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Using fibre optic sensors to monitor water networks against wastage: the international journal Sensors published the results of an experiment carried out at Politecnico di Milano aimed at optimising the water network. Researchers from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering pioneered the use of distributed fibre optic sensing (DFOS) based on Stimulated Brillouin Scattering (SBS) technology for monitoring water pipeline networks over long distances. At the heart of this technology is the common and inexpensive optical fibre used for telecommunications (which brings the internet into our homes) capable of measuring deformations to a hundredth of a millimetre.
 
I ricercatori del Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile e Ambientale hanno sperimentato l’uso di sensori distribuiti in fibra ottica (DFOS) basati sulla tecnologia Stimulated Brillouin Scattering (SBS) per il monitoraggio delle reti di condotte idriche su lunghe distanze. Alla base di questa tecnologia c’è la comune ed economica fibra ottica per le telecomunicazioni (che porta internet nelle nostre case) in grado di misurare deformazioni al centesimo di millimetro.
 

The experiment consisted of two phases. ‘In the first one,’ the researchers explain, ‘we assessed the sensitivity of the sensor layout on an HDPE pipe stressed with static pressure. This first stage was successful, so we then concentrated on detecting the pressure anomaly produced by a leak in a piping circuit with flowing water. Overall, the results returned positive feedback on the use of DFOS, confirming the possibility of identifying and localising even very small water leaks. In the future, the tested technology will be further developed towards industrial-scale production of 'natively smart' HDPE pipes, where DFOS are integrated into the pipe surface during the extrusion process. The study, signed by Manuel Bertulessi, Daniele Fabrizio Bignami, Ilaria Boschini, Marina Longoni, Giovanni Menduni and Jacopo Morosi, is available at this link. Water resource wastage is a global issue, increasingly exacerbated by the impact of climate change on the hydrological chain. In Italy, more than one third of the water fed into the national distribution network is wasted, according to ISTAT data from 2022. Widespread monitoring and efficient maintenance of the infrastructure are therefore two strategic and urgent actions.

Source: Le Scienze

The activities of the FORMOSA (FunctiOnal aiRcraft MOveable SurfAces) project, launched in 2020 to redesign the wing control surfaces of the NextGen Civil TiltRotor (NGCTR-TD) civil tiltrotor produced by Leonardo, have recently come to an end.

A tiltrotor is a hybrid aircraft that combines the characteristics of a helicopter with those of an airplane. The architecture of tiltrotors features two rotors, placed at the wingtips, which can rotate allowing the aircraft to take off (and land) vertically and, once the take-off manoeuvre is complete, rotate forward to turn into propellers, producing the thrust for flight, as in a classic propeller plane.

The project, co-ordinated by Prof. Vincenzo Muscarello (Department of Aerospace Science and Technology) and funded by the European  Clean Sky 2 programme, has made it possible to reduce the load of wakes on the wings in helicopter mode (-9% compared to the original project), enabling a reduction in fuel consumption during vertical take-off and landing manoeuvres. In addition, a significant improvement in roll performance was achieved during flight in airplane mode, thanks to a 25 per cent reduction in the time-to-bank, the time needed to reach the required turning angle.

The NextGen Civil TiltRotor is a technology demonstrator designed by Leonardo as part of the European Clean Sky 2 programme and created to meet, among other things, the growing need for air mobility in densely populated urban areas, offering the opportunity to take off and land vertically like a helicopter, together with the high speed distance capability typical of airplanes.

The  FORMOSA (FunctiOnal aiRcraft MOveable SurfAces) consortium consists of a group of young researchers from Politecnico di Milano and a team of engineers from the Portuguese company CEiiA (Centre of Engineering and Product Development).

Biomethanol from biogas, but also from woody biomass. This was the challenge won by Politecnico di Milano and Fattoria Autonoma Tabacchi S.C. 

The BIGSQUID (biogas-to-liquid) technology was presented in Rome on 13 July during the Confagricoltura Annual Meeting 'For over 100 years we have been imagining the future. Together with agricultural enterprises to make Italy grow'.

It was devised by the Centre for Sustainable Process Engineering Research (SuPER) guided by Flavio Manenti, Full Professor of Chemical Plants of the 'Giulio Natta' Department of Chemistry, Materials and Chemical Engineering, and patented by the Technology Transfer Office (TTO) of Politecnico di Milano. BIGSQUID technology was proposed for engineering and industrialisation to Fattoria Autonoma Tabacchi S.C., headed by Dr. Fabio Rossi.

It is a technological alternative to biogas and biomethane. This is an interesting option especially considering the upcoming expiry of incentives for existing biogas plants, which cannot be converted to biomethane production.

