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Modernization of cable production systems

Challenge

Modernize legacy production lines with obsolete HMIs and no MES integration.

Intervention

Reverse engineering of control logic, redesign of operator interfaces, integration of production data acquisition.

Outcome

Improved usability, centralized production visibility, and progressive modernization without disrupting operations.

Space instrumentation

Challenge

Perform unprecedented measurements for many years in harsh space environment.

Contribution

  • AMS: Detector R&D, design and verification of front-end and powering electronics, design of trigger logics and data communication protocols, development of realtime monitoring tools for operational reliability, accurate efficiency and performance estimation.  
  • STIX/Solar Orbiter: characterization of the X-ray imager and technical coordination of MAIV (manufacturing, assembly, integration, and verification) activities.

Outcome

  • AMS-02 operates in space since 2011 and performed the most accurate measurements of cosmic-ray composition and spectra currently available.
  • The STIX instrument of the NASA/ESA Solar Orbiter mission operates in space since 2020 and provides imaging spectroscopy of X-rays emitted during solar flares.

Obstruction detection system

Challenge

Reliable detection of tube obstruction without false alerts, to be certified for commercial aviation.

Intervention

Redesign of proof of concept to make its certification and industrialization feasible, introduction of signal processing methods ensuring robustness against environmental variation.

Outcome

Three new prototypes operated under climate and pressure chamber, design evolved into two distinct products (the sensor and the calibrator) with different markets and certification needs.

Scientific instrumentation

Challenge

Record particle collision events with large momentum carried away by undetectable particles.

Contribution

Development of robust realtime algorithms, team coordination, definition of trigger strategies, development of statistical methods for trigger efficiency estimation and objective Bayesian inference.

Outcome

First trigger of this type successfully exploited in high-energy physics, algorithms reliably processing all collisions recorded by ATLAS since the beginning of LHC operation, discovery of the Higgs boson.