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This article examines the use of digital documentation systems for preschool special education in Swedish municipalities. Drawing on concepts of organisational learning, the research examines the extent to which municipalities use digital systems and their rationales for such use. A survey of municipalities' use of digital documentation systems indicated three different system types, and findings from interviews with officials in six municipalities suggest two core rationales that guide documentation systems for special education in preschools. The first rationale focuses on managing knowledge rooted in systems' formal properties and legal-regulatory frameworks. The second concerns managing professional practice through documentation processes, access, and communication. Digital solutions have consequences for managing and processing documentation and the utilisation of professional knowledge. For the municipality to be a learning organisation, greater interactions are needed between the two, and special educational knowledge needs to play a greater role and be generated and stored through documentation practice.

Entre los avances tecnológicos utilizados por las empresas destaca el uso intensivo de la inteligencia artificial como un soporte intelectual de la organización del proceso productivo y, especialmente, en la adopción de decisiones empresariales que afectan a los trabajadores, uso intensivo que se traduce en la emisión decisiones empresariales automatizadas, esto es, la sustitución de una decisión humana, por otra, la que se adopta mediante un programa informático y que incide en los procedimientos de entrada, mantenimiento y salida del mercado de trabajo de sus trabajadores. Aquí se efectúa una reflexión de alguno de aspectos problemáticos relacionados con la posterior revisión judicial de estos sistemas digitales con perspectiva del ordenamiento español, aunque extrapolable al marco normativo de otros Estados miembros de la Unión Europea., Among the technological advances used by companies, the intensive use of artificial intelligence as an intellectual support for the organization of the production process stands out, especially in the adoption of business decisions effecting workers. This intensive use translates into the issuance of automated business decisions, which implies the substitution of a human decision for another made through a computer program, impacting the procedures for entering, maintaining and leaving the labor market. Here it reflects on some problematic aspects related to the subsequent judicial review of this type digital systems from a Spanish legal perspective, although its conclusions can also be adapted to the regulatory framework other Member States of the European Union.

Metaverse, a hypothetical digital environment linking the cyber world and the physical world, is expected to revolutionize the way people interact. In the metaverse, people interact with objects, the environment, and each other through digital representations of themselves or avatars across time and space. For example, in the metaverse, people can have meetings with colleagues hundreds of miles away. They can also walk through the aisles of a store, find the best fit and have it delivered to their doorstep. It is also possible to simulate the optimal process manufacturing line to adjust for product variation and minimize bottlenecks, or test an innovative aircraft wing design without building expensive prototypes.

Companies have undergone a process of digitalization and automation of their work processes across various levels. Consequently, this transformation has had a significant impact on the HR departments functions and way of working, where certain parts have been automated and is not outcarried manually anymore. However, the adequacy of the training provided to recruiting personnel in utilizing these digital tools can be questioned. Enterprises did provide different training options to their personnel, and conclusions can be drawn on different trainingmethods, where some were more suitable for specific contexts. The present study has collected empirical research through interviews with companies, showing that companies did consider factors at various levels before implementing digital tools. The findings revealed that organizations with larger HR departments did devote greater resources to training personnel to effectively utilize new digital tools, in contrast to smaller HR departments., Företag har digitaliserat och automatiserat arbetsprocesser till olika nivåer. Följaktligen har denna omvandling haft en betydande inverkan även på HR-avdelningarnas funktioner och arbetssätt, där vissa delar har automatiserats och utförs därmed inte längre manuellt. Det kan dock ifrågasättas om den utbildning som ges till rekryteringspersonal för att använda digitala verktyg är tillräcklig. Intervjuade företagen tillhandahöll olika utbildningsalternativ till sin personal och slutsatser kan dras gällande olika utbildningsmetoder, där vissa var mer lämpade för specifika företagskontexter. Den presenterade studien har samlat in empirisk forskning genom intervjuer med företag, som visar att företag beaktade essentiella faktorer på olika nivåer inför implementering av digitala verktyg. Resultaten visade att organisationer med större HR-avdelningar tillägnade större resurser till att utbilda personal för att effektivt använda nya digitala verktyg, i kontrast mot vad mindre HR-avdelningar gjorde.

Problem - Problemet som den här studien utgår ifrån är den kunskapslucka som finns om hur ett digitalt system kan underlätta samverkan mellan högskolor och studenter inom ramen för högskolestudier. Forskningsfrågan - Forskningsfrågan som formulerades lyder: vilka förväntningar har studenter på ett digitalt system för samverkan med företag inom ramen för högskolestudier?. Bakgrund - Den litterära bakgrunden målar en bild av samverkan mellan högskolor och företag som fördelaktig för alla parter. Den tidigare forskningen pekar också på att samverkan mellan högskolor och företag är utmanande att utföra på ett bra sätt. Det finns med andra ord många hinder och framgångsfaktorer för utvecklarna av digitala system att ta i beaktande. Metod - I studien användes en mixed methods approach där 17 studenter från Stockholms universitet fick genomföra användartester och System usability scale för att först mäta användarupplevelsen av ett digitalt system för samverkan mellan högskolor och företag. Sedan genomfördes fokusgrupper med samma studenter för att ta fram mer djupgående och förklarande kvalitativa data om deras tankar om systemet i frågan och det övergripande ämnet. Resultat - Det undersökta systemet fick ett SUS-värde på 73,4 vilket är “Bra”. Det kvalitativa resultatet visade i likhet med SUS att studenterna tyckte systemet var bra , men att det fanns utrymme för förbättring. Studenterna sa att de tyckte designen var snygg och att systemet var relativt enkelt att använda. Resultatet visade att studenterna efterlyser enkelhet, vägledande design och goda kommunikationskanaler hos ett digitalt system för samverkan mellan högskolor och företag. Datainsamlingens kvalitativa del gav också studenterna möjlighet att komma med flera förbättringsförslag. Diskussion och slutsats - I likhet med flera tidigare studier gjorda inom ämnet samverkan mellan högskolor och företag, visade resultatet att studenterna inte uppfattar samverkan som något självklart eller enkelt. Studenterna upple, Problem - The problem this study addresses is the knowledge gap that exists about how a digital system can facilitate collaboration between universities and students within the framework of higher education studies. Research question - The research question that was formulated reads: what expectations do students have of a digital system for collaboration with companies within the framework of higher education? Background - The literary background paints a picture of industry-university collaboration as beneficial for all parties. Earlier studies also point to industry-university collaboration as being challenging to execute well. There are many obstacles and success factors for the developers of digital systems to consider. Methodology -The study used a mixed methods approach where 17 students from Stockholm University had to complete user tests and the System usability scale to first measure the user experience of a digital system for industry-university collaboration. Focus groups were then conducted with the same students to elicit more in-depth and explanatory qualitative data on their thoughts about the system in question and the overall topic. Findings - The investigated system received a SUS-score of 73.4 which is "Good". The qualitative result showed, similarly to the SUS score, that the students thought the system was good, but that there was room for improvement. The students said they thought the design was neat and that the system was relatively easy to use. The result showed that the students call for simplicity, guiding design, and good communication channels in a digital system for industry-university collaboration. The qualitative part of the data collection also gave the students the opportunity to come up with several suggestions for improvement. Discussion and conclusion - Similar to several previous studies carried out on the subject of industry-university collaboration, the results showed that the students do not perceive industry-university co