THE CAPACITY OF THE PLANT

The plant in which the technology was developed is located in the Giove locality of Città di Castello (PG). The facility can produce up to 4,500 tonnes of biomethanol per year. This energy source can be used as an 'advanced fuel for the decarbonisation of agricultural and industrial transport, as well as a biochemical carbon negative (-88%) to trap CO2 and in all methanol derivatives such as chipboard, polymers, paints and glues,' Politecnico explained in a note.

PROSPECTS FOR USE

According to researchers, BIGSQUID technology could make a major contribution to the green transition. "If applied to a third of Italian plants (around 600), up to 3 million tonnes/year of biomethanol could be produced. 1 million tonnes/year would cover the current national demand and could be put on the market to replace imported fossil methanol, for a total decarbonisation of one of the main industrial sectors. A surplus of 2 million tonnes/year could be exported or used as a substitute additive in petrol to make it more environmentally friendly,' they say.

Source: Canale Energia

Offshore wind farms, on which great expectations are placed for decarbonising electricity production, ensure environmental benefits throughout their life cycle. This emerges from a study published in the international journal Sustainable Production and Consumption in which researchers from Politecnico di Milano analysed the potential environmental impacts of a floating offshore wind farm undergoing authorisation off the coast of Sicily.

The analysis included the phases of procurement of materials, transport of components, assembly and installation with specialised vessels, maintenance during operation, disassembly and end-of-life.

Overall, the results of the analysis provide a rough indication, which is useful for becoming aware of the environmental loads of a renewable electricity generation system and comparing it with other energy sources.

Results show that comparing 1 GWh of energy taken from the national grid with 1 Gwh of energy produced by the wind farm, the overall impacts of wind power are significantly reduced for almost all impact categories analysed: in the ‘climate change’ category, the benefit is a 92% reduction in impacts, and worsening is only observed in the ‘abiotic depletion’ category (+95%). Furthermore, this technology would allow to avoid generating energy from fossil fuels, and therefore, as the results show, related investments would be quickly repaid in terms of greenhouse gas emissions and energy, in 2 and 3 years, respectively.

Scientific literature is still insufficient when it comes to life cycle analysis (LCA) of offshore wind farms with large turbines (over 15 MW) installed on floating structures reflecting recent industry developments and current market trends. However, in order to assess their true environmental sustainability, it is important to analyse renewable electricity generation technologies from a life-cycle perspective.

Authors of this study are, Mario Grosso, professor in Solid Waste Management and Treatment; Lucia Rigamonti, professor in Methodologies for Life Cycle Thinking; and Gaia Brussa, researcher at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

The QUID (Quantum Italy Deployment) project is the Italian implementation of the European Quantum Communication Infrastructure (EuroQCI), promoted by the European Commission with the aim of creating a European infrastructure for quantum communication.

In the course of the project, existing communication infrastructures, whether fibre-optic or airborne, will be integrated and equipped with quantum key distribution (QKD) systems, which will cover a large part of the national territory; at the same time, QUID promotes the development of Italian companies that produce systems and services for quantum communication to different categories of users.

The main purpose of QUID is the development of nodes in quantum metropolitan area networks (QMANs), interconnected through the Italian Quantum Backbone, an infrastructure that covers the Italian territory and distributes, with unprecedented stability and accuracy, time and sampling frequency signals using commercial optical fibres. In each QMAN, quantum key exchanges will take place between nodes using discrete variable QKD systems; distances greater than metropolitan will be covered using 'trusted' nodes or innovative Twin-Field QKD techniques (with 'untrusted' nodes).

QUID will also unite important sites for the connection between fibre-optic communication and the space segment of the European QCI.

Alongside these infrastructural activities, QUID places great emphasis on the development of methods for the optimal delivery of quantum communication services.

Finally, QUID leaves room for the development of innovative QKD techniques, for increasing the transmission frequency, for the use of new types of optical fibres and for free-space transmission.

The QUID consortium brings together leading Italian companies in the sector, leading research institutes involved in quantum communication, for both the terrestrial and space segment, and universities engaged in innovation and education.

The involvement of companies that produce QKD devices, operate telecommunications networks and terrestrial and space services, and that offer integrated IT security solutions, will enable the easy connection of QKD systems in communication networks across the country.

Il consorzio, guidato dall’Istituto Nazionale di Ricerca Metrologica (INRiM), è composto, oltre che dal Politecnico di Milano, da: Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI), Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Coherentia, Thales Alenia Space – Italia, QTI, Leonardo, ThinkQuantum, Tim SpA, Telsy, Telespazio, Consorzio TOP-IX, Università degli studi dell’Aquila, Università La Sapienza, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Università degli Studi di Padova, Università degli Studi di Trieste.

