infrastructure – Progress in Research

Launch of QUID, the Italian quantum communication network

Posted on 23/06/202306/08/2024 by Erik Franco

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.

ST and PoliMi Expand Semiconductor R&D Infrastructure at PoliFab

Posted on 14/01/202206/08/2024 by Erik Franco

Politecnico di Milano and STMicroelectronics have inaugurated the expansion of semiconductor manufacturing capabilities at PoliFab, the University’s micro- and nanotechnology R&D center. A laboratory created to provide the highest technological standards for a wide range of applications and processes involving the five Key Enabling Technologies: photonics, micro and nanoelectronics, biotechnologies, advanced materials and nanotechnology.

Building on the long-standing collaboration between the two organizations, the PoliFab’s clean room – a facility where silicon wafers are made into semiconductor chips – has received state-of-the-art equipment from STMicroelectronics to boost joint R&D efforts in Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) and motion control, as well as in power electronics and galvanic isolation.

A physical site where exciting scientific ideas can meet state-of-the-art semiconductor technology

The enlarged clean-room infrastructure will make Politecnico di Milano even more attractive for talented researchers and students and contribute to fuel ST’s advances and development roadmap in semiconductor technologies including MEMS, where the Company is a world leader with over 15 billion devices sold to date. With the core of ST’s global MEMS R&D operations located in Lombardy, close to Milan, the cooperation with PoliFab aims at setting up a center of excellence for studies and research on advanced materials for MEMS in the region.

The ongoing collaboration also encompasses investments in staff and programs, with ST supporting scholarships and the recruitment of professors and researchers, as well as financing joint research projects.

With the new spaces inaugurated today, the total classified area of PoliFab spans 610 sq metres, plus annexed characterization laboratories, thus making it comparable to analogous facilities of the best European research institutions.

We are pioneering a new model for “fast technology transfer” based on the realization of a joint research and innovation infrastructure where top-class semiconductor equipment, the very same used in a semiconductor fab, is made available to researchers and students.
Polifab 2.0 is a physical site where exciting scientific ideas can meet state-of-the-art semiconductor technology, thus speeding-up both fundamental research and its technology transfer.
said Riccardo Bertacco, director of Polifab.

Agreement between MIT and Politecnico di Milano

Posted on 25/06/202111/10/2021 by admin

The Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport (MIT) and Politecnico di Milano will work for three years to improve infrastructure maintenance and management and develop the country’s connectivity.

The agreement, signed by Minister Paola De Micheli and the Rector of Politecnico di Milano, Ferruccio Resta, includes a ministerial funding of approximately €2,000,000. The project’s General coordinator will be Giuseppe Catalano, the MIT Mission Technical Structure Manager. Giovanni Azzone, professor, and former rector of Politecnico di Milano, has been appointed as Scientific Coordinator.

Rector Ferruccio Resta said:

It is a priority to guarantee the country a modern infrastructure. The agreement signed today between the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport and Politecnico di Milano meets the need for modernisation and innovation to guarantee a gateway to Europe, make the Italian system competitive, provide services, safety and liveability solutions for Italians.

The project will be developed according to four strategic macro-areas:

Urban rebirth (Scientific Coordinator Stefano Boeri, Politecnico di Milano)

Analysing the overall picture of urban regeneration (objectives, impact, and financial coverage), understanding its relations with the regions and monitoring its implementation.

Monitoring of long-term maintenance plans for bridges, viaducts, and tunnels (Scientific Coordinator Marco Belloli, Politecnico di Milano)

Defining guidelines for the design of road infrastructure monitoring systems (bridges, viaducts, and tunnels) and for the standardisation of data analysis, transmission, and maintenance systems. Defining the methods used to incorporate these tools into best maintenance practices.

Experiments in the smart road and autonomous and connected vehicle sector (Scientific Coordinator Francesco Braghin, Politecnico di Milano)

The potential of safety and environmental impact of smart roads, electric mobility and autonomous and connected vehicles will be analysed, to define pilot projects in various urban areas of the country.

Analysis of strategic investment plans and programmes for transport and logistics infrastructure and verification of consistency with European programmes and initiatives (Scientific Coordinators Pierluigi Coppola and Fabio Pammolli, Politecnico di Milano)

The aim is to analyse the infrastructure development framework (objectives, impact, and financial coverage), monitor its implementation and understand its connections with the continental evolutionary perspective.

Resta added:

Analysis, design, and experimentation of innovative solutions are the cornerstones of the agreement for which Politecnico di Milano provides its expertise – based on the role and impact that research and innovation can have on the region’s development.

The Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, in line with the Government guidelines and the European Green New Deal, pursues a new growth strategy based on environmental, economic and social sustainability. Synergies with the academic world, through research support and student training, are this strategy’s key elements. Among the agreement aims there is the funding of research grants, PhD scholarships and grants for A level researchers, to strengthen the Politecnico scientific activity and the impact on the country, particularly on issues related to logistics and green infrastructure.

I thank this extraordinary university for today’s agreement and also for what we will still do together in the future. In Italy we have many places of expertise such as the Politecnico di Milano that allow us to be a great industrial country. Today the Ministry is promoting an innovative initiative that I strongly wanted and that allows us to share the knowledge already developed by the Politecnico with those of our office, through an exchange of experiences. With this agreement we also transform our vision of the social role of infrastructures into training opportunities for many young students. Starting from our plan on the quality of living, from the approach to the topic of infrastructures which aims to enhance all the technology targeted at safety. And then, the great challenge of environmental sustainability. We are hungry for human resources and skills to match and the Politecnico can respond to this need of the whole world of infrastructure and transport, even more so after the severe test of the epidemic.

stated Minister Paola De Micheli.