On-the-Fly Hardware-Accelerated Image Processing System for Target Recognition

Upcoming robotic exploration missions are characterized by constantly increasing spacecraft autonomy requirements. This approach includes the necessity to face new challenging tasks, such as autonomous navigation capabilities, adaptive activity scheduling and on-the-edge data processing. When these scenarios meet small satellite platforms, coming with a plethora of resource constraints, an optimized implementation of computing intensive functionalities is necessary to achieve usable performance. Argotec, an Italian aerospace company, designs and develops its own avionics systems to enable challenging inter-planetary small satellite missions. Within this context, Argotec developed a proprietary implementation of a high-throughput image processing pipeline to support vision-based autonomous navigation and attitude control. The purpose of this paper is to present the functionality and the performance of this system. Recalling the building blocks being in the image processing chain, the paper starts by listing these blocks and their functionalities, discussing the reasoning behind their inclusion. These functionalities include data binning, low-pass filtering for edge smoothing, color depth compression, binarization, luminance histogram generation, and eventually multi-target labeling. The challenges of delivering the required performance, high-enough to sustain on-the-fly processing in couple with state-of-the-art space cameras, are presented through the step-by-step integration in a flash-based space-grade Microsemi RTG4 FPGA. The hardware implementation was intentionally generated to be parametrizable and platform-independent, allowing for operativity extensions, scalability and general portability. The datapath was conceived to keep functionalities as separated black boxes, each one autonomically operating. Every functional element expects processed pixels as input from the previous module and generates outputs for the following one. This solution allowed to succeed in an about 20 times faster SW-implementation running on a 50MHz Space-grade SPARC V8 processor, with a very low resource occupation in the FPGA device. In this context, improvements led to a drastic processor utilization time unloading, leaving additional place for extra tasks during mission control cycle period. The technology is eventually analyzed in the real-life application of the DART/LICIACube autonomous planetary defense mission, proving how the design supports the mission-specific pipeline deployed for the critical NASA mission. The paper includes a final consideration that reflects on how technologies related to autonomous navigation are critical for small satellite platforms, and nowadays this aspect is calling for the need to design and tailor new solutions. This image processing pipeline wants to be an example of how new solution can enable multiple mission scenarios, until now considered prerogative of larger platforms

Tourism and Economic Growth in Latin American Countries: A Panel Data Approach

We consider the relationship between tourism and economic growth for Latin American countries since 1985 until 1998. The analysis proposed is based on a panel data approach and the Arellano-Bond estimator for dynamic panels. We obtain estimates of the relationship between economic growth and growth in tourists per capita conditional on main macroeconomic variables. We show that the tourism sector is adequate for the economic growth of medium or low-income countries, though not necessarily for developed countries. We then invert the causality direction of the analysis. Rather than explaining economic growth, we try to explain tourism arrivals conditional on GDP and other covariates such as safety, prices and education level, and investment in infrastructures. We employ a generalised least squares AR(1) panel data model. The results provide evidence that low-income countries seem to need adequate levels of infrastructures, education and development to attract tourists. Medium-income countries need high levels of social development like health services and high GDP per capita levels. Finally, the results disclose that price of the destination, in terms of exchange rate and PPP is irrelevant for tourism growth.Tourism, Economic growth, Panel data

HACK Modular On-Board Computer for Edge Computing in Micro-Satellites

Argotec HACK OBC offers unprecedent flexibility thanks to its design developed from scratch to be modular and easily reconfigurable. Different standard modules, based on both state-of-the-art SoCs and FPGAs, can be assembled without the need of external harness to face a wide variety of applications, from spacecraft management to hardware acceleration. The design leverages a mix of rad-hard, defense-grade and automotive components carefully selected to enable the execution of demanding edge-computing tasks while ensuring a reliability level significantly higher than standard CubeSat avionics. Each HACK module is designed to be powered by a single +5V DC rail and has standardized thermal and mechanical interfaces, allowing the installation both as single unit or as part of a complex OBC subsystem. The standard configuration, which includes one Core Board and one aXelerator Module, has a volume of about 0.5U and offers unmatched performance and interfaces

