Advanced photonic and electronic systems WILGA 2016

Young Researchers Symposium WILGA on Photonics Applications and Web Engineering has been organized since 1998, two times a year. Subject area of the Wilga Symposium are advanced photonic and electronic systems in all aspects: theoretical, design and application, hardware and software, academic, scientific, research, development, commissioning and industrial, but also educational and development of research and technical staff. Each year, during the international Spring edition, the Wilga Symposium is attended by a few hundred young researchers, graduated M.Sc. students, Ph.D. students, young doctors, young research workers from the R&D institutions, universities, innovative firms, etc. Wilga, gathering through years the organization experience, has turned out to be a perfect relevant information exchange platform between young researchers from Poland with participation  of international guests, all active in the research areas of electron and photon technologies, electronics, photonics, telecommunications, automation, robotics and information technology, but also technical physics. The paper summarizes the achievements of the 38th Spring Edition of 2016 WILGA Symposium, organized in Wilga Village Resort owned by Warsaw University of technology

Energy challenges for ICT

The energy consumption from the expanding use of information and communications technology (ICT) is unsustainable with present drivers, and it will impact heavily on the future climate change. However, ICT devices have the potential to contribute signi - cantly to the reduction of CO2 emission and enhance resource e ciency in other sectors, e.g., transportation (through intelligent transportation and advanced driver assistance systems and self-driving vehicles), heating (through smart building control), and manu- facturing (through digital automation based on smart autonomous sensors). To address the energy sustainability of ICT and capture the full potential of ICT in resource e - ciency, a multidisciplinary ICT-energy community needs to be brought together cover- ing devices, microarchitectures, ultra large-scale integration (ULSI), high-performance computing (HPC), energy harvesting, energy storage, system design, embedded sys- tems, e cient electronics, static analysis, and computation. In this chapter, we introduce challenges and opportunities in this emerging eld and a common framework to strive towards energy-sustainable ICT

On Small Satellites for Oceanography: A Survey

The recent explosive growth of small satellite operations driven primarily from an academic or pedagogical need, has demonstrated the viability of commercial-off-the-shelf technologies in space. They have also leveraged and shown the need for development of compatible sensors primarily aimed for Earth observation tasks including monitoring terrestrial domains, communications and engineering tests. However, one domain that these platforms have not yet made substantial inroads into, is in the ocean sciences. Remote sensing has long been within the repertoire of tools for oceanographers to study dynamic large scale physical phenomena, such as gyres and fronts, bio-geochemical process transport, primary productivity and process studies in the coastal ocean. We argue that the time has come for micro and nano satellites (with mass smaller than 100 kg and 2 to 3 year development times) designed, built, tested and flown by academic departments, for coordinated observations with robotic assets in situ. We do so primarily by surveying SmallSat missions oriented towards ocean observations in the recent past, and in doing so, we update the current knowledge about what is feasible in the rapidly evolving field of platforms and sensors for this domain. We conclude by proposing a set of candidate ocean observing missions with an emphasis on radar-based observations, with a focus on Synthetic Aperture Radar.Comment: 63 pages, 4 figures, 8 table

LUVMI: an innovative payload for the sampling of volatiles at the Lunar poles

The ISECG identifies one of the first exploration steps as in situ investigations of the moon or asteroids. Europe is developing payload concepts for drilling and sample analysis, a contribution to a 250kg rover as well as for sample return. To achieve these missions, ESA depends on international partnerships. Such missions will be seldom, expensive and the drill/sample site selected will be based on observations from orbit not calibrated with ground truth data. Many of the international science community’s objectives can be met at lower cost, or the chances of mission success improved and the quality of the science increased by making use of an innovative, low mass, mobile robotic payload following the LEAG recommendations. LUVMI provides a smart, low mass, innovative, modular mobile payload comprising surface and subsurface sensing with an in-situ sampling technology capable of depth-resolved extraction of volatiles, combined with a volatile analyser (mass spectrometer) capable of identifying the chemical composition of the most important volatiles. This will allow LUVMI to: traverse the lunar surface prospecting for volatiles; sample subsurface up to a depth of 10 cm (with a goal of 20 cm); extract water and other loosely bound volatiles; identify the chemical species extracted; access and sample permanently shadowed regions (PSR). The main innovation of LUVMI is to develop an in situ sampling technology capable of depth-resolved extraction of volatiles, and then to package within this tool, the analyser itself, so as to maximise transfer efficiency and minimise sample handling and its attendant mass requirements and risk of sample alteration. By building on national, EC and ESA funded research and developments, this project will develop to TRL6 instruments that together form a smart modular mobile payload that could be flight ready in 2020. The LUVMI sampling instrument will be tested in a highly representative environment including thermal, vacuum and regolith simulant and the integrated payload demonstrated in a representative environment