Controlling the shape of a drop is a revolutionary discovery and will soon enable us to manufacture liquid technology devices in the pharmaceutical and environmental fields. Through the encapsulation of one liquid in another, applications such as the controlled release of drugs, emulsification processes and, for example, the clean-up of spills of liquid pollutants such as oil will be possible.

Researchers at the Politecnico di Milano in collaboration with the Aalto University of Helsinki and the University of Oxford conducted a study on the shape control of droplets consisting of a mixture of water and a protein (hydrophobin).

"While a drop of pure fluid, e.g. of water alone, always retains its initial shape during evaporation, these drops made of a water-hydrophobin mixture, on the other hand, show surprising changes in shape during evaporation"

states Pierangelo Metrangolo from the Department of Chemistry, Materials and Chemical Engineering 'Giulio Natta' at Politecnico.

"In fact, the hydrophobin initially dissolved in water reaches the drop's free surface during evaporation and begins to self-assemble to create a thin film that encapsulates the drop and allows its shape to be controlled thanks to a particular combination of certain gravity conditions and the chemical and mechanical properties of the solute that is unveiled and described by a mathematical model"

Pasquale Ciarletta of the Politecnico di Milano's Department of Mathematics continues.

This research demonstrates the importance of a multidisciplinary approach to drive innovation: the interaction between mathematics and chemistry has enabled the understanding of a new physical phenomenon and its transfer to technology to engineer innovative materials that will revolutionise various industrial applications.

The collaborative work of the authors of the study, Pasquale Ciarletta, Pierangelo Metrangolo and Davide Riccobelli, was funded by Regione Lombardia's NewMed project to create innovative methods and materials for precision and personalised medicine.

The results of these studies have been published in the prestigious scientific journal Physical Review Letters.

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Life Sciences @polimi

Milan Building extremely efficient neural networks using photonic chips that process light signals is possible. This was proven by a study by the Politecnico di Milano, conducted together with Stanford University and published in the prestigious journal Science.

Neural networks are distributed computing structures inspired by the structure of a biological brain and aim to achieve cognitive performance comparable to that of humans but in a much shorter time. These technologies now form the basis of machine learning and artificial intelligence systems that can perceive the environment and adapt their own behaviour by analysing the effects of previous actions and working autonomously. They are used in many areas of application, such as speech and image recognition and synthesis, autonomous driving and augmented reality systems, bioinformatics, genetic and molecular sequencing, and high-performance computing technologies.

Compared to conventional computing approaches, in order to perform complex functions, neural networks need to be initially "trained" with a large amount of known information that the network then uses to adapt by learning from experience. Training is an extremely energy-intensive process and as computing power increases, the neural networks' consumption grows very rapidly, doubling every six months or so.

Photonic circuits are a very promising technology for neural networks because they make it possible to build energy-efficient computing units. For years, the Politecnico di Milano has been working on developing programmable photonic processors integrated on silicon microchips only a few mm2 in size for use in the field of data transmission and processing, and now these devices are being used to build photonic neural networks.

“An artificial neuron, like a biological neuron, must perform very simple mathematical operations, such as addition and multiplication, but in a neural network consisting of many densely interconnected neurons, the energy cost of these operations grows exponentially and quickly becomes prohibitive. Our chip incorporates a photonic accelerator that allows calculations to be carried out very quickly and efficiently, using a programmable grid of silicon interferometers. The calculation time is equal to the transit time of light in a chip a few millimetres in size, so we are talking about less than a billionth of a second (0.1 nanoseconds)”, says Francesco Morichetti, Head of the Photonic Devices Lab of the Politecnico di Milano.

“I vantaggi delle reti neurali fotoniche sono noti da tempo, ma uno dei tasselli mancanti per sfruttarne pienamente le potenzialità era l’addestramento della rete. È come avere un potente calcolatore, ma non sapere come usarlo. In questo studio siamo riusciti a realizzare strategie di addestramento dei neuroni fotonici analoghe a quelle utilizzate per le reti neurali convenzionali. Il “cervello” fotonico apprende velocemente e accuratamente e può raggiungere precisioni confrontabili a quelle di una rete neurale convenzionale, ma con un notevole risparmio energetico e maggiore velocità. Tutti elementi abilitanti le applicazioni di intelligenza artificiale e quantistiche.” Aggiunge

In addition to applications in the field of neural networks, this device can be used as a computing unit for multiple applications where high computational efficiency is required, e.g. for graphics accelerators, mathematical coprocessors, data mining, cryptography and quantum computers. The Politecnico di Milano is working on this research with the Photonic Devices Lab and with Polifab, the university's micro and nanotechnology centre.

Lo Studio: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ade8450