The First-Ever Asteroid Fly-By Performed by a CubeSat: Outcomes of the LICIACube Mission

Transported onboard NASA Double Asteroid Redirection Test (in short, DART) spacecraft developed by Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), the Italian Space Agency (ASI) Light Italian CubeSat for Imaging of Asteroids (in short, LICIACube) played a crucial role in the homonymous mission that took place in September 2022. Its main purpose has been to document the effects of the intentional impact of DART probe with Dimorphos, the minor-planet moon of the 65803 Didymos asteroid system. Along this first-ever planetary defense mission against Near-Earth Objects (NEOs), LICIACube successfully completed the first-ever asteroid fly-by performed by a CubeSat. With a maximum Earth distance of approximately 14 million km during its operative phase, LICIACube is currently one of the nanosatellites that operated the farthest from our planet in a robotic exploration mission. Once separated from DART, the micro-satellite followed its mothercraft along its approach trajectory: its optical system, composed by two digital cameras, is the core of the Autonomous Attitude Control System which allowed to gather images of the two asteroids during a very fast fly-by. This paper discusses how LICIACube behaved in flight, with a focus on the embedded real-time hardware-accelerated imaging capabilities and the Autonomous Attitude Control System as a whole. These technologies allowed the CubeSat to simultaneously operate its two optical payloads both for tracking and science purposes. During the approximately 5-minute-long fly-by, tracking has been performed using the primary telescopic grayscale camera (LICIACube Explorer Imaging for Asteroid, LEIA) to provide rapid feedback to the satellite Autonomous Attitude Control System controlling its attitude, thus maintaining the pointing towards the target. The telescope was exploited to track the main body (Didymos) during the initial phases of the fly-by, switching then to Dimorphos in the vicinity of the closest approach, which occurred with a distance of about 50km and a relative speed of approximately 7 km/s. On the other hand, the secondary payload allowed to capture and store wide-angle images of DART impact with the asteroid, by means of the secondary RGB camera (LICIACube Unit Key Explorer, LUKE) and with a maximum image acquisition rate of 3 pictures per second. In the first section of this paper, the LICIACube CubeSat System is introduced in the DART mission context. In second place, Argotec\u27s all-in-house HAWK-6 platform upon which LICIACube was built is discussed in detail. Followingly, LICIACube in-flight performances are examined with a focus on the Autonomous Attitude Control System. Mission results are included, with real-time telemetry data collected during operations and images of DART captured before and after the impact with Dimorphos

EuFRATE: European FPGA Radiation-hardened Architecture for Telecommunications

The EuFRATE project aims to research, develop and test radiation-hardening methods for telecommunication payloads deployed for Geostationary-Earth Orbit (GEO) using Commercial-Off-The-Shelf Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs). This project is conducted by Argotec Group (Italy) with the collaboration of two partners: Politecnico di Torino (Italy) and Technische Universit¨at Dresden (Germany). The idea of the project focuses on high-performance telecommunication algorithms and the design and implementation strategies for connecting an FPGA device into a robust and efficient cluster of multi-FPGA systems. The radiation-hardening techniques currently under development are addressing both device and cluster levels, with redundant datapaths on multiple devices, comparing the results and isolating fatal errors. This paper introduces the current state of the project’s hardware design description, the composition of the FPGA cluster node, the proposed cluster topology, and the radiation hardening techniques. Intermediate stage experimental results of the FPGA communication layer performance and fault detection techniques are presented. Finally, a wide summary of the project’s impact on the scientific community is provided

Colorectal Cancer Stage at Diagnosis Before vs During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy

IMPORTANCE Delays in screening programs and the reluctance of patients to seek medical attention because of the outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 could be associated with the risk of more advanced colorectal cancers at diagnosis. OBJECTIVE To evaluate whether the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic was associated with more advanced oncologic stage and change in clinical presentation for patients with colorectal cancer. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS This retrospective, multicenter cohort study included all 17 938 adult patients who underwent surgery for colorectal cancer from March 1, 2020, to December 31, 2021 (pandemic period), and from January 1, 2018, to February 29, 2020 (prepandemic period), in 81 participating centers in Italy, including tertiary centers and community hospitals. Follow-up was 30 days from surgery. EXPOSURES Any type of surgical procedure for colorectal cancer, including explorative surgery, palliative procedures, and atypical or segmental resections. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The primary outcome was advanced stage of colorectal cancer at diagnosis. Secondary outcomes were distant metastasis, T4 stage, aggressive biology (defined as cancer with at least 1 of the following characteristics: signet ring cells, mucinous tumor, budding, lymphovascular invasion, perineural invasion, and lymphangitis), stenotic lesion, emergency surgery, and palliative surgery. The independent association between the pandemic period and the outcomes was assessed using multivariate random-effects logistic regression, with hospital as the cluster variable. RESULTS A total of 17 938 patients (10 007 men [55.8%]; mean [SD] age, 70.6 [12.2] years) underwent surgery for colorectal cancer: 7796 (43.5%) during the pandemic period and 10 142 (56.5%) during the prepandemic period. Logistic regression indicated that the pandemic period was significantly associated with an increased rate of advanced-stage colorectal cancer (odds ratio [OR], 1.07; 95%CI, 1.01-1.13; P = .03), aggressive biology (OR, 1.32; 95%CI, 1.15-1.53; P < .001), and stenotic lesions (OR, 1.15; 95%CI, 1.01-1.31; P = .03). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE This cohort study suggests a significant association between the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and the risk of a more advanced oncologic stage at diagnosis among patients undergoing surgery for colorectal cancer and might indicate a potential reduction of survival for these patients

Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services: An EU ecosystem assessment

This report presents an ecosystem assessment covering the total land area of the EU as well as the EU marine regions. The assessment is carried out by Joint Research Centre, European Environment Agency, DG Environment, and the European Topic Centres on Biological Diversity and on Urban, Land and Soil Systems. This report constitutes a knowledge base which can support the evaluation of the 2020 biodiversity targets. It also provides a data foundation for future assessments and policy developments, in particular with respect to the ecosystem restoration agenda for the next decade (2020-2030). The report presents an analysis of the pressures and condition of terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems using a single, comparable methodology based on European data on trends of pressures and condition relative to the policy baseline 2010. The following main conclusions are drawn: - Pressures on ecosystems exhibit different trends. - Land take, atmospheric emissions of air pollutants and critical loads of nitrogen are decreasing but the absolute values of all these pressures remain too high. - Impacts from climate change on ecosystems are increasing. - Invasive alien species of union concern are observed in all ecosystems, but their impact is particularly high in urban ecosystems and grasslands. - Pressures from overfishing activities and marine pollution are still high. - In the long term, air and freshwater quality is improving. - In forests and agroecosystems, which represent over 80% of the EU territory, there are improvements in structural condition indicators (biomass, deadwood, area under organic farming) relative to the baseline year 2010 but some key bio-indicators such as tree-crown defoliation continue to increase. This indicates that ecosystem condition is not improving. - Species-related indicators show no progress or further declines, particularly in agroecosystems. The analysis of trends in ecosystem services concluded that the current potential of ecosystems to deliver timber, protection against floods, crop pollination, and nature-based recreation is equal to or lower than the baseline value for 2010. At the same time, the demand for these services has significantly increased. A lowered potential in combination with a higher demand risks to further decrease the condition of ecosystems and their contribution to human well-being. Despite the wide coverage of environmental legislation in the EU, there are still large gaps in the legal protection of ecosystems. On land, 76% of the area of terrestrial ecosystems, mainly forests, agroecosystems and urban ecosystems, are excluded from a legal designation under the Bird and Habitat Directives. Freshwater and marine ecosystems are subject to specific protection measures under the Water Framework and Marine Strategy Framework Directives. The condition of ecosystems that are under legal designation is unfavourable. More efforts are needed to bend the curve of biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation and to put ecosystems on a path to recovery. The progress that is made in certain areas such as pollution reduction, increasing air and water quality, increasing share of organic farming, the expansion of forests, and the efforts to maintain marine fish stocks at sustainable levels show that a persistent implementation of policies can be effective. These successes should encourage us to act now and to put forward an ambitious plan for the restoration of Europe’s ecosystems.JRC.D.3-Land Resource

