Reduction of the use of copper in horticultural crops through microencapsulation
July 3, 2023
eBRT2030: A new generation of high-performance buses (BRT) in Europe for more sustainable, environmentally friendly transport
August 28, 202307/07/2023
Currently, buildings are becoming smart organisms due to a wide range of distributed sensors and software programmes that provide them with a certain degree of intelligence. In this context, SUST(AI)N (Smart Building Sensitive to Daily Sentiment) emerged. Participants in this project include researchers from the Instrumentation, Sensors and Interfaces Group (ISI) and the Components and Systems for Communications Research Group (CSC) at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya - BarcelonaTech (UPC).
SUST(AI)N will enable the development of theoretical and experimental principles to combine distributed artificial intelligence, greater precision in the environmental detection of people (location and tracking, gesture recognition and vital signs such as breathing and heart rate), and increased flexibility and efficiency in the implementation of reconfigurable hardware, in the framework of a smart building as a conscious organism, which will achieve self-awareness through probabilistic reasoning by integrating people with the various connected devices and sustainable systems.
The consortium of the project will simplify the hardware and smart building systems by exploiting electromagnetic signals jointly for backscatter communication, energy harvesting, physical-layer computation offloading, and non-intrusive sensing. Reconfigurable intelligent surfaces are used to support each of these functions. This new smart system will help tertiary buildings (used by public services, companies and organisations) to meet regulatory degree 2010/31/EU of the European Parliament, which requires systems to control automation by 2025.
The research team from the ISI group and the CSC at the UPC, will be responsible for powering the sensor nodes using energy harvested from the surroundings, specifically from three sources that are present inside buildings: light energy, thermal energy and radiofrequency energy. Light energy will come from artificial lighting (LED, fluorescent tubes) and natural lighting (windows, transparent doors). Thermal energy will be captured from the heating and air conditioning system, specifically from the pipes that distribute hot/cold water. Radiofrequency energy will be obtained from that present in the environment and that emitted by the radio transmitters that are already used for communications and sensors. In addition, for the three types of energy harvesters, electronic systems will be developed to maximise the harvested power.
Consortium, budget and funding
Led by Aalto University (Finland), SUST(AI)N brings together a consortium comprised of the UPC (Spain), the Mines-Télécom Institute (France), the University of Trento (ltaly) and the Yıldız Technical University (Turkey). The project began in October 2022 and will end in March 2026. During this period, it will have a total budget of 2,550,196 euros. It is fully funded by the European Commission’s Horizon Europe programme.
Image by rawpixel.com on Freepik.
Sector
You want to know more?
Related Projects
- Microalgae-based wastewater treatment systems have demonstrated the ability to recover nutrients from wastewater and produce valuable biomass for agricultural applications while also recovering energy through the anaerobic digestion of residual biomass. In the Cyan2Bio project, in which the Group of Environmental Engineering and Microbiology (GEMMA) of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya - BarcelonaTech (UPC) is participating, an additional step will be taken in the valorisation of microalgae biomass to obtain biopolymers suitable for transformation into bioplastics alongside pigments, thereby replacing fossil-based materials.
- Neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's, and age-related disorders, have been widely studied due to their significant impact on individuals and society. So far, these are incurable and debilitating diseases that lead to progressive degeneration and death of nerve cells, resulting in cognitive and mobility impairments. Tremors, mainly at rest, slowness of movement (bradykinesia), limb rigidity, and issues with gait and balance are typical motor disorders related to Parkinson’s disease. Additionally, due to progressive muscle atrophy, these issues can lead to falls, which in turn result in further complications and risks to quality of life.
- The energy transition is reshaping the foundations of the power grid, driven by the massive deployment of renewable generation based on power electronics and the gradual disconnection of conventional fossil-based generation. In this context, grid operators will require support systems to provide flexibility, as renewable generation is highly variable.
- The Biological Treatment of Gaseous Pollutants and Odours Group (BIOGAP) at UPC is participating in the BIOMETCRI project, which aims to implement an innovative biotechnological process to recycle batteries from electric and hybrid vehicles, recovering valuable metals such as cobalt, lithium, nickel, and manganese.