The return to the new normality brought with it a series of changes in the ways of transmitting knowledge, the lack of access to laboratories to carry out practices was one of the main problems of classes in the hybrid modality; therefore, this objective of the research was to implement the use of computer simulators which can remedy the need for quality laboratory practices to achieve significant learning. The research was based on the inductive method, a positivist paradigm with a quantitative approach of experimental design of correlational type and with a cross-section. The selected sample consisted of 17 students with an engineering career in computer and communication technologies of the Autonomous University of Carmen's information sciences faculty. The methodology used was the application of an instrument in which students' relationship with technological tools facilitates their learning. The results demonstrated a close relationship with simulators, and their implementation generated better results, decreasing course failure; it was required to continue generating this type of course design, including real-time access technologies to build their knowledge; the research demonstrated the use of simulators has an impact on learning., El regreso a la nueva normalidad trajo consigo una serie de cambios en las formas de transmitir los conocimientos, la falta de acceso a los laboratorios para la realización de prácticas fue uno de los principales problemas de las clases en la modalidad híbrida, por tanto, esta investigación tuvo como objetivo implementar el uso de simuladores informáticos los cuales puedan subsanar la necesidad de realizar prácticas de laboratorio de calidad para lograr aprendizajes significativos. La investigación se fundamentó mediante el método inductivo, paradigma positivista con un enfoque cuantitativo de diseño experimental de tipo correlacional y con un corte transversal. La muestra seleccionada estuvo compuesta por 17 estudiantes de la carrera de ingeniería en tecnologías de cómputo y comunicaciones de la facultad de ciencias de la información de la universidad autónoma del Carmen, la metodología que se utilizó fue la aplicación de un instrumento en el cual se midió la relación de los alumnos con herramientas tecnológicas las cuales facilitan sus aprendizajes. Los resultados obtenidos demostraron la existencia de una relación estrecha con el uso de los simuladores y su implementación generó mejores resultados disminuyendo la reprobación del curso, se requirió seguir generando este tipo de diseños de cursos incluyendo tecnologías de acceso en tiempo real para construir sus propios conocimientos, la investigación demostró el uso de los simuladores como impacto en los aprendizajes.

In the medical environments of developing countries, information management is a constant challenge due to the lack of resources and the workload of healthcare professionals. In this context, Optical Character Recognition (OCR) is a technology that presents itself as a potential solution to automate the process of digitization and management of handwritten data. In this thesis, the effectiveness of different OCR systems for recognizing handwritten characters in medical reports in this particular environment was investigated and, based on the results, a proposal for improvement was made involving a lexical analyzer. This proposal achieved significant improvements in the character recognition rate and could be implemented in future OCR system developments for digitization and management of medical reports in similar environments., En los entornos médicos de países en vías de desarrollo, la gestión de la información es un reto constante debido a la falta de recursos y el volumen de trabajo de los profesionales de la salud. En este contexto, el Reconocimiento Óptico de Caracteres (OCR) es una tecnología de procesado de imagen que se presenta como una opción viable para automatizar el proceso de digitalización y gestión de datos escritos a mano. En esta tesis, se investiga la eficacia de diferentes sistemas OCR para el reconocimiento de caracteres manuscritos en informes médicos en este entorno en particular y basándonos en los resultados se planteó una propuesta de mejora que involucra un analizador léxico. Esta propuesta obtuvo mejoras significativas en la tasa de reconocimiento de caracteres y podría ser implementada en futuros desarrollos de sistemas OCR para la digitalización y gestión de informes médicos en entornos similares., En els entorns mèdics de països en vies de desenvolupament, la gestió de la informació és un repte constant a causa de la manca de recursos i el volum de treball dels professionals de la salut. En aquest context, el Reconeixement Òptic de Caràcters (OCR) és una tecnologia de processament d’imatge que es presenta com una opció viable per automatitzar el procés de digitalització i gestió de dades escrites a mà. En aquesta tesi, s’ha investigat l'eficàcia de diferents sistemes OCR per al reconeixement de caràcters manuscrits en informes mèdics en aquest entorn en particular i, a partir dels resultats, s’ha plantejat una proposta de millora que involucra un analitzador lèxic. Aquesta proposta ha obtingut millores significatives en la taxa de reconeixement de caràcters i podria ser implementada en futurs desenvolupaments de sistemes OCR per a la digitalització i gestió d'informes mèdics en entorns similars.

The sanitary emergency of the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a push for the adoption of teleworking in both public and private sector. In the Brazilian Federal Government, such effort was supported by a national program named Management and Performance Program - PGD (Programa de Gestão e Desempenho). The PGD enabled the country's federal civil servants from the Executive to work from home and was established with three main pillars. First, it supported new ways of contracting deliverables between management and teams. They allowed work to be monitored remotely instead of the old-fashioned procedure of controlling time sheets. Second, to unleash the possibilities of such contracting, governmental units were pushed to map their main service delivery processes and transform them into tasks that could be rationally distributed to teams. Third, new digital systems registered these agreements and monitored their execution monthly. Based on the case study of the PGD, this policy paper describes the development of the PGD within the Brazilian government and indicates challenges to progress with its implementation. We conclude that the PGD might have created the needed structure for the government to step towards new ways of managing the workforce. This policy paper presented the case study of the PGD, a transformation program within the Brazilian government that enabled remote work in public service in Brazil. The PGD study case was based on documents, websites, articles, and news from the Program's implementation process. Many of the presented discussions are ongoing and aim to support practical and academic discussions on the challenges of implementing government transformation. The PGD is the Brazilian national Program that comprises legislation, digital systems, and management practices improved during the pandemic to enable teleworking in the government. Besides remote work, it can be seen as a driver for setting new work planning and monitoring practices. The PGD deman, Information and Communication Technology

On the basis of literature sources analysis, the paper provides the rationale for the necessity of considering the limited digital devices capabilities when designing closed digital control systems for the complex electrical power grids. The problem of design is decomposed into two subproblems: design of current state observation vector digital transmission systems and current controlled process state estimation; design of digital systems for optimal control vector calculation, transmission and control actions realization. The paper presents consideration of the former problem, i.e. design of current state observation vector digital transmission systems and current controlled process state estimation: the mathematical model of digital system of information transmission and state estimation considering speed and reliability of technical means of implementation is presented; the functional structure of simulation complex is developed; the paper provides the formulation of the problem of estimating the optimal amount of information about the control object state, resulting in a solution of computational experiments simulating complex. © 2021 The Author(s).

