological metasurfaces
• High-fidelity and reduced-order simulations to optimize time modulation, nonlinearity, and wave localization
• Tabletop experimental platforms to validate and demonstrate real-world performance.

These will be integrated into a modular transducer platform comprising:

• Harvesting Module – Converts ambient vibrations into usable electrical energy.
• Communication Module – Controls wave generation and sensing with directional and frequency precision
• Signal Processing Module – Executes analog computing tasks directly on the physical signal, reducing the need for digital post-processing.