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In this paper, the processing of the data of a 3D light detection and distance measurement (LiDAR) sensor mounted on a mobile robot is demonstrated, introducing an innovative methodology to manage the data and extract useful information. The LiDAR sensor is placed on a mobile robot which has a modular design that permits the easy change of the number of wheels, was designed to travel through several environments, and saves energy by changing the number and arrangement of the wheels in each environment. In addition, the robot can recognize landmarks in a structured environment by using a classification technique on each frame acquired by the LiDAR. Furthermore, considering the experimental tests, a new simple algorithm based on the LiDAR data processing together with the inertial data (IMU sensor) through a Kalman filter is proposed to characterize the robot’s pose by the surrounding environment with fixed landmarks. Finally, the limits of the proposed algorithm have been analyzed, highlighting new improvements in the future prospective development for permitting autonomous navigation and environment perception with a simple, modular, and low-cost device.

Assisted technology combined with sensor networks is an emerging technology for better homecare of people requiring specific support. In this work, we focus our attention on monitoring vital signs and accident prevention of older adults in residential areas without invasive and uncomfortable medical devices. We prototyped two vital signal monitoring devices integrated in structures deployed in common areas such as an arch and a bench. In addition, an alarm system was implemented to monitor residents in common areas and prevent vehicle accidents. The system was tested using Zigbee and LoRa wireless technologies and the network's overall performance was compared. In addition, the proposal was compared to commercially available medical equipment and results show a 96% similarity in vital signs monitoring. The system offers a silent noninvasive operation together with a friendly user interaction. It allows caregivers and family members to monitor vital signs of the residents remotely without the need of wearable specialized devices.

Aim of the present manuscript is to provide an overview of all possible methods and light source typologies used by the different research groups for obtaining the energetic nano-materials’ photo-ignition, showing the latest progress related to such phenomenon employing, also, alternative radiation sources to the common Xe lamp. In fact, the employment of a different source typology can open new usage prospects respect to those enabled by the Xe lamp, mainly due to its technological limitations. Therefore, several studies are faced to test light sources, such as lasers and LEDs, for igniting the nano-energetic materials (as CNTs mixed with metallic catalyzers, Al / CuO nano-particles, etc); these nano-materials are usefully employed for starting, in volumetric and controlled way, the combustion of air-fuel mixtures inside internal combustion engines, leading to significant benefits to the combustion process also in terms of efficiency, reliability, and emissions of pollutants. Several research works are presented in literature concerning the ignition of liquid / gaseous fuels, without nano-particles, employing laser sources (i.e laser-based plugs in place of the common spark plugs); therefore, an innovative solution is proposed that employs multi-point laser-plugs for inducing the ignition of nano-materials dispersed into the air-fuel mixture inside the cylinder, so further improving the combustion of the fuel in an internal combustion engine.

Detection of leakages in pipelines is a matter of continuous research because of the basic importance for a waterworks system is finding the point of the pipeline where a leak is located and − in some cases − a nature of the leak. There are specific difficulties in finding leaks by using spectral analysis techniques like FFT (Fast Fourier Transform), STFT (Short Term Fourier Transform), etc. These difficulties arise especially in complicated pipeline configurations, e.g. a zigzag one. This research focuses on the results of a new algorithm based on FFT and comparing them with a developed STFT technique. Even if other techniques are used, they are costly and difficult to be managed. Moreover, a constraint in the leak detection is the pipeline diameter because it influences accuracy of the adopted algorithm. FFT and STFT are not fully adequate for complex configurations dealt with in this paper, since they produce ill-posed problems with an increasing uncertainty. Therefore, an improved Tikhonov technique has been implemented to reinforce FFT and STFT for complex configurations of pipelines. Hence, the proposed algorithm overcomes the aforementioned difficulties due to applying a linear algebraic approach.

This work presents an electronic board for driving and control of High Intensity Discharge (HID) lamps and Light Emitting Diode (LED) lamps. The proposed electronic board is able to drive HID or LED lamps by means of a reconfigurable output. This feature allows using the ballast in lighting systems that currently use traditional discharge lamps, as well as keeping the same ballast when discharge lamps are replaced by LED modules in the near future, when LED street lighting systems will be more affordable. Additionally, since the lighting system is designed to be used in rural areas where there is no public electricity, each lighting point incorporates a system to convert solar energy into continuous voltage by means of photovoltaic panels. In this work, energy saving issues are taken into account.

As modern electronics rapidly approach the ultimate level of integration (typically thought to be at the nanoscale level), the fascinating world of biomolecules provides new opportunities and directions for further miniaturization. In this work we review our results in the field of biomolecular electronics, starting from the fabrication of nanojunctions up to the implementation of hybrid devices.

Because of their natural functional characteristics, involving inter- and intramolecular electron transfer, metalloproteins are good candidates for biomolecular nanoelectronics. In particular, blue copper proteins, such as azurin, can bind gold via a disulfide site present on its surface and they have a natural electron transfer activity that can be exploited for the realization of molecular switches whose conduction state can be controlled by tuning their redox state through an external voltage source. We report on the implementation of a prototype of protein transistor operating in air and in the solid state, based on this class of proteins. The three terminal devices exhibit various functions depending on the relative source-drain and gate-drain voltages bias, opening a way to the implementation of a new generation of logic architectures.

We investigated the emission properties of a distributed-feedback resonator based on an organic semiconductor patterned by a novel printing technology. We observed the peak splitting of the photonic bandstructure of the periodic grating and extracted the effective refractive index of the outcoupled guided modes. The laser works at the second diffraction order, exhibiting narrow single-mode emission at 637 nm, with a threshold as low as 37 µJ/cm^2. The results suggest that direct printing is a promising fabrication technique for optically confined integrated optoelectronics.