The purpose of this study was to examine how middle managers experience their workload and work relief in relation to the use of digital systems in the work life. Seven people has participated, three women and four men. The interviews were conducted with a semi structured interview guide and the collected data was analyzed with a thematic analysis. The information that emerged from the analysis of the collected data was that almost all the participants have experienced stress when using the digital systems. It also shows that when using the digital systems most of the participants have gotten more tasks and expectations from the management to complete. Some of them also thought that the educations were inadequate for some of the digital systems and there was a desire for more and better educations. This might indicate that they are experiencing more demands due to the increase of tasks but not as high support because of the inadequate educations. Almost all participants said that their knowledge in some of the digital systems were good. Which can indicate that they have a good control when using them. Almost all participants used the digital systems outside of work daily for example to read their email and to reduce the risk of having an overflowing inbox for the next workday. This can indicate that they at some extent have a high workload due to that they check their email daily after work.

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to receive an understanding for how to enable higher rates of adoption implementation success of hospital IT (HIT) systems in ambulatory surgical care settings. Method - The study is an explorative deductive multiple case-study, incorporating 15 ambulatory surgical centers situated in Sweden, Germany, and the United States. In total, 24 interviews were conducted with managers and users at the selected ASCs in three waves and analyzed through thematic analysis. Findings - The study resulted in the identification of six barriers and eight enablers in the adoption- and implementation phase of HIT systems. In addition, an implementation framework was developed based on the findings from RQ1 and RQ2, with critical activities to execute to facilitate adoption- and implementation success of HIT systems in ASCs. Theoretical contribution - This study adds to the literature by identifying new barriers and enablers in HIT adoption and implementation characterizing ambulatory surgical centers. Furthermore, the findings extend on previous literature by presenting an new all-encompassing implementation framework, showing the necessity to approach the implementation process as a whole process-improvement project for successful HIT adoption and implementation. Managerial implications - This study emphasizes the important role managers in ambulatory surgical centers hold in facilitating successful HIT implementation and provides managers with a practical implementation framework to serve as a roadmap to guide them in achieving a successful implementation of HIT systems. Limitations and future research - The study is limited to investigating adoption- and implementation of HIT systems (EHR, EMR, HIS) in the context of ambulatory surgical centers. Future studies can explore the identified barriers and enablers in more ambulatory surgical settings and extend upon the developed implementation framework.

This final degree thesis consists of developing a digital communications system based on frames between a PC and a PYNQ-Z2 FPGA board. Also, a MATLAB user interface is designed and implemented, and it is used as a communications terminal, which shows the data with the objective of verifying that the communications work properly. Both the communications systems and the interface have an educational purpose and are meant to be used in the Configurable Digital Systems assignment, in the bachelor?s degree in Electronic Engineering and Telecommunications., Este trabajo de fin de grado consiste en desarrollar un sistema digital de comunicaciones por tramas entre un PC y una placa FPGA PYNQ-Z2. También se lleva a cabo el diseño e implementación de una interfaz de usuario a través de MATLAB que haga las funciones de terminal de comunicaciones y que muestre los datos con el objetivo de poder comprobar el funcionamiento de las comunicaciones. Tanto el sistema de comunicaciones como la interfaz de usuario tienen un objetivo docente, y están pensados para ser utilizados en la asignatura Sistemas Digitales Configurables, del Grado de Ingeniería Electrónica de Telecomunicaciones., Aquest treball de fi de grau consisteix en desenvolupar un sistema digital de comunicacions per trames entre un PC i una placa FPGA PYNQ-Z2. També es duu a terme el disseny i implementació d'una interfície d'usuari a través de MATLAB que faci les funcions de terminal de comunicacions i que mostri les dades amb l'objectiu de poder comprovar el funcionament de les comunicacions. Tant el sistema de comunicacions com la interfície d'usuari tenen un objectiu docent, i estan pensats per ser utilitzats en l'assignatura Sistemes Digitals Configurables, del Grau d'Enginyeria Electrònica de Telecomunicacions.

Creativity is everywhere. Diversity is everywhere. Digitization is everywhere. This present article gives a new perspective on my and my laboratory's work over the last decade, explaining why creativity, diversity, and digitization go everywhere together., History & Complexity

To achieve high performance and high energy efficiency on near-future exascale computing systems, three key technology gaps needs to be bridged. These gaps include: energy efficiency and thermal control; extreme computation efficiency via HW acceleration and new arithmetics; methods and tools for seamless integration of reconfigurable accelerators in heterogeneous HPC multi-node platforms. TEXTAROSSA aims at tackling this gap through a co-design approach to heterogeneous HPC solutions, supported by the integration and extension of HW and SW IPs, programming models and tools derived from European research., This work is supported by the TEXTAROSSA project G.A. n.956831, as part of the EuroHPC initiative., Peer Reviewed, Article signat per 51 autors/es: Giovanni Agosta, Daniele Cattaneo, William Fornaciari, Andrea Galimberti, Giuseppe Massari, Federico Reghenzani, Federico Terraneo, Davide Zoni, Carlo Brandolese (DEIB – Politecnico di Milano, Italy, name.surname@polimi.it) | Massimo Celino, Francesco Iannone, Paolo Palazzari, Giuseppe Zummo (ENEA, Italy, name.surname@enea.it) | Massimo Bernaschi, Pasqua D’Ambra (Istituto per le Applicazioni del Calcolo (IAC) - CNR, Italy, name.surname@cnr.it) | Sergio Saponara, Marco Danelutto, Massimo Torquati (University of Pisa, Italy, name.surname@unipi.it) | Marco Aldinucci, Yasir Arfat, Barbara Cantalupo, Iacopo Colonnelli, Roberto Esposito, Alberto R. Martinelli, Gianluca Mittone (University of Torino, Italy, name.surname@unito.it) | Olivier Beaumont, Berenger Bramas, Lionel Eyraud-Dubois, Brice Goglin, Abdou Guermouche, Raymond Namyst, Samuel Thibault (Inria - France, name.surname@inria.fr) | Antonio Filgueras, Miquel Vidal, Carlos Alvarez, Xavier Martorell (BSC - Spain, name.surname@bsc.es) | Ariel Oleksiak, Michal Kulczewski (PSNC, Poland, ariel@man.poznan.pl, kulka@man.poznan.pl) | Alessandro Lonardo, Piero Vicini, Francesca Lo Cicero, Francesco Simula, Andrea Biagioni, Paolo Cretaro, Ottorino Frezza, Pier Stanislao Paolucci, Matteo Turisini (INFN Sezione di Roma - Italy, name.surname@roma1.infn.it) | Francesco Giacomini (INFN CNAF - Italy, name.surname@cnaf.infn.it) | Tommaso Boccali (INFN Sezione di Pisa - Italy, name.surname@pi.infn.it) | Simone Montangero (University of Padova and INFN Sezione di Padova - Italy, name.surname@pd.infn.it) | Roberto Ammendola (INFN Sezione di Roma Tor Vergata - Italy, name.surname@roma2.infn.it), Postprint (author's final draft)

[EN] The traditional way to learn and teach Digital Systems has been changing over the last decades by the use of Hardware Description Languages (HDL) and Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) evaluation boards. The use of an Arduino development kit with different sensors connected to the FPGA upsizes the students experience in the area of Digital Systems. A temperature and humidity ambience sensor combined with an ultrasound sensor to measure distance can effectively be used by students to implement its first serial data converter that takes the sensor data and shows the obtained values from the Arduino in the seven segment display of the FPGA kit. After three years of experience in the new grade courses at the UPV Telecommunication School the number of students enjoying this new way to learn the subject Fundamentals of Digital Electronics (FSD) has dramatically risen up with an increase of a 20% in the number of students that pass the subject and that select the electronic branch of telecommunication studies in the future semesters.

