Sviluppo di un sistema per il test di memorie NAND e PCM basato su FPGA

Tutti i dispositivi a semiconduttore sono costantemente sottoposti ad irraggiamenti di particelle energetiche di varia natura; le fonti principali sono: onde elettromagnetiche irradiate dai circuiti presenti nelle vicinanze, radiazioni cosmiche e particelle emesse chip e dai package in cui i circuiti di silicio sono contenuti. In determinate condizioni questi irraggiamenti possono essere causa di malfunzionamenti e, soprattutto nei circuiti che sfruttano le tecnologie CMOS, possono generare problemi non trascurabiliope

Bluetooth Low Energy based proximity detection and localization in smart communities

Internet of things will bring connected devices to a new level of pervasiveness, where any tangible thing of our daily life may embed some electronics. From a sophisticated smartwatch that embeds complex sensing and communication technologies, to the use of a basic electronic component to implement a digital signature, such as RFIDs. All these smart things worn or distributed around us enables multiple functionalities, when they can interact with each other. In this thesis, I describe the design, characterization and validation of a monitoring system based on Internet of Things technologies, for managing groups moving together in a city. Communication and energy efficiency aspects are firstly explored, to identify Bluetooth Low Energy as a promising protocol enabling scalable and energy efficient networks of things. In the thesis, the protocol has been stressed to demonstrate trade-offs between throughput, energy efficiency, scalability and the possibility to perform multi-hop communication. The potential of the protocol has been exploited within the framework of the CLIMB project. Here, the application requirements and constraints fostered the use of Bluetooth for localization and proximity detection, leading to the investigation of novel strategies to improve accuracy without affecting power consumption and ease of use

A Methodological Proposal for the Design of Agricultural Parks—The Case of Metropolitan City of Rome

Urbanisation processes have led to the emergence of functional and formal hybrids, blurring and fragmenting the traditional boundaries between urban and rural areas. Agricultural parks have emerged as a planning tool to govern these hybrid areas between ‘countryside’ and the ‘city’, as well as to promote sustainable land use and community development. This paper, analysing the Metropolitan City of Rome (Italy) as a case study, illustrates an innovative pilot methodology for identifying the area of an Agricultural Park and, in particular, the area of the Rome Metropolitan Agricultural Park (MAP), a policy proposal for the metropolitan city. The aim of the article is twofold: to analyse the multifunctionality of farms in the periurban area of Rome to highlight the types of goods and services on which the relationship between farms and the metropolitan population is based and to expose the methodological path on which the MAP policy proposal was developed. A geospatial analysis, using the National Land Consumption Map (LCM) and the CORINE Land Cover (CLC), highlights the main agricultural areas and evaluates their quality. Isochronous curves assess the accessibility, and the GHS population grid (GHS-POP) defines the catchment areas. This approach, building on the 15 min city framework, has analysed the multifunctional farms and the types of goods and services offered to the population. A total of 91,656 hectares were identified as potential geographical areas of the Metropolitan Agricultural Park that could serve nearly 1 million inhabitants between rural and urban areas of Rome. The research highlights its characteristics in terms of the role of multifunctional farms, Alternative Food Networks, and the relationships between consumers and producers

Outcomes of elective liver surgery worldwide: a global, prospective, multicenter, cross-sectional study

Background: The outcomes of liver surgery worldwide remain unknown. The true population-based outcomes are likely different to those vastly reported that reflect the activity of highly specialized academic centers. The aim of this study was to measure the true worldwide practice of liver surgery and associated outcomes by recruiting from centers across the globe. The geographic distribution of liver surgery activity and complexity was also evaluated to further understand variations in outcomes. Methods: LiverGroup.org was an international, prospective, multicenter, cross-sectional study following the Global Surgery Collaborative Snapshot Research approach with a 3-month prospective, consecutive patient enrollment within January–December 2019. Each patient was followed up for 90 days postoperatively. All patients undergoing liver surgery at their respective centers were eligible for study inclusion. Basic demographics, patient and operation characteristics were collected. Morbidity was recorded according to the Clavien–Dindo Classification of Surgical Complications. Country-based and hospital-based data were collected, including the Human Development Index (HDI). (NCT03768141). Results: A total of 2159 patients were included from six continents. Surgery was performed for cancer in 1785 (83%) patients. Of all patients, 912 (42%) experienced a postoperative complication of any severity, while the major complication rate was 16% (341/2159). The overall 90-day mortality rate after liver surgery was 3.8% (82/2,159). The overall failure to rescue rate was 11% (82/ 722) ranging from 5 to 35% among the higher and lower HDI groups, respectively. Conclusions: This is the first to our knowledge global surgery study specifically designed and conducted for specialized liver surgery. The authors identified failure to rescue as a significant potentially modifiable factor for mortality after liver surgery, mostly related to lower Human Development Index countries. Members of the LiverGroup.org network could now work together to develop quality improvement collaboratives

