Anderson localization of entangled photons in an integrated quantum walk

Waves fail to propagate in random media. First predicted for quantum particles in the presence of a disordered potential, Anderson localization has been observed also in classical acoustics, electromagnetism and optics. Here, for the first time, we report the observation of Anderson localization of pairs of entangled photons in a two-particle discrete quantum walk affected by position dependent disorder. A quantum walk on a disordered lattice is realized by an integrated array of interferometers fabricated in glass by femtosecond laser writing. A novel technique is used to introduce a controlled phase shift into each unit mesh of the network. Polarization entanglement is exploited to simulate the different symmetries of the two-walker system. We are thus able to experimentally investigate the genuine effect of (bosonic and fermionic) statistics in the absence of interaction between the particles. We will show how different types of randomness and the symmetry of the wave-function affect the localization of the entangled walkers.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, revised version published on Nature Photonics 7, 322-328 (2013

Quantum simulation of bosonic-fermionic non-interacting particles in disordered systems via quantum walk

We report on the theoretical analysis of bosonic and fermionic non-interacting systems in a discrete two-particle quantum walk affected by different kinds of disorder. We considered up to 100-step QWs with a spatial, temporal and space-temporal disorder observing how the randomness and the wavefunction symmetry non-trivially affect the final spatial probability distribution, the transport properties and the Shannon entropy of the walkers.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1101.2638 by other author

Innovative IoT Solutions and Wearable Sensing Systems for Monitoring Human Biophysical Parameters: A Review

none3noDigital and information technologies are heavily pervading several aspects of human activities, improving our life quality. Health systems are undergoing a real technological revolution, radically changing how medical services are provided, thanks to the wide employment of the Internet of Things (IoT) platforms supporting advanced monitoring services and intelligent inferring systems. This paper reports, at first, a comprehensive overview of innovative sensing systems for monitoring biophysical and psychophysical parameters, all suitable for integration with wearable or portable accessories. Wearable devices represent a headstone on which the IoT-based healthcare platforms are based, providing capillary and real-time monitoring of patient’s conditions. Besides, a survey of modern architectures and supported services by IoT platforms for health monitoring is presented, providing useful insights for developing future healthcare systems. All considered architectures employ wearable devices to gather patient parameters and share them with a cloud platform where they are processed to provide real-time feedback. The reported discussion highlights the structural differences between the discussed frameworks, from the point of view of network configuration, data management strategy, feedback modality, etc.Article Number: 1660openRoberto De Fazio; Massimo De Vittorio; Paolo ViscontiDE FAZIO, Roberto; DE VITTORIO, Massimo; Visconti, Paol

Facial lipohypertrophy in HIV-infected subjects who underwent autologous fat tissue transplantation.

Of 41 HIV-infected patients with facial lipoatrophy who underwent autologous fat transplantation, disfiguring facial lipohypertrophy at the graft site occurred at the same time as recurrent fat accumulation at the tissue harvest site in 4 patients who had had fat transferred from the dorsocervical fat pad or from subcutaneous abdominal tissue

Editorial for Special Issue on “Electronic Systems and Energy Harvesting Methods for Automation, Mechatronics and Automotive”

none3noElectronic apparatus have become essential components of civil and industrial systems, including the automotive, home and building automation, Industrial IoT (Internet of Things) and control applications, and playing an essential role in improving security, efficiency, manageability, and rapid feedback [1–3]. Indeed, the increasing demands of electronic systems have led to innovations and findings in electronic networks for automotive and automation plants, replacing efficiently and securely mechanical and hydraulic sections [4]. Also, the researchers have focused their attention on meeting the increasing power demand of vehicles equipment, developing 42-V automotive systems. Moreover, smart buildings and homes represent a very actual research topic in the scientific community, aimed to improve energy conservation and the liveability of everyday life environments, thanks to IoT solutions [5]. In fact, smart homes and buildings comprise innovative solutions enabling communication between users and the infrastructure, as well as performing advanced monitoring tasks, like surveillance, light and water management, HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) system management, smart energy monitoring and elderly care. IoT technology employs sensors to detect the environmental temperature for the HVAC system, water and energy consumption, and health monitoring and decision-making systems to assist elderly people and detect fires [6,7]. The scientific community is concentrating their efforts to design innovative infrastructures, management models as well as operating scenarios to make production activities simpler and more efficient [8]. In this field, IoT is one of the key elements triggering this revolution, enabling communications between machines (M2M), thus creating a manufacturing environment human-free. The combination of M2M, IoT and CPS (cyber physical systems) makes the manufacturing systems more robust, reliable and efficient. Besides, cloud computing constitutes a powerful tool, promising to solve several difficult issues with previous productive architectures. For instance, in [9], a novel architecture integrating cloud computing, IoT, and smart devices, was presented. The model uses modern manufacturing technologies, allowing highly configurable, flexible manufacturing processes involving human and robotic participants. This Special Issue aimed to cover a wide range of disciplines and application fields, collecting innovative studies on advanced sensing and energy harvesting technologies and applications in automotive, automation and mechatronics fields. The introduced innovations could mitigate the impact of human activities on the environment and revolutionize the production process by employing eco-sustainable production models, preventing climate change and natural resources waste. A total of 5 papers have been published in this special issue; the paper covers a wide range of topics but is deemed relevant to the topics covered by the special issues. The authors are from geographically distributed countries such as Italy, Mexico, Spain, and China. This reflects the great impact of the proposed topic and the effective organization of the guest editorial team of this special issue.openPaolo Visconti, Nicola Ivan Giannoccaro, Roberto de FazioVisconti, Paolo; Giannoccaro, NICOLA IVAN; DE FAZIO, Robert