Innovation in the mining industry, the mechanisms by which it is conducted, the drivers and actors involved, and the current and future technological trends including digital transformation, electromobility, invisible zero-waste mining and continuous mining are described. A case study is presented of the development, by Codelco in Chile, of a disruptive innovation project – the Continuous Mining System (CMS) project – to create a continuous material handling system for block and panel caving operations. The CMS project was dismissed after 20 y of research and testing because of problems in the construction phase for the industrial validation. In connection with the process validation of the CMS project, the time for validation, the capital expenditure and execution period estimation, and the infrastructure required and coordination with operations are discussed., Innovation in the mining industry, the mechanisms by which it is conducted, the drivers and actors involved, and the current and future technological trends including digital transformation, electromobility, invisible zero-waste mining and continuous mining are described. A case study is presented of the development, by Codelco in Chile, of a disruptive innovation project – the Continuous Mining System (CMS) project – to create a continuous material handling system for block and panel caving operations. The CMS project was dismissed after 20 y of research and testing because of problems in the construction phase for the industrial validation. In connection with the process validation of the CMS project, the time for validation, the capital expenditure and execution period estimation, and the infrastructure required and coordination with operations are discussed.

© 2020 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works, Digital predistortion (DPD) is the linearization technique most often used to cope with the inherent tradeoff between linearity and efficiency in power amplifiers (PAs). Adaptation is needed to optimize DPD performance. This article reviews strategies for estimating the parameters controlling the DPD linearizer., This work was supported in part by the Spanish Government and Fonds Européen de Développement Économique et Régional under Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades projects TEC2017-83343- C4-1-R and TEC2017-83343-C4-2-R and by the Generalitat de Catalunya under Grant 2017 SGR 813., Peer Reviewed, Postprint (published version)

Researchers have proposed different methods for testing digital systems and circuits in the last couple of decades. The need for testing digital logic circuits has become more important than ever due to the growing complexity of such systems. During the design phase, testing is focusing on design defects, as well as manufacturing and wear out type of defects. Failures in digital systems could be caused, for example, by design errors, the use of inherently probabilistic devices, and manufacturing variability. As a way to test digital systems in a more efficient way, automated test generation has been proposed to automatically create tests that can quickly and accurately identify faulty components. Examples of such techniques are the sequential test generation, the scan path testing, and the random test generation techniques. With the research domain becoming more mature and growing, it is essential to systematically identify, analyze, and classify these contributions. We performed a systematic mapping study of automated test generation for digital circuits aimed at providing an overview of the application of these techniques. We focused on three of the most widely-used and well-supported hardware description languages (HDLs) for digital systems: Verilog, SystemVerilog, and VHDL. Our results suggest that the majority of the test generation methods for digital circuits are focused on the behavioral and register-transfer design levels. Fault-independent and fault-oriented test generation are the most frequently reported types of test generation methods, while HDL model simulation is the most common test generation technology used to search for test cases in these academic studies. While the results are suggesting a growing interest in this area, the majority of articles are published as conferences papers. Our results show that only 31% of the methods are implemented as software tools and only 63% of all contributions are actually generating executable test cases. This

Autonomous driving has the potential to disruptively change the automotive industry as we know it today. For this, fail-operational behavior is essential in the sense, plan, and act stages of the automation chain in order to handle safety-critical situations by its own, which currently is not reached with state-of-the-art approaches.The European ECSEL research project PRYSTINE realizes Fail-operational Urban Surround perceptION (FUSION) based on robust Radar and LiDAR sensor fusion and control functions in order to enable safe automated driving in urban and rural environments. This paper showcases some of the key results (e.g., novel Radar sensors, innovative embedded control and E/E architectures, pioneering sensor fusion approaches, AI controlled vehicle demonstrators) achieved until year 2.

Digital technologies are main strategic drivers for digitalization and offer ubiquitous data availability, unlimited connectivity, and massive processing power for a fundamentally changing business. This leads to the development and application of intelligent digital systems. The current state of research and practice of architecting digital systems and services lacks a solid methodological foundation that fully accommodates all requirements linked to efficient and effective development of digital systems in organizations. Research presented in this paper addresses the question, how management of complexity in digital systems and architectures can be supported from a methodological perspective. In this context, the current focus is on a better understanding of the causes of increased complexity and requirements to methodological support. For this purpose, we take an enterprise architecture perspective, i.e. how the introduction of digital systems affects the complexity of EA. Two industrial case studies and a systematic literature analysis result in the proposal of an extended Digital Enterprise Architecture Cube as framework for future methodical support.

[EN] The software development paradigm students are used to is completely different to the one that must be followed when facing the challenge of specifying and implementing digital systems (hardware). The change in the perspective of how to tackle practical problems in this context could be quite troublesome for students, specially when they lack tools that ease the selfregulation of their cognitive processes. This paper adapts the self-regulated learning model by Winne and Hadwin to the context of designing digital systems. This model is based on continuous monitoring and controlling one’s learning process. Scaffolding and prompting techniques are essential to facilitate the development of strategies for self-regulation. This paper presents the defined planning , its initial deployment, and the partial results obtained., [ES] El paradigma al que el alumnado está acostumbrado para el desarrollo de software cambia completamente cuando debe enfrentarse al reto de especificar e implementar sistemas digitales (hardware). Este cambio de concepción y forma de abordar problemas prácticos en este contexto puede representar un escollo importante para el alumnado, especialmente cuando no dispone de herramientas que faciliten la autorregulación de su proceso cognitivo. Esta comunicación presenta una adaptación al contexto del diseño de sistemas digitales del modelo de aprendizaje autorregulado de Winne y Hadwin, basado en la monitorización continua y el control del propio proceso de aprendizaje. El uso de técnicas de andamiaje y apunte son esenciales para facilitar el desarrollo de estrategias de autorregulación. Se presenta la planificación realizada, su despliegue inicial y los resultados parciales obtenidos hasta la fecha.

