High-speed data transfer with FPGAs and QSFP+ modules

We present test results and characterization of a data transmission system based on a last generation FPGA and a commercial QSFP+ (Quad Small Form Pluggable +) module. QSFP+ standard defines a hot-pluggable transceiver available in copper or optical cable assemblies for an aggregated bandwidth of up to 40 Gbps. We implemented a complete testbench based on a commercial development card mounting an Altera Stratix IV FPGA with 24 serial transceivers at 8.5 Gbps, together with a custom mezzanine hosting three QSFP+ modules. We present test results and signal integrity measurements up to an aggregated bandwidth of 12 Gbps.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, Published on JINST Journal of Instrumentation proceedings of Topical Workshop on Electronics for Particle Physics 2010, 20-24 September 2010, Aachen, Germany(R Ammendola et al 2010 JINST 5 C12019

Dependence of the energy resolution of a scintillating crystal on the readout integration time

The possibilty of performing high-rate calorimetry with a slow scintillating crystal is studied. In this experimental situation, to avoid pulse pile-up, it can be necessary to base the energy measurement on only a fraction of the emitted light, thus spoiling the energy resolution. This effect was experimentally studied with a BGO crystal and a photomultiplier followed by an integrator, by measuring the maximum amplitude of the signals. The experimental data show that the energy resolution is exclusively due to the statistical fluctuations of the number of photoelectrons contributing to the maximum amplitude. When such number is small its fluctuations are even smaller than those predicted by Poisson statistics. These results were confirmed by a Monte Carlo simulation which allows to estimate, in a general case, the energy resolution, given the total number of photoelectrons, the scintillation time and the integration time

An Intelligent Decision Support System for the Detection of Meat Spoilage using Multispectral Images

In food industry, quality and safety are considered important issues worldwide that are directly related to health and social progress. The use of vision technology for quality testing of food production has the obvious advantage of being able to continuously monitor a production using non-destructive methods, thus increasing the quality and minimizing cost. The performance of an intelligent decision support system has been evaluated in monitoring the spoilage of minced beef stored either aerobically or under modified atmosphere packaging, at different storage temperatures (0, 5, 10, and 15 °C) utilising multispectral imaging information. This paper utilises a neuro-fuzzy model which incorporates a clustering pre-processing stage for the definition of fuzzy rules, while its final fuzzy rule base is determined by competitive learning. Initially, meat samples are classified according to their storage conditions, while identification models are then utilised for the prediction of the Total Viable Counts of bacteria. The innovation of the proposed approach is further extended to the identification of the temperature used for storage, utilizing only imaging spectral information. Results indicated that spectral information in combination with the proposed modelling scheme could be considered as an alternative methodology for the accurate evaluation of meat spoilage

E\u2019 buono? Me lo dice lo spettro

Come accertare la qualit\ue0 di un prodotto ortofrutticolo ancora sulla pianta, al conferimento o in stoccaggio, senza pregiudicarne la commercializzazione? Oggi \ue8 possibile

Come si produce la freschezza

La produzione delle insalate di IV gamma, dal momento del ricevimento al confezionamento del prodotto, pu\uf2 oggi contare sull\u2019utilizzo di macchinari e tecnologie innovative, capaci di assicurare un prodotto finale igienico e di qualit\ue0

Buoni in eterno ?

Innovative soluzioni permettono di mantenere costante la qualità dei prodotti ortofrutticoli per lungo tempo, dalle celle frigorifere fino al consumo

Macchine per raccogliere energia

Il design entra nel campo delle energie rinnovabili e porta alla progettazione di nuove macchine. Per la raccolta e la lavorazione della biomassa di origine gricola e forestale

Bont\ue0 a vista d\u2019occhio

\uc8 possibile valutare la qualit\ue0 di frutta e verdura dall\u2019elaborazione e analisi di immagini acquisite attraverso moderni sistemi di visione. In modo estremamente efficiente e con tecniche non distruttive

L\u2019analisi dell\u2019immagine come metodologia per migliorare la fase di selezione dei prodotti alimentari

With increased expectations for high quality and safety foodstuffs, the need for an accurate, fast and objective quality determination of these characteristics in food products continues to grow. Computer vision provides one alternative for an automated, non-destructive and cost-effective technique to accomplish these requirements. This inspection approach based on image analysis and processing has found a variety of different applications in the food industry. Considerable research has highlighted its potential for the inspection and grading of fruits and vegetables and It has been successfully adopted for the quality analysis of meat and fish, cheese, bread, etc. The final purpose of this work is the implementation of artificial vision systems able to: detect defects related to dirt on the eggshell standard conditions; identify and separate aflatoxin contaminated pistachios and cashews; classify peaches (var. Rich Lady) into different postharvest maturity classes. In this work we present the results of the application of the proposed visual processes on a wide sample of both clean-dirt eggs, contaminated-uncontaminated nuts and on peach at different ripening states. Particular attention It was been payed to adaptability of the systems to on-line grading existing machines to detect and sort out dirt, contaminated and over-ripened samples. In this way, the food producers, processors and traders will be able to control every sample of the lot quickly and accurately, separating dirt, contaminated and over-ripened samples from the process streams, increasing the general food quality and safety

E’ ora di maturare

Al fine di scaglionarne l’immissione sul mercato, la completa maturazione di alcuni frutti e ortaggi può essere controllata mediante avanzati processi tecnologici