Communication Circuits and Systems Research Group. CIRCUIT

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Connected Factory Project

The Communication Circuits and Systems Research Group (Circuit) participates in the Looming Factory subproject Connected Factory, workpackage Plant Connected Devices, in collaboration with the Wireless Networks Research Group (WINE) of the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya and the Network Technologies and Strategies Research Group (NeTS) of the Universitat Pompeu Fabra. This workpackage focuses on the deployment of technological solutions in plant with the aim of extracting data from an industrial process and using them to allow increased monitoring capability and control. This requires the use of devices equipped with sensors and actuators, as well as the intelligence necessary to acquire, process the desired information and, finally, send it through a communication channel to the industrial backbone, where it will integrate with other systems for short (SCADA), medium (MES) and long term (ERP) decision making. These new emerging industrial systems are characterized by the use of: a) small (object-integrated) and mobile (battery-operated) devices where proper duration is guaranteed depending on the application; b) intelligent devices capable of collecting, filtering and processing the data of interest and sending them to the industrial management systems for processing; c) high data volumes according to the type of sensors (for example, thermographic cameras) or a high number of devices according to the type of application (for example, people tracking). Within the aforementioned workpackage, the Circuit research group is responsible for developing the following tasks:

 

  • Sensor technologies. Study of the state of the art regarding the types, variety and characteristics of sensors (accelerometers, gyroscopes, magnetometers, optical detectors, temperature sensors, etc.).

  • On-node data acquisition and processing. Study of acquisition devices and processing algorithms in order to perform the extraction, filtering and fusion of information coming from various sensors. Detection of critical parameters. Implementation of energy management techniques.

  • Low-cost and low-energy-consumption communication architectures. Study of super-regenerative receivers in short distance ad-hoc wireless networks. Compatibility with efficient modulation (BPSK, QPSK, OFDM) and standard technologies (e.g. IEEE 802.15.4, Zigbee) will be evaluated. Evaluation of performance by simulation and experimentally (sensitivity levels, BER rates, power consumption).

  • Communication technologies in low-cost monitoring systems. The application of standard technologies and devices (e.g. Bluetooth LE, Wi-Fi) will be evaluated in monitoring systems (gathering and presentation of information) of machines distributed in production lines and / or in exploitation networks. Priority will be given to low cost of development and deployment. Evaluation of a prototype.

  • System for monitoring the activity of plant workers. Development of an e-health monitoring system for physical activity (displacement, gait, body posture / ergonomics, fall detection) and environmental conditions (temperature, noise, humidity, acceleration). Design of a wearable module capable of continuously collecting data from workers operating in real environments and sending them periodically to a central node for further analysis.

 

The Circuit research group participation in this project is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund of the European Union within the framework of the Programa Operatiu FEDER de Catalunya 2014-2020 with financial support of 93,713.08 €.