An overview of the application of 5G communications in automation and remote operating systems in the mining industry is presented. Three Swedish examples are included - an underground network based on 5G with new radio at the automated Kankberg gold mine, automated drill rigs at Aitik open-pit copper mine and testing of 5G for powering a remote-controlled L180H wheel loader at Volvo CE’s Technology Centre, Eskilstuna. The potential use of 5G technology in smart factories such as the 5G industrial trial, in 2019, at the Worcester Bosch factory, Worcester, UK and the opening, in 2020, of a fully automated smart US factory powered by Ericsson 5G solutions is additionally discussed. A table summarising the evolution of the five internet generations – 1G (1979), 2G (1991), 3G (2002), 4G (2009) and 5G (2019) – and their capabilities is provided., An overview of the application of 5G communications in automation and remote operating systems in the mining industry is presented. Three Swedish examples are included - an underground network based on 5G with new radio at the automated Kankberg gold mine, automated drill rigs at Aitik open-pit copper mine and testing of 5G for powering a remote-controlled L180H wheel loader at Volvo CE’s Technology Centre, Eskilstuna. The potential use of 5G technology in smart factories such as the 5G industrial trial, in 2019, at the Worcester Bosch factory, Worcester, UK and the opening, in 2020, of a fully automated smart US factory powered by Ericsson 5G solutions is additionally discussed. A table summarising the evolution of the five internet generations – 1G (1979), 2G (1991), 3G (2002), 4G (2009) and 5G (2019) – and their capabilities is provided.

The development by EPC-UK of ‘The EPC Way’ Digital Quarry Project, which commenced in 2018, to implement a fully digitalised UK quarry operation is described. The application of Expertir blast-design software which combines data acquired using the Global Positioning System, hole probing and drone photogrammetric surveying technologies to produce a 3D site map is discussed. After recording, measuring and analysing drill-and-blast, load-and-haul, processing and plant data, the results show a reduction of primary crusher power consumption by 0.13 kWh/tonne, a reduction of scalpings by 5.7%, an increase of 11.5% in product going through primary crusher and, overall, an improvement in blast fragmentation, a higher throughput, and a reduction in levels of waste material., The development by EPC-UK of ‘The EPC Way’ Digital Quarry Project, which commenced in 2018, to implement a fully digitalised UK quarry operation is described. The application of Expertir blast-design software which combines data acquired using the Global Positioning System, hole probing and drone photogrammetric surveying technologies to produce a 3D site map is discussed. After recording, measuring and analysing drill-and-blast, load-and-haul, processing and plant data, the results show a reduction of primary crusher power consumption by 0.13 kWh/tonne, a reduction of scalpings by 5.7%, an increase of 11.5% in product going through primary crusher and, overall, an improvement in blast fragmentation, a higher throughput, and a reduction in levels of waste material.

In order to address declining global mining productivity (-3.5%/y over the last 10 y), the adoption by the mining industry of clusters of digital technologies – data, computational power and connectivity; analytics and intelligence; human-machine interaction; and digital-to-physical conversion – is discussed. Applications of these digital technology innovations in operations management and equipment maintenance including deeper understanding of resource base, optimisation of material and equipment flow, improved anticipation of failures, increased mechanisation through automation, and monitoring of real-time performance against plan are described. Based on adoption rates of 80 and 100% for operations management and equipment maintenance, respectively, an estimate of a potential economic impact of these applications of ca. US, In order to address declining global mining productivity (-3.5%/y over the last 10 y), the adoption by the mining industry of clusters of digital technologies – data, computational power and connectivity; analytics and intelligence; human-machine interaction; and digital-to-physical conversion – is discussed. Applications of these digital technology innovations in operations management and equipment maintenance including deeper understanding of resource base, optimisation of material and equipment flow, improved anticipation of failures, increased mechanisation through automation, and monitoring of real-time performance against plan are described. Based on adoption rates of 80 and 100% for operations management and equipment maintenance, respectively, an estimate of a potential economic impact of these applications of ca. US

L’objectiu d’aquesta tesi és estudiar diverses tècniques de control motor per tal d’implementar i verificar un controlador basat en hardware per a un motor d’inducció trifàsic desenvolupat en llenguatge VHDL i funcionant en una FPGA Artix-7 (Xil-inx). Aquest controlador està basat en tècniques de variació de freqüència. Els mòduls que defineixen la descripció de hardware funcionen simultàniament entre ells, i permeten agilitzar el sistema, millorant el rendiment i la resposta del motor, en comparació amb un microcontrolador. Aquesta tesi està relacionada amb els sistemes digitals, l’electrònica de potència i els sistemes de control., Outgoing

We report a new learning approach in collaborative learning-by doing, real-world team-based project in two ICT courses: DigitalSystems and Computing Engineering, conducted at Universitat Polite`cnica de Catalunya. Data collected included: backgroundinformation on students; course evaluations; measures of the knowledge and cross-knowledge of both disciplines taken before andafter our SimulAVR project. SimulAVR integrates interdisciplinary knowledge by simulating via software a microcontroller and itsimplementation in VHDL. Our study is based on the analysis of the results of running the project for 3 years. After taking thesimulAVR project, the students rated the interest in both courses higher., Peer Reviewed, Postprint (published version)

More than ten years ago most of the TV stations in our country had to follow the leap to the digital world. This phenomenon has changed the documentation treatment procedures till the way that is done at present. It has been carrying out not only regarding changes of tasks, but also, regarding the deadline terms, and mainly, the selection of audiovisual materials. Ten years is enough time to value the advantages and disadvantages that the digital system has provided to the selection processes of audiovisual material on TV.The target of this article is analyzing changes that have been taken place as a result of the digital system implementation, in the main aspects that affect the selection processes of audiovisual TV material (policy of selection, stock of material recorded, reception of material for the documentation department, carry out of the selection process, treatment terms and volume of material selected, etc. The purpose of this research is to define the advantages and disadvantages of the systems adopted, suggesting, possible solutions. In order to conduct this article, it has been taken into account the professional experience of the author as Audiovisual Documentalist and Professor of Audiovisual Documentation (PhD), as well as information provided by the responsibles of documentation departments most important TV stations in our country. All of them have a wide experience working with the analogical system as well as the digital., Hace ya más de diez años que la mayoría de las televisiones en nuestro país dio el salto al mundo digital, un cambio que ha variado los procesos del tratamiento documental tanto en la forma como en el plazo de realización, sobre todo en lo que a la selección del material audiovisual se refiere. Diez años son tiempo suficiente para poder reflexionar con conocimiento de causa sobre las ventajas y desventajas que el sistema digital ha aportado a la selección del material audiovisual de televisión. En el presente artículo se analizan los cambios experimentados, como consecuencia de la implantación del sistema digital, en los principales aspectos que influyen en la selección del material audiovisual en televisión (política de selección, volumen de material grabado, recepción del material por Documentación, ejecución de la selección, plazo de tratamiento y volumen de material seleccionado) con objeto de determinar las ventajas e inconvenientes que para este proceso presentan dicho sistema y tratar también de ofrecer posibles soluciones. Para realizar este estudio se ha contado con la experiencia de la autora como documentalista audiovisual y profesora de documentación audiovisual y con la información aportada por los responsables de las principales cadenas de televisión de nuestro país que han trabajado tanto con el sistema analógico como con el digital.

