In LoLiPoP IoT innovative Long Life Power Platforms will be developed to enable retrofitting of wireless sensor network (WSN) modules in IoT applications. This includes the development of algorithms to perform FUNCTIONALITIES like asset tracking and condition monitoring (for predictive maintenance). They can be used in APPLICATIONS such as industry 4.0, smart mobility and energy efficient buildings. LoLiPoP IoT creates an ecosystem of developers, integrators and users to develop these platforms thinking about power/battery life, ease of installation and maintenance. The project is driven by 12 laboratory- and field-based use cases to initially demonstrate their technical viability and then potential impact. Expected impacts from the LoLiPoP IoT use cases include; a) typical battery life increase from ~18 months to >5 years, b) Reduced maintenance overhead of mobile and fixed assets from >30% to 10% in production time, cycle time and inventory costs, e) Improved comfort levels and well-being of building occupants whilst reducing energy footprint by >20% and f) Revenues of >€10M PA for LoLiPoP IoT industry partners offering asset tracking & condition monitoring services. All of this is achieved by developing and integrating: a) Multi-source Energy Harvesting solutions (vibrational and photovoltaic transducers, PMICs and discrete circuits), b) Digital interfacing to contextually adapt mode settings of WSN devices and connected systems to minimise power drain, c) Ultra low power components for WSN, d) Innovative Architectures for wireless data collection that minimize battery power drain, e) Simulation Models to optimise component design and integration and f) embedded AI/ML in IoT devices, for lower latency and power consumption and higher robustness.

The cloud computing industry has grown massively over the last decade and with that new areas of application have arisen. Some areas require specialized hardware, which needs to be placed in locations close to the user. User requirements such as ultra-low latency, security and location awareness are becoming more and more common, for example, in Smart Cities, industrial automation and data analytics. Modern cloud applications have also become more complex as they usually run on a distributed computer system, split up into components that must run with high availability. Unifying such diverse systems into centrally controlled compute clusters and providing sophisticated scheduling decisions across them are two major challenges in this field. Scheduling decisions for a cluster consisting of cloud and edge nodes must consider unique characteristics such as variability in node and network capacity. The common solution for orchestrating large clusters is Kubernetes, however, it is designed for reliable homogeneous clusters. Many applications and extensions are available for Kubernetes. Unfortunately, none of them accounts for optimization of both performance and energy or addresses data and job locality. In DECICE, we develop an open and portable cloud management framework for automatic and adaptive optimization of applications by mapping jobs to the most suitable resources in a heterogeneous system landscape. By utilizing holistic monitoring, we construct a digital twin of the system that reflects on the original system. An AI-scheduler makes decisions on placement of job and data as well as conducting job rescheduling to adjust to system changes. A virtual training environment is provided that generates test data for training of ML-models and the exploration of what-if scenarios. The portable framework is integrated into the Kubernetes ecosystem and validated using relevant use cases on real-world heterogeneous systems.

Micro-bolometer sensors are compact, light, low power, reliable and affordable infrared imaging components. They are ahead of the cooled infrared sensors for these criteria but lag behind them in terms of performance: - Existing micro-bolometer technologies have thermal time constants around 10 msec. This is more than 10 times that of cooled detectors. - Moreover, there is no multispectral micro-bolometer sensor available today for applications such as absolute thermography and optical gas imaging. BRIGHTER will develop 2 new classes of micro-bolometer solutions to reduce the performance gap with their cooled counterparts: - Fast thermal micro-bolometer imaging solutions with time constant in the 2.5 to 5 msec range, that is to say 2 to 4 times faster than that of today’s micro-bolometer technologies. Read out integrated circuits able to operate up to 500 frames per seconds will also be investigated. - Multi-spectral micro-bolometer solutions with at least access at the pixel level to 2 different wavelengths in the range 7 to 12 µm. The developments will focus on pixel technology, Read Out Integrated Circuit, low power edge image signal processing electronic, optics, and image treatment algorithms. All stakeholders of the value chain are involved: academics, RTO, micro-bolometer manufacturer, algorithm developers, camera integrators and end users. They will collaborate to define the best trade-offs for all use-cases. The 2 new classes of products that will spring from BRIGHTER will generate concrete benefits. They will make it possible to save on material and energy in the manufacturing sector, perform efficient and affordable monitoring of infrastructures and trains, contribute to autonomous vehicles sensor suite, decrease the road casualties among Vulnerable Road Users, better control gas emission in cities and industrial areas. These new usages served by the European industry will allow Europe to increase its market share in the infrared imaging industry.

The Chips JU project E2PackMan contributes to strengthen innovation and packaging production in Europe to improve the ecosystem for leading edge / advanced electronics. Integration of more functionality in smaller volume is still the major driver in microelectronics. In order to facilitate further miniaturization, assembly and packaging (A&P) is becoming of increasing importance for the value chain of a microelectronic product. To secure the future of electronic products "Made in Europe", we need a big push to strengthen innovation and production in the A&P sector. Thus E2PackMan will push materials research as well as innovative equipment and process developments. The focus of this research will be on catalyzing industrial production capabilities in Europe, both strengthening the production capabilities of the large semiconductor suppliers in Europe and creating a network that enables SMEs to produce their innovative devices in Europe. A world-class consortium of 60 partners from 13 European countries has been brought together to push advanced packaging in Europe towards heterogeneous system integration: The E2PackMan -EU project tackles a coherent approach that includes the whole value chain from material, process and technology developments validated by test-builds including the interface of the package to the chips and to the board/system.