Sviluppo di un sistema per il test di memorie NAND e PCM basato su FPGA

Tutti i dispositivi a semiconduttore sono costantemente sottoposti ad irraggiamenti di particelle energetiche di varia natura; le fonti principali sono: onde elettromagnetiche irradiate dai circuiti presenti nelle vicinanze, radiazioni cosmiche e particelle emesse chip e dai package in cui i circuiti di silicio sono contenuti. In determinate condizioni questi irraggiamenti possono essere causa di malfunzionamenti e, soprattutto nei circuiti che sfruttano le tecnologie CMOS, possono generare problemi non trascurabil

Sistema di misura delle forze di contatto durante la corsa

Lavoro di progettazione e realizzazione, a livello di prototipo, di un sistema per la misura delle forze di contatto (o forze di reazione al suolo). Il sistema è basato su dei sensori laminari di tipo FSR e su un datalogger realizzato con un microcontrollore (Arduino). La post-elaborazione viene eseguita su pc in matla

Force Sensing Resistor and Evaluation of Technology for Wearable Body Pressure Sensing

Wearable technologies are gaining momentum and widespread diffusion. Thanks to devices such as activity trackers, in form of bracelets, watches, or anklets, the end-users are becoming more and more aware of their daily activity routine, posture, and training and can modify their motor-behavior. Activity trackers are prevalently based on inertial sensors such as accelerometers and gyroscopes. Loads we bear with us and the interface pressure they put on our body also affect posture. A contact interface pressure sensing wearable would be beneficial to complement inertial activity trackers. What is precluding force sensing resistors (FSR) to be the next best seller wearable? In this paper, we provide elements to answer this question. We build an FSR based on resistive material (Velostat) and printed conductive ink electrodes on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate; we test its response to pressure in the range 0–2.7 kPa. We present a state-of-the-art review, filtered by the need to identify technologies adequate for wearables. We conclude that the repeatability is the major issue yet unsolved

RSSI or Time-of-flight for Bluetooth Low Energy based localization? An experimental evaluation

In this paper, we focus on Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and in particular on its use for ranging, starting from the observation that data on RSSI in BLE comes nearly for free. The SDK typically provides to developers an easy way to extract this data and use it to implement their algorithms. However, RSSI based localization techniques have known limits. An alternative information to be used in ranging for localization purposes is Time-of-Flight (ToF). Still, this data is not provided by the BLE API, therefore we propose a practical approach for ToF extraction on top of BLE to be used as alternative to or in combination with RSSI. Furthermore, with the paper, we release the sources of the library used to perform the ToF measurement on BLE, that can be used per se or as input for a localization algorithm. We tested the measurements indoor and outdoor at different distances, both considering Line-of-Sight free or occluded by user body. We conclude evaluating ranging performance, test repeatability and comparing the obtained results with the popular RSSI based approach

RSSI or Time-of-flight for Bluetooth Low Energy based localization? An experimental evaluation

In this paper, we focus on Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and in particular on its use for ranging, starting from the observation that data on RSSI in BLE comes nearly for free. The SDK typically provides to developers an easy way to extract this data and use it to implement their algorithms. However, RSSI based localization techniques have known limits. An alternative information to be used in ranging for localization purposes is Time-of-Flight (ToF). Still, this data is not provided by the BLE API, therefore we propose a practical approach for ToF extraction on top of BLE to be used as alternative to or in combination with RSSI. Furthermore, with the paper, we release the sources of the library used to perform the ToF measurement on BLE, that can be used per se or as input for a localization algorithm. We tested the measurements indoor and outdoor at different distances, both considering Line-of-Sight free or occluded by user body. We conclude evaluating ranging performance, test repeatability and comparing the obtained results with the popular RSSI based approach

Digital Twins: Assisting and Supporting Cooperation in Human-Robot Teams

Wake-up radios (WuRs) are usually designed as a secondary near-zero power radio receiver used to trigger the main radio when a new communication is started over the air. Despite the tight relation with the main radio functions, it is usually implemented with separate hardware, firmware, and it is far from being integrated in the most diffused standard wireless protocols for sensors networks and for the Internet of Things (IoT). In this work, we want to check in-deep the coexistence between the Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), which is one of the most used low-power short-range wireless standards for mobile and wearable communication, and a wake-up facility implemented in the same band. We focus on the analysis of the limits, advantages and drawbacks of adding this interesting feature in the BLE standard, and we discuss about the improvements in terms of power saving and latency of the communication. We target IoT applications and scenarios with a high density of BLE devices, analyzing the standard protocol and how WuRs can enhance its performance. Two common communication schemes will help us to show the limits and to define a design methodology for the application. Simulation results will show the trade-offs of the communication performance and the difference from a normal usage of the BLE. Finally, considerations about the usability of BLE with WuRs and guidelines will be provided as concluding remarks