The technologies and the digital systems are a fundamental part in the occupation of the company. The new technologies have forced to diverse sectors to update his functioning and to adapting to the changes. Such it is the case of the practices of tourism inside the Cultural Coffee Landscape in the Quindío, which as economic sector will have to renew his traditional scheme in favor of the tourist demand to offer better services. Nevertheless, it is necessary to know what type of digital systems they adapt to the context of the tourism in the Cultural Coffee Landscape. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to identify and to compile information about feasibility in implementing the technologies of digital systems to the tourist sector in the Cultural Coffee landscape, provided that it is considered to be the principal generator of economic income for the companies in the traditional municipalities of the Quindío. To elaborate this study, it is needed to know the digital systems implemented in other tourist cultural places, which allow to be applied to the traditional municipalities of the Quindío. The study identifies the most relevant factors in the moment to apply the digital systems to the cultural tourism in the Cultural Coffee Landscape besides the recognition and the importance of the TIC in Colombia in the economic development of the tourist sector. In practical terms, the present study contributes so much the persons who are employed at the area of the engineering at digital systems as the managerial sector from the recognition and importance of the digital systems at the tourism., Las tecnologías y los sistemas digitales son una parte fundamental en el quehacer de la sociedad. Las nuevas tecnologías han obligado a diversos sectores a actualizar su funcionamiento y a adaptarse a los cambios. Tal es el caso de las prácticas de turismo dentro del Paisaje Cultural Cafetero en el Quindío, el cual como sector económico deberá renovar su esquema tradicional en pro de la demanda turística para ofrecer mejores servicios. Sin embargo, es necesario conocer qué tipo de sistemas digitales se adaptan al contexto del turismo en el Paisaje Cultural Cafetero. Por lo tanto, el objetivo del presente estudio es identificar y recopilar información sobre factibilidad en implementar las tecnologías de sistemas digitales al sector turístico en el paisaje Cultural Cafetero, dado que está considerado como el principal generador de ingresos económicos para las empresas en los municipios tradicionales del Quindío. Para elaborar este estudio, se requiere conocer los sistemas digitales implementados en otros lugares turísticos culturales, que permitan aplicarse a los municipios tradicionales del Quindío. El estudio identifica los factores más relevantes en el momento de aplicar los sistemas digitales al turismo cultural en el Paisaje Cultural Cafetero además del reconocimiento y la importancia de las TIC en Colombia en el desarrollo económico del sector turístico. En términos prácticos, el presente estudio aporta tanto a las personas que trabajan en el área de la ingeniería en sistemas digitales como al sector empresarial a partir del reconocimiento e importancia de los sistemas digitales en el turismo.

Brushless direct current (BLDC) motors are the pillar of advanced controllers. This chapter presents a portion of the central thoughts hidden plan of FPGA based BLDC motor controller. It covers a considerable amount of ground, yet at a genuinely essential level to make central ideas clear. This chapter gives a great strategy which is useful to aid the outline and control of financially savvy, productive brushless direct current (BLDC) motors. Speed Control of BLDC motor utilizing PIC microcontrollers requires more equipment, and with the accessibility of FPGA adaptable highlights inspired to build up a financially savvy and dependable control with variable speed go. In this chapter, utilizing an algorithm which utilizes the Resolver signals caught from the motor is created with the assistance of Resolver to Digital converters. The VHDL program produces the terminating beats required to drive the MOSFETs of three stage completely controlled scaffold converter driven by drivers. The provided outline procedure is observed to be great and proficient.

Due to the recent trend of intelligent systems and their ability to adapt with varying conditions, deep learning becomes very attractive for many researchers. In general, neural network is used to implement different stages of processing systems based on learning algorithms by controlling their weights and biases. This chapter introduces the neural network concepts, with a description of major elements consisting of the network. It also describes different types of learning algorithms and activation functions with the examples. These concepts are detailed in standard applications. The chapter will be useful for undergraduate students and even for postgraduate students who have simple background on neural networks.

Variable digital filters are widely used in a number of applications of signal processing because of their capability of self-tuning frequency characteristics such as the cutoff frequency and the bandwidth. This chapter introduces recent advances on variable digital filters, focusing on the problems of design and realization, and application to adaptive filtering. In the topic on design and realization, we address two major approaches: one is the frequency transformation and the other is the multi-dimensional polynomial approximation of filter coefficients. In the topic on adaptive filtering, we introduce the details of adaptive band-pass/band-stop filtering that include the well-known adaptive notch filtering.

Trends in technological developments, such as autonomous vehicles, home automation, connected cars, IoT, etc., are based on integrated systems or application-specific integrated circuits with high capacities, where these systems require even more complex devices. Thus, new techniques to design more secure systems in a short time in the market are needed. At this point, verification is one of the highest costs in the manufacturing stage and most expensive in the design process. To reduce the time and cost of the verification process, artificial intelligence techniques based on the optimization of the coverage of behavioral areas have been proposed. In this chapter, we will describe the main techniques used in the functional verification of digital systems of medium complexity, focusing especially on meta-heuristic algorithms such as particle swarm optimization, genetic algorithms, and so on. Several results are presented and compared, where the opportunity areas will be described.

Nowadays, computational intelligence (CI) receives much attention in academic and industry due to a plethora of possible applications. CI includes fuzzy logic (FL), evolutionary algorithms (EA), expert systems (ES) and artificial neural networks (ANN). Many CI components have applications in modeling and control of dynamic systems. FL mimics the human reasoning by converting linguistic variables into a set of rules. EA are metaheuristic population-based algorithms which use evolutionary operations such as mutation, crossover, and selection to find an optimal solution for a given problem. ES are programmed based on an expert knowledge to make informed decisions in complex tasks. ANN models how the neurons are connected in animal nervous systems. ANN have learning abilities and they are trained using data to make intelligent decisions. Since ANN have universal approximation abilities, they can be used to solve regression, classification, and forecasting problems. ANNs are made of interconnected layers where every layer is made of neurons and these neurons have connections with other neurons. These layers consist of an input layer, hidden layer/layers, and an output layer.

While deep learning delivers state-of-the-art accuracy on many artificial intelligence tasks, it comes at the cost of high computational complexity due to large parameters. It is important to design or develop efficient methods to support deep learning toward enabling its scalable deployment, particularly for embedded devices such as mobile, Internet of things (IOT), and drones. In this chapter, I will present a comprehensive survey of several advanced approaches for efficient deep learning in network compression and acceleration. I will describe the central ideas behind each approach and explore the similarities and differences between different methods. Finally, I will present some future directions in this field.

Fourier transform profilometry (FTP) is an established non-contact method for 3D sensing in many scientific and industrial applications, such as quality control and biomedical imaging. This phase-based technique has the advantages of high resolution and noise robustness compared to intensity-based approaches. In FTP, a sinusoidal grating is projected onto the surface of an object, the shape information is encoded into a deformed fringe pattern recorded by a camera. The object shape is decoded by calculating the Fourier transform, filtering in the spatial frequency domain, and calculating the inverse Fourier transform; afterward, a conversion of the measured phase to object height is carried out. FTP has been extensively studied and extended for achieving better slope measurement, better separation of height information from noise, and robustness to discontinuities in the fringe pattern. Most of the literature on FTP disregards the software implementation aspects. In this chapter, we return to the basics of FTP and explain in detail the software implementation in LabVIEW, one of the most used data acquisition platforms in engineering. We show results on three applications for FTP in 3D metrology.