High-performance AES-128 algorithm implementation by FPGA-based SoC for 5G communications

In this research work, a fast and lightweight AES-128 cypher based on the Xilinx ZCU102 FPGA board is presented, suitable for 5G communications. In particular, both encryption and decryption algorithms have been developed using a pipelined approach, so enabling the simultaneous processing of the rounds on multiple data packets at each clock cycle. Both the encryption and decryption systems support an operative frequency up to 220 MHz, reaching 28.16 Gbit/s maximum data throughput; besides, the encryption and decryption phases last both only ten clock periods. To guarantee the interoperability of the developed encryption/decryption system with the other sections of the 5G communication apparatus, synchronization and control signals have been integrated. The encryption system uses only 1631 CLBs, whereas the decryption one only 3464 CLBs, ascribable, mainly, to the Inverse Mix Columns step. The developed cypher shows higher efficiency (8.63 Mbps/slice) than similar solutions present in literature

A stake-out prototype system based on GNSS-RTK technology for implementing accurate vehicle reliability and performance tests

none4noThere are many car tests regulated by European and international standards and carried out on tracks to assess vehicle performance. The test preparation phase usually consists of placing road cones on the track with a specific configuration defined by the considered standard; this phase is performed by human operators using imprecise and slow methods, mainly due to the huge required distances. In this paper, a new geolocation stake-out system based on GNSS RTK technology has been realized and tested, supported by a Matlab-based software application to allow the user to quickly and precisely locate the on-track points on which to position the road cones. The realized stake-out system, innovative and very simple to use, produces negligible average errors (i.e. 2.4-2.9 cm) on the distance between the staked-out points according to the reference standards (distance percentage error 0.29-0.47%). Furthermore, the measured average angular error is also very low, in the range 0.04-0.18°. Finally, ISO 3888-1 and ISO 3888-2 test configurations were re-produced on the proving ground of the Porsche Technical Center by utilizing the realized stake-out system to perform a double lane-change manoeuvre on car prototypes.Special Issue "Electronic Systems and Energy Harvesting Methods for Automation, Mechatronics and Automotive 2021" Article Number: 4885openP. Visconti; F. Iaia, R. de Fazio, I. GiannoccaroVisconti, P.; Iaia, F.; de Fazio, R.; Giannoccaro, I

Sensors Allocation and Observer Design for Discrete Bilateral Teleoperation Systems with Multi-Rate Sampling

This study addresses sensor allocation by analyzing exponential stability for discrete-time teleoperation systems. Previous studies mostly concentrate on the continuous-time teleoperation systems and neglect the management of significant practical phenomena, such as data-swap, the effect of sampling rates of samplers, and refresh rates of actuators on the system’s stability. A multi-rate sampling approach is proposed in this study, given the isolation of the master and slave robots in teleoperation systems which may have different hardware restrictions. This architecture collects data through numerous sensors with various sampling rates, assuming that a continuous-time controller stabilizes a linear teleoperation system. The aim is to assign each position and velocity signals to sensors with different sampling rates and divide the state vector between sensors to guarantee the stability of the resulting multi-rate sampled-data teleoperation system. Sufficient Krasovskii-based conditions will be provided to preserve the exponential stability of the system. This problem will be transformed into a mixed-integer program with LMIs (linear matrix inequalities). These conditions are also used to design the observers for the multi-rate teleoperation systems whose estimation errors converge exponentially to the origin. The results are validated by numerical simulations which are useful in designing sensor networks for teleoperation systems

An Energy-Autonomous Smart Shirt employing wearable sensors for Users’ Safety and Protection in Hazardous Workplaces

none4siWearable devices represent a versatile technology in the IoT paradigm, enabling noninvasive and accurate data collection directly from the human body. This paper describes the development of a smart shirt to monitor working conditions in particularly dangerous workplaces. The wearable device integrates a wide set of sensors to locally acquire the user’s vital signs (e.g., heart rate, blood oxygenation, and temperature) and environmental parameters (e.g., the concentration of dangerous gas species and oxygen level). Electrochemical gas-monitoring modules were designed and integrated into the garment for acquiring the concentrations of CO, O2, CH2O, and H2S. The acquired data are wirelessly sent to a cloud platform (IBM Cloud), where they are displayed, processed, and stored. A mobile application was deployed to gather data from the wearable devices and forward them toward the cloud application, enabling the system to operate in areas where aWiFi hotspot is not available. Additionally, the smart shirt comprises a multisource harvesting section to scavenge energy from light, body heat, and limb movements. Indeed, the wearable device integrates several harvesters (thin-film solar panels, thermoelectric generators (TEGs), and piezoelectric transducers), a low-power conditioning section, and a 380 mAh LiPo battery to accumulate the recovered charge. Field tests indicated that the harvesting section could provide up to 216 mW mean power, fully covering the power requirements (P = 1.86 mW) of the sensing, processing, and communication sections in all considered conditions (3.54 mW in the worst-case scenario). However, the 380 mAh LiPo battery guarantees about a 16-day lifetime in the complete absence of energy contributions from the harvesting section.Special Issue “Innovative Materials, Smart Sensors and IoT-based Electronic Solutions for Wearable Applications”, https://www.mdpi.com/journal/applsci/special_issues/Materials_Sensors_Electronic_Solutions_Wearable_ApplicationsopenRoberto De Fazio, Abdel-Razzak Al-Hinnawi, Massimo De Vittorio, Paolo ViscontiDE FAZIO, Roberto; Al-Hinnawi, Abdel-Razzak; DE VITTORIO, Massimo; Visconti, Paol