Geometria del campo tensionale agente in Calabria settentrionale: confronti tra metodologie strutturali e sismologiche.

Nell'ambito delle ricerche volte alia stesura di una carta sismotettonica dell'Appennino meridionale, si e ritenuto che uno degli elementi indispensabile alia comprensione dell"evoluzione spazio-temporale dell'attività sismica della regione fosse costituito dalla ricostruzione della geometria del campo di stress agente in tempi neotettonici. I dati utilizzati per la comprensione di simili problemi sono stati finora di tipo prettamente sismologico basati essenzialmente sullo studio delle soluzioni dei meccanismi focali. In questa nota ci si propone di illustrare metodologie statistiche di tipo strutturali, le quali, fornendo soluzioni comparabili con quelle sismologiche, consentono di esercitare un controllo sullo stato tensionale dell'area in esame

Evaluating the effect of demographic factors, socioeconomic factors, and risk aversion on mobility during the COVID-19 epidemic in France under lockdown: a population-based study

International audienceBackground: On March 17, 2020, French authorities implemented a nationwide lockdown to respond to the COVID-19 epidemic and curb the surge of patients requiring critical care. Assessing the effect of lockdown on individual displacements is essential to quantify achievable mobility reductions and identify the factors driving the changes in social dynamics that affected viral diffusion. We aimed to use mobile phone data to study how mobility in France changed before and during lockdown, breaking down our findings by trip distance, user age and residency, and time of day, and analysing regional data and spatial heterogeneities.Methods: For this population-based study, we used temporally resolved travel flows among 1436 administrative areas of mainland France reconstructed from mobile phone trajectories. Data were stratified by age class (younger than 18 years, 18-64 years, and 65 years or older). We distinguished between residents and non-residents and used population data and regional socioeconomic indicators from the French National Statistical Institute. We measured mobility changes before and during lockdown at both local and country scales using a case-crossover framework. We analysed all trips combined and trips longer than 100 km (termed long trips), and separated trips by daytime or night-time, weekdays or weekends, and rush hours.Findings: Lockdown caused a 65% reduction in the countrywide number of displacements (from about 57 million to about 20 million trips per day) and was particularly effective in reducing work-related short-range mobility, especially during rush hour, and long trips. Geographical heterogeneities showed anomalous increases in long-range movements even before lockdown announcement that were tightly localised in space. During lockdown, mobility drops were unevenly distributed across regions (eg, Île-de-France, the region of Paris, went from 585 000 to 117 000 outgoing trips per day). They were strongly associated with active populations, workers employed in sectors highly affected by lockdown, and number of hospitalisations per region, and moderately associated with the socioeconomic level of the regions. Major cities largely shrank their pattern of connectivity, reducing it mainly to short-range commuting (95% of traffic leaving Paris was contained in a 201 km radius before lockdown, which was reduced to 29 km during lockdown).Interpretation: Lockdown was effective in reducing population mobility across scales. Caution should be taken in the timing of policy announcements and implementation, because anomalous mobility followed policy announcements, which might act as seeding events. Conversely, risk aversion might be beneficial in further decreasing mobility in highly affected regions. We also identified socioeconomic and demographic constraints to the efficacy of restrictions. The unveiled links between geography, demography, and timing of the response to mobility restrictions might help to design interventions that minimise invasiveness while contributing to the current epidemic response.Agence Nationale de la Recherche, EU, REACTing