Electrostatic discharge (ESD) has been an issue in devices, circuits, and systems for electronics for many decades, as early as the 1970s, and continued to be an issue until today. In this chapter, the issue of ESD protection design and methods for Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) will be discussed. The chapter will discuss ESD design in an ASIC environment. The discussion will address ESD design layout, design rules and practices, and the method of integration of ESD protection into the ASIC design practice. Part of the methodology is the floor planning of an ASIC design, I/O library, integration of ESD into I/O cells, power distribution, and placement of power pads, in both array and peripheral design methodologies. As part of the ASIC I/O design, guard rings and latch-up interactions will be highlighted.

Digital control systems are increasingly used in power electronics due to the whole number of advantages of digital control over analog. Power factor corrector with adaptive digital peak current mode control is presented in this article. The principle of peak current mode control is described. The advantages and disadvantages of this mode are listed. The scheme of the corrector with adaptive digital control is depicted. Conducted computer simulation confirmed the validity of the designed corrector. Reference 14, figures 6., Цифровые системы управления все чаще применяются в силовой электронике, что обусловлено рядом преимуществ цифрового управления над аналоговым. В данной статье представлен корректор коэффициента мощности с адаптивным цифровым управлением по пиковому току. Описан принцип управления по пиковому току и указаны преимущества и недостатки данного метода. Представлена схема корректора с адаптивным цифровым управлением. Проведенное компьютерное моделирование подтвердило работоспособность разработанного корректора. Библ. 14, рис. 6., Цифрові системи керування все частіше застосовуються у силовій електроніці, що обумовлено рядом переваг цифрового керування над аналоговим. У даній статті представлений коректор коефіцієнта потужності з адаптивним цифровим керуванням по піковому струму. Описано принцип керування по піковому струму та вказані переваги і недоліки даного методу. Наведена схема коректора з адаптивним цифровим керуванням. Проведене комп’ютерне моделювання підтвердило працездатність розробленого коректора. Бібл. 14, рис. 6.

This thesis has its starting point in the digitalization of society focusing on the rapid development of mobile technologies and the increasing interplay between humans and machines. The use of information and communication technologies (ICT) is extending at a fast pace, affecting all parts of society, and the everyday life of most individuals. The fast progressing development of mobile technologies (smartphones and their accessories/ wearable’s) is creating new trends such as health tracking and quantified self. These mobile technologies can register an increasing number of physiological features, implying that the interconnection between the physiological and digital systems is increasing. This creates a range of new possibilities within health and medical research but it also creates new challenges and the need for new knowledge in how we relate these devices to our bodies. In the psychological perspective, smartphone use is increasing and previous studies imply that these devices are affecting our behaviour, our mental health as well as our cognitive functions. This implies for a need to understand the relation we have to these devices also in a psychological perspective, focusing on emotions and cognition. This study set out to explore the relation between humans and technologies from a systems perspective. The research question involved: How are users and smartphones related in physical and psychological perspectives? The methods used were questionnaires and interviews. The respondents were students in two European universities, who described their experiences of smartphone use, and three doctors (in medicine and biomedicine) that provided interesting aspects in how mobile technologies can be related to the human body from a system perspective In a physical perspective the users as well as their physical environments could be described as converging with the digital systems. The need of being connected and have access to all life-spheres at once seemed to be

Programació CPLD'S , microcontroladors integrats , programació ICP/IP, Las prácticas de la asignatura Sistemas Digitales I, que se impartía en el segundo ciclo de Ingeniería Electrónica, quieren introducir a los alumnos en el diseño lógico digital mediante la realización de proyectos basados en dispositivos lógicos programables. Para ello, los laboratorios docentes disponen de unas placas compuestas de una CPLD y de una serie de dispositivos de E/S para verificar físicamente el correcto funcionamiento de los ejercicios propuestos. Con el paso del tiempo, se hace necesario actualizar estas placas para adecuarlas a las herramientas presentes y mejorar sus prestaciones. En este Proyecto Fin de Carrera se ha diseñado una nueva plataforma de prácticas que integra en una sola placa todos los dispositivos de E/S y el programador de la CPLD, al tiempo que duplica la capacidad de los proyectos realizables al pasar de 5000 a 10000 puertas lógicas disponibles. Siguiendo las indicaciones de los profesores de la asignatura, se construye un prototipo inicial de la nueva placa. Después de verificar su correcto funcionamiento y realizar unas pocas modificaciones, se encargaron y fabricaron 20 unidades. Desde el año 2004 hasta el año 2011, la placa diseñada en este PFC ha sido la base de las prácticas de la asignatura. Aprovechando las mejores prestaciones de la nueva placa, se diseña y se implementa un sistema de gestión remoto que permite la monitorización y control de la placa mediante una conexión a Internet utilizando un servidor web integrado. La aplicación de Control Remoto consta de 3 programas diferenciados que se ejecutan en la nueva placa de prácticas, en un servidor web integrado y en un PC. La aplicación de Control Remoto fue probada con éxito entre un despacho de la Universidad Politécnica de Cataluña y un piso situado cerca de la plaza Lesseps, ambos en Barcelona., Les pràctiques de l'assignatura Sistemes Digitals I, que s'impartia en el segon cicle d'Enginyeria Electrònica, volen introduir als alumnes en el disseny lògic digital mitjançant la realització de projectes basats en dispositius lògics programables. A aquest efecte, els laboratoris docents disposen d'unes plaques compostes per una CPLD i una sèrie de dispositius d'E/S per tal de verificar físicament el correcte funcionament dels exercicis proposats. Amb el pas dels temps, es fa necessari actualitzar aquestes plaques per tal d’adequar-les a les eines presents i millorar les seves prestacions. En aquest Projecte Final de Carrera s’ha dissenyat una nova plataforma de pràctiques que integra en una sola placa tots els dispositius d’E/S i el programador de la CPLD, alhora que duplica la capacitat dels projectes realitzables en passar de 5000 a 10000 portes lògiques disponibles. Seguint les indicacions dels professors de l’assignatura, es construeix un prototipus inicial de la nova placa. Després de verificar el seu correcte funcionament i realitzar unes poques modificacions, es van encarregar i fabricar 20 unitats. Des de l’any 2004 fins a l’any 2011, la placa dissenyada en aquest PFC ha sigut la base de les pràctiques de l’assignatura. Aprofitant les millors prestacions de la nova placa, es dissenya i s’implementa un sistema de gestió remot que permet la monitorització i control de la placa mitjançant una connexió a Internet utilitzant un servidor web integrat. L’aplicació de Control Remot consta de 3 programes diferenciats que s’executen en la nova placa de pràctiques, en un servidor web integrat i en un PC. L’aplicació de Control Remot va ser provada amb èxit entre un despatx de la Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya i un pis situat prop de la plaça Lesseps, ambdós a Barcelona., The practices of the Digital Systems I course, which was taught in the second year of Electronic Engineering, want to introduce students to the digital logic design through projects based on programmable logic devices. To this end, teaching laboratories provide boards composed of a CPLD and a number of I/O devices to physically verify the proper operation of the proposed exercises. With time, it is necessary to update these boards in order to adapt them to current tools and improve their performance. In this Final Project a new practice platform has been designed. It integrates on a single board all the desired I/O devices amd the CPLD programmer while doubling the capacity of feasible projects by providing up to 10,000 logic gates. Following the instructions of the course’s professors, an initial prototype of the new board has been built. After verifying proper operation and perform a few modifications, 20 units were ordered and manufactured. From year 2004 until year 2011, the board designed in this Final Project has been the basis of the course’s practices. Taking advantage of the improved features of the new board, a management system that enables remote monitoring and control of the board has been designed and implemented. The Remote Control application consists of three different programs running on the new board, on an integrated web server and on a PC. The Remote Control application was successfully tested between an office of the Polytechnic University of Catalonia and an apartment located near Lesseps square, both in Barcelona.

