Oshadha Ranasingha

Expertise

Printed Hybrid Electronics for Extreme Environments, Printed RF and Microwave Devices, Environmental qualification and reliability testing, Functional Ink Development, 3D printed autonomous aerial systems with multimodal sensor integration

Research Interests

• Printed hybrid electronics for space, aerospace, defense and other extreme environments.
• Additively manufactured RF and microwave devices, including X-band antennas, frequency-selective surfaces, EMI-shielding structures, interconnects and related components.
• Environmental qualification and reliability of printed hybrid electronics under high and low temperatures, ultra-high vacuum, vibration, thermal cycling, radiation and high humidity.
• Functional ink formulation and processing for RF and microwave applications, including tunable-dielectric, low-loss, biodegradable, conductive and resistive inks.
• Nano-composite materials development, characterization and materials-to-device integration.
• Laser sintering, photonic curing and other rapid or low-temperature processing methods for printed electronic materials.
• Lightweight, flexible, conformal and rapidly deployable electronic systems.
• Low-cost, rapidly deployable 3D-printed drones for surveillance and operation in challenging environments.
• Multimodal sensor integration and sensor fusion using radar, optical-flow, inertial, barometric and navigation sensors.
• Robust perception and GPS/GNSS-denied navigation for autonomous aerial systems.

Education

• Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) Physics - West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV - 2015
• Master of Science (M.S.) Physics - West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV - 2012
• Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) with Honours (Hons.) Physics - University of Colombo, Sri Lanka - 2008

Biosketch

Oshadha Ranasingha, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. He is affiliated with the Printed Electronics Research Collaborative and the Raytheon-UMass Lowell Research Institute. 

His research focuses on printed hybrid electronics and autonomous systems for space, aerospace, defense and other challenging environments. His work integrates functional materials, printable inks, additive manufacturing, RF and microwave engineering, environmental qualification, embedded sensing and autonomous systems.

One major research thrust focuses on the development of printed hybrid RF electronics for extreme environments. His research includes X-band antennas, frequency-selective surfaces, EMI-shielding structures, interconnects and other RF and microwave components that can be integrated with conventional electronic components and sensors. These systems are designed and evaluated for operation under high and low temperatures, ultra-high vacuum, vibration, thermal cycling, radiation and high humidity. 

A second research thrust focuses on functional ink development for RF and microwave electronics. Using locally sourced materials, his research addresses ink formulation, printability, dielectric and RF performance, processing and scale-up. His work also includes the development and characterization of nano-composite materials and the use of laser and photonic processing methods for printed electronics. 

A third research thrust develops low-cost, rapidly deployable 3D-printed drones for surveillance and operation in challenging environments. These platforms integrate multiple sensors, including radar, optical-flow, inertial, barometric and navigation sensors, to support multimodal perception, sensor fusion and GPS/GNSS-denied navigation. 

Ranasingha earned his Ph.D. in Condensed Matter Physics from West Virginia University and previously held an NSF/ASEE postdoctoral fellowship focused on printed high-performance transparent conductors. He welcomes students and collaborators interested in extreme-environment electronics, printed RF systems, additive manufacturing, autonomous aerial platforms and intelligent sensing.

Selected Awards and Honors

• Teaching Excellence Award, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Massachusetts Lowell, 2026.
• AFRL Summer Faculty Fellowship, Sensors Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, 2023.
• NSF/ASEE Small Business Postdoctoral Diversity Fellowship, 2016–2018.
• Winner, Materials Science Video Contest, Chemistry of Materials, American Chemical Society, 2014.
• Robert T. Bruhn Student Research Award for Nanotechnology and Materials Science, Department of Physics, West Virginia University, 2013.

Selected Publications

• Yuri Piro, Christopher Areias, Andrew Luce, Priyanka Biswas, Oshadha Ranasingha, James Reuther, Susan Trulli, and Alkim Akyurtlu, “Low-Loss Dielectric Ink for Printed RF and Microwave Devices.” ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 2023, 15(2), 35449–35458.
• Christopher Areias, Yuri Piro, Oshadha Ranasingha, and Alkim Akyurtlu, “A New Technique for 3D Printing Dielectric Structures Using Aerosol-Jettable Photopolymers.” Flexible and Printed Electronics, 2023, 8(1), 015009. 
• Yuri Piro, Andrew Luce, Oshadha Ranasingha, Craig Armiento, and Alkim Akyurtlu, “Stabilizing Selective Laser-Sintered Silver–Barium Strontium Titanate (Ag–BST) Resistors Using a UV-Curable Ink.” Journal of Electronic Materials, 2023, 52(1), 1169–1176. 
• Oshadha Ranasingha, Mahdi Haghzadeh, Edward Kingsley, Craig Armiento, and Alkim Akyurtlu, “Formulation and Characterization of Sinterless Barium Strontium Titanate (BST) Dielectric Nano Inks for RF and Microwave Applications.” Journal of Electronic Materials, 2021, 50(6), 3241–3248. Editor’s Choice for Free Access. 
• Oshadha Ranasingha, Mahdi Haghzadeh, Andrew Luce, Guinevere Strack, Cameron Hardie, Edward Kingsley, Craig Armiento, and Alkim Akyurtlu, “Selective Laser Sintering of Patterned Conductive Patterns on Silver–Barium Strontium Titanate Composite Material: A Material Transitioning from Insulator to Conductor.” Flexible and Printed Electronics, 2020, 5(4), 045007. 
• Andrew Luce, Guinevere Strack, Oshadha Ranasingha, Edward Kingsley, Craig Armiento, and Alkim Akyurtlu, “Photonic Curing of Copper Ink Films on Liquid Crystal Polymer Substrate.” MRS Advances, 2020, 5, 2191–2199. 