Micromachined Differential Scanning Calorimeter for Cellular Differentiation and Metabolism Monitoring

This thesis presents a micromachined differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) for cellular differentiation and metabolism monitoring. The misregulation of cell physiology due to disease increases the metabolic rate of the cell and therefore its heat output. Observing or monitoring the cell\u27s heat output will lead to a method to detect diseased cells and distinguish them from normal cells. The calorimetric chambers of the DSC were fabricated on a silicon nitride thin film, which allows for rapid thermal equilibrium and insulation. The temperature sensing element was a resistive temperature detector fabricated from nickel. The DSC incorporated integrated nickel resistive heaters to apply on chip heating and for calibration. The cell metabolism experiments carried out with the DSC were performed using JM-1 liver cancer cells and white blood cells (lymphocytes). Step voltage inputs were applied to the DSC while the response of the RTD to temperature was monitored. The results from initial testing showed a detectable increase in chamber temperature of 0.375ºC for the JM-1 liver cells. Further analysis was completed by obtaining the derivative of the DSC temperature curves. Two methods were explored: the direct derivative of the raw data curve and the derivative of the differential data curve. While both methods showed the ability to differentiate between the JM-1 liver cells and the lymphocytes, the derivative of the differential data curve was superior due to the elimination of common mode signals. The differential method also allowed the determination of the heat rates of the cells. JM-1 liver cells showed a positive heat rate which is consistent with its increased metabolism, while the lymphocytes showed a negative heat rate or absorption of thermal energy

Electrically Conductive 2D Material Coatings for Flexible & Stretchable Electronics: A Comparative Review of Graphenes & MXenes

There is growing interest in transitioning electronic components and circuitry from stiff and rigid substrates to more flexible and stretchable platforms, such as thin plastics, textiles, and foams. In parallel, the push for more sustainable, biocompatible, and cost-efficient conductive inks to coat these substrates, has led to the development of formulations with novel nanomaterials. Among these, 2D materials, and particularly graphenes and MXenes, have received intense research interest due to their increasingly facile and scalable production, high electrical conductivity, and compatibility with existing manufacturing techniques. They enable a range of electronic devices, including strain and pressure sensors, supercapacitors, thermoelectric generators, and heaters. These new flexible and stretchable electronic devices developed with 2D material coatings are poised to unlock exciting applications in the wearable, healthcare and Internet of Things sectors. This review has surveyed key data from more than 200 articles published over the last 6 years, to provide a quantitative analysis of recent progress in the field and shade light on future directions and prospects of this technology. We find that despite the different chemical origins of graphenes and MXenes, their shared electrical properties and 2D morphology, guarantee intriguing performance in end applications, leaving plenty of space for shared progress and advancements in the future

Advances in Microfluidics and Lab-on-a-Chip Technologies

Advances in molecular biology are enabling rapid and efficient analyses for effective intervention in domains such as biology research, infectious disease management, food safety, and biodefense. The emergence of microfluidics and nanotechnologies has enabled both new capabilities and instrument sizes practical for point-of-care. It has also introduced new functionality, enhanced sensitivity, and reduced the time and cost involved in conventional molecular diagnostic techniques. This chapter reviews the application of microfluidics for molecular diagnostics methods such as nucleic acid amplification, next-generation sequencing, high resolution melting analysis, cytogenetics, protein detection and analysis, and cell sorting. We also review microfluidic sample preparation platforms applied to molecular diagnostics and targeted to sample-in, answer-out capabilities

Hydrostatic Level Sensors as High Precision Ground Motion Instrumentation for Tevatron and Other Energy Frontier Accelerators

Particle accelerators pushed the limits of our knowledge in search of the answers to most fundamental questions about micro-world and our Universe. In these pursuits, accelerators progressed to higher and higher energies and particle beam intensities as well as increasingly smaller and smaller beam sizes. As the result, modern existing and planned energy frontier accelerators demand very tight tolerances on alignment and stability of their elements: magnets, accelerating cavities, vacuum chambers, etc. In this article we describe the instruments developed for and used in such accelerators as Fermilab's Tevatron (FNAL, Batavia, IL USA) and for the studies toward an International Linear Collider (ILC). The instrumentation includes Hydrostatic Level Sensors (HLS) for very low frequency measurements. We present design features of the sensors, outline their technical parameters, describe test and calibration procedures and discuss different regimes of operation. Experimental results of the ground motion measurements with these detectors will be presented in subsequent paper