Eurolab4HPC has funded 4 Technology Transfer Projects (TTP), allocating a budget of €90 000 in total. A TTP performs a bilateral technology transfer between one academic partner as technology provider and one industry partner as technology receiver.

The first call launched in July 2018 resulted in the selection of 3 TTP’s:

=>. 1. Advanced Storage Monitoring (ASM) Earthquakes for Resilience Julian Martin Kunkel and Jean-Thomas Acquaviva University of Reading / DDN

This TTP integrates advanced monitoring capabilities into FUSE. The integration covers novel I/O metrics throughout the I/O stack. This work focuses on the FUSE implementation of the Infinite Memory Engine (IME), a product designed as a burst-buffer optimized for random I/O. We developed a user-friendly way for online visualization and description of HPC applications’ I/O behaviour. For that purpose, we build a monitoring framework on top of open-source software: Elasticsearch, Grafana, and FUSE, and improved the monitoring capabilities of the DDN IME FUSE client. Another unexpected and long-term positive achievement of this Eurolab4HPC technology transfer project was that during the numerous performance analysis and experiments conducted, we have detected some performance limitations within FUSE and analyzed the feasibility of fixing these issues. Ultimately, we hope that this work leads to an improved version of FUSE, bringing value to the whole Linux community.

=>. 2.Hi-Tech SoluTions fOr Waste mAnaGement systEms (Hi-Tech STOWAGE)
University of Salento - Luca Catarinuci, Riccardo Colella, Luigi Patrono and Ilaria Sergisubject

The Eurolab4HPC technology transfer project “Hi-Tech SoluTions fOr Waste mAnaGement systEms (Hi-Tech STOWAGE)” is focused on the innovative solutions enabling the Internet of Things in the Waste Management Systems field. ( Watch a video on STOWAGE) In particular, a new cost-effective HPC CS-RFID-based product and service has been defined for smart traceability of both recyclable and non-recyclable urban waste of large communities and cities. While the hardware (HW) device is able to wirelessly provide waste-bin identification and waste weight to the operator, the cloud-based software (SW) infrastructure collects them along with positioning, time stamp and operator-ID, in order to both generate real-time alerts (wrong bin positioning, erroneous waste typology) and provide to heterogeneous stakeholders (citizens, municipalities, waste management companies, etc.) a monitoring dashboard along with data for elaboration.

=>. 3.HPC platform for wearable applications University of Salento Giuseppina Monti

This project aimed to develop a low-cost sensing platform for wearable applications. In order to satisfy the requirements of compact size, low-power operation and wearability, particular attention was paid to the selection of the materials and electronic components. The proposed solution consisted of five main blocks: a wearable antenna, a transceiver, a control processing unit (CPU), a sensing module and a power management unit. The CPU is in charge of the communication between the wireless interface and the sensors. In particular, the CPU receives the raw sensing data, makes a preliminary local analysis and finally sends the results to the wireless interface. To keep compact, a wearable patch antenna and a chip were chosen, integrating both transceiver and CPU. A fully-textile made antenna was developed to easily embed this in wearable accessories . In particular, a bi-layer structure of soft felt was used as substrate. While, all the conductive parts have been fabricated by means of a low-cost self-adhesive conductive non-woven fabric. The wireless interface is able to communicate with mobile devices, such as computer or smartphone, enabling a wireless monitoring of sensed data.

The second call launched in July 2019 resulted in the selection of 1 TTP:

=> Fast Virtual SoC UPC and Albora Technologies

This technology transfer project focused on Fast virtual SoC for advanced GPS algorithm evaluation. Advanced autonomous driving, among others, needs precise satellite readings. It is well known that high rise buildings and weather conditions hinder the precision of satellite navigation. Even with the new Galileo satellites, these effects are still detrimental of high precision. Therefore, to improve the accuracy of these Global Navigation Satellite Systems, Albora Technologies and UPC joined hands.

Albora Technologies is an SME targeted to develop novel GNSS processing mechanisms that increase the reliability and precision of the GNSS readings. Embedding these functionalities into hardware requires a precise evaluation of the hardware resources needed before prototyping takes place. While this methodology is common in larger companies, SMEs do not typically have (or can afford) this methodology.

UPC’s VirtuOS research group has been developing emulation and virtualization platforms for more than 10 years generating two patents [1] [2]. Both are currently commercially exploited through the Ludium Lab start‐up , a spin‐off of the aforementioned research group. Currently, the emulation of SoCs (including cell phones and gaming consoles). is commercially available for cross‐platform online gaming (Sorastream).

Thanks to this collaboration, funded by Eurolab4HPC, UPC adapted the core infrastructure of emulation to a GPS SoC. In particular, the GNSS application are data intensive and it requires real‐time processing and expensive algorithms to precisely define the position. And the transferred virtual SoC will allow the SME ALBORA TECHNOLOGIES to perform a fast evaluation of their future platforms without the need of the real hardware, while being able to develop new positioning algorithms and demonstrate their effectiveness and performance needs. While this methodology is common in larger companies, SMEs do not typically have (or can afford) this methodology.

Read more about all Eurolab4HPC funded projects here: https://www.eurolab4hpc.eu/calls/