Selected Presentations

• Oshadha Ranasingha, “Additively Manufactured Electronics for Space Applications,” Department of Physics, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, July 10, 2026. Oshadha Ranasingha, “Additively Manufactured Electronics for Harsh Environments,” Draper Laboratory, Massachusetts, June 15, 2026. 
• Oshadha Ranasingha, “Additively Manufactured Electronics for Harsh Environments,” 52nd iMAPS New England Symposium, Massachusetts, May 12, 2026. 
• Oshadha Ranasingha, “Ag–BST Convertible Inks for Printed Electronics and Additive Manufacturing,” TMS Annual Meeting, Orlando, Florida, March 4, 2024. 
• Oshadha Ranasingha, “Convertible Inks for Printed Electronics: A Potential Novel Fabrication Method for In-Space Manufacturing of Flexible Hybrid Electronics Circuits,” Lowell Center for Space Science and Technology, University of Massachusetts Lowell, January 18, 2024.

Selected Intellectual Property

• Yuri Piro, Oshadha K. Ranasingha, Andrew M. Luce, Edward D. Kingsley, Alkim Akyurtlu, and Craig A. Armiento, “Temperature-Stabilization of Convertible Functional Inks by Disruption of Conduction Paths,” U.S. Patent No. 12,492,318 B2, issued December 9, 2025. 
• Craig A. Armiento, Yuri Piro, Andrew M. Luce, Emily Lamport, Oshadha K. Ranasingha, Christopher R. Areias, Christopher N. Kuncho, Alkim Akyurtlu, and Edward D. Kingsley, “Nanocomposite Material for Ultraviolet Curable Direct Write Semiconductor Applications,” U.S. Patent No. 12,096,561 B2, issued September 17, 2024. 
• Edward D. Kingsley, Oshadha K. Ranasingha, Andrew M. Luce, Alkim Akyurtlu, Craig A. Armiento, and Yuri A. Piro, “Multi-Level Authentication Using Different Materials,” U.S. Patent No. 11,907,782 B2, issued February 20, 2024. 
• Erika C. Klek, Mary K. Herndon, Thomas V. Sikina, James E. Benedict, Andrew R. Southworth, Kevin M. Wilder, Oshadha K. Ranasingha, and Alkim Akyurtlu, “Thick Film Resistors Having Customizable Resistances and Methods of Manufacture,” U.S. Patent No. 10,839,992 B1, issued November 17, 2020.

Selected Contracts, Fellowships, Grants and Sponsored Research

• Received $150,000 for 2 years from the National Science Foundation through the NSF/ASEE Small Business Postdoctoral Diversity Fellowship program, 2016-2018
• Proposal Title: High speed laser crystallization of inkjet printed aluminum doped ZnO nanoparticles for high performance transparent conductors

Research Currently in Progress

Printed Hybrid Electronics for Extreme Environments: 

Current projects focus on the design, fabrication and environmental qualification of additively manufactured electronic systems for operation under high and low temperatures, thermal cycling, ultra-high vacuum, vibration, thermal cycling, radiation and high humidity. Active device development includes fully printed and hybrid X-band antennas, frequency-selective surfaces, EMI-shielding structures, printed interconnects and other RF and microwave components. 

Functional Inks: 

The group is developing functional inks for printed electronics, including tunable-dielectric, low-loss dielectric, conductive, resistive and convertible inks. Current efforts include dielectric inks based on locally sourced materials, nano-composite formulations, printability optimization, RF and microwave characterization and scale-up for additive manufacturing. Laser sintering, photonic curing and other rapid or low-temperature processing methods are also being investigated. 

Nanoparticle synthesis and characterization continue as enabling capabilities for the development of functional inks and nano-composite materials, while the primary emphasis is shifting toward materials-to-device integration and application-driven electronics. 

Additively Manufactured Autonomous Aerial Systems: 

Another active research direction involves the development of low-cost, rapidly deployable 3D-printed drones for surveillance, sensing and operation in challenging environments. These platforms are being designed to integrate multimodal sensors, including radar, optical-flow, inertial, barometric and navigation sensors. 

Research activities include sensor fusion, robust perception, autonomous operation and GPS/GNSS-denied navigation. The goal is to develop lightweight aerial systems capable of supporting decision-making when individual sensors are incomplete, degraded, or unavailable. 

Students and collaborators are welcome to participate in projects involving functional materials for extreme environments, ink formulation, additive manufacturing, RF and microwave engineering, environmental reliability testing, autonomous systems, sensor integration, embedded electronics and intelligent data fusion.