Compressive sensing has been used in many imaging domains to facilitate high quality reconstruction from under-sampled data. This work presents a new reconstruction algorithm for use with under-sampled digital holography measurements and yields reconstruction quality far superior to conventional backpropagation methods. The report describes the new dictionary prior and its use in an iterative soft thresholding algorithm and presents systematic studies of performance versus various physical variables such as exposure time, degree of under-sampling, and object sparsity.

Wireless networking has become a part of our everyday life, but it is a challenging networking technology. The reason is that wireless channel properties, and thus link quality, depend strongly on the physical environment. This creates a challenge for both simulation and emulation platforms, since they must accurately model the impact of many physical layer factors on signal propagation in order to achieve a high degree of realism. This project developed a number of techniques to improve the accuracy of developing realistic and efficient environment-specific channel models. We looked at how the accuracy of both geometric and stochastic channel models can be improved by generating model inputs that accurately reflect a specific environment. Our evaluation uses two important properties, channel dynamics and correlation between nearby channels, in a challenging wireless environment, namely vehicular networks. We also made a number of improvements to an emulation-based wireless testbed to improve channel model accuracy and transferred a copy of the testbed to LTS as the basis for research collaboration.

The primary objective of this effort was to build a system that can operate in contested environments (the anticipated future combat fields). Operating in contested environments requires flexible waveform characteristics that can change on-the-fly based on conditions of the combat mission. The Flexible Data Link system is designed with the capability of handling data rates up to 25 Bbps. The high speed operation will most likely be utilized in permissive environment operations where we have air dominance. Data rates can be substantially lowered when operating in contested/highly contested environments. In order to overcome atmospheric conditions, the modular design of the Flexible Data Link allows the digital backend to be connected to a variety of analog frontends. Any frontend (RF, FSO, or IR) can be used as long as it follows the specifications of the standard interface to the digital backend.

This report is the result of a prognostic and diagnostic program involving roller bearings. The objective of the effort was to develop techniques that could be used to detect the initial fault and predict the remaining useful life of a roller bearing. There are many techniques from digital signal processing, statistical, and machine learning fields that can be for fault detection and prediction. In this report, a description of roller bearing faults and life are presented. From this starting point, the report leads into various techniques that can be applied to vibrational data in order to generate features that can be used for fault detection. Feature generation is an important step in the prognostic and diagnostic development. This overview of possible features is intended to provide sufficient information to pursue feature selection and algorithm development for roller bearings prognostic and diagnostic techniques., The original document contains color images.

This paper presents the design of the NEDA (Neutron Detector Array) electronics, a first attempt to involve the use of digital electronics in large neutron detector arrays. Starting from the front-end modules attached to the PMTs (PhotoMultiplier Tubes) and ending up with the data processing workstations, a comprehensive electronic system capable of dealing with the acquisition and pre-processing of the neutron array is detailed. Among the electronic modules required, we emphasize the front-end analog processing, the digitalization, digital pre-processing and communications firmware, as well as the integration of the GTS (Global Trigger and Synchronization) system, already used successfully in AGATA (Advanced Gamma Tracking Array). The NEDA array will be available for measurements in 2016.

Recently, new syllabuses are being implemented accordingly to the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) in Spain. This paper describes the methodology and assessment strategy applied in the subject ‘‘Digital Circuits and Systems’’ (CSD) in the third semester course in the Telecommunications Engineering degree at the Castelldefels School of Telecommunications and Aerospace Engineering (EETAC) of the Universitat Polite`cnica de Catalunya (UPC). The course’s main learning objective is that students be able to analyse and design simple combinational and sequential circuits by means of hardware description languages for programmable devices and program applications using microcontrollers and C language. Small groups of two or three students work in cooperation using PBL techniques to solve design-oriented assignments, while instructors act more as mediators than lecturers in order to facilitate project development and knowledge acquisition. The experience we describe corresponds to the spring term of 2011, a period in which this methodology was applied to 46 students. This work compares statistically the influence of the students’ background on their academic performance in our subject. A significant correlation has been detected between test marks and the final grade, based on continuous assessment. Students’ opinions have been obtained by means of a survey at the end of the course. Although the high workload and involvement, because this methodology requires constancy and commitment from the students, most of them have positive opinions on the development of the subject, due to the fact that they realise that they have put into practice several competences or cross-curricular skills, while acquiring the course content, and furthermore, most of them have passed the course, even with higher grades than the ones from other subjects in the same semester., Peer Reviewed, Postprint (published version)

The SpinSat flight is a small satellite mission proposed by the Naval Research Laboratory and Digital Solid State Propulsion \201DSSP\202 LLC to demonstrate and characterize the on-orbit performance of electrically controlled solid propellant technology in space. Launch is expected in summer of 2014. This is an enabling technology for the small satellite community that will allow small satellites to perform maneuvers. The mission consists of a spherical spacecraft fitted with Electrically Controlled Solid Propellant thrusters and retro-reflectors for satellite laser ranging \201SLR\202. The spacecraft will be deployed from the International Space Station. This paper presents a mission overview, ground truth characterization and unique SSA observation opportunities of the mission., Presented at the Advanced Maui Optical and Space Surveillance Technologies (AMOS) Conference, 9-12 Sep 2014, Maui, HI.

This final report describes the two major pieces of equipment acquired under this DURIP grant, namely a pair of lasers and a high-speed intensified digital camera system. The equipment will be used to determine whether it is feasible to use the new evanescent wave based particle tracking velocimetry (PTV) technique to visualize a slice of the viscous sublayer in wall turbulence parallel to the wall in fully-developed turbulent channel flow. Understanding the characteristics of wall (bounded) turbulence, especially in the viscous sublayer, i.e., the thin flow region next to the wall where viscous effects dominate, is the key to understanding the drag and lift forces acting upon solid surfaces moving through a fluid.