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H2020Doctoral network2016–2020

FINESSE · Fibre Nervous Sensing Systems

Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Duration
2016-10-01 → 2020-09-30
EU contribution
€3,854,910
Participants
27
Scheme
MSCA-ITN

Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.

Results in brief

Fibre Nervous Sensing Systems

The objective behind FINESSE (FIbre NErvous Sensing SystEms) is to mimic the nervous system of living bodies by turning man-made and natural structures into objects that are sensitive to external stimuli owing to advanced distributed fibre-optic sensor technology, with the objective to either give early warning in case of possible danger or occurrence of damage or to optimise the operation of the structure to allow for sustainable use of natural resources and assets. Enabling such functionalities will greatly contribute to realizing a safe, secure and energy-efficient Europe, which is an identified societal concern. To turn this ambitious concept into reality, 29 European (1 from the US) research centres and industrial partners have teamed up to set up this Innovative Training Network, with the common objective of educating and training 15 Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) in the development of a set of disruptive new optical ‘artificial nervous systems’, and to boost the industrial uptake of these sensors by technology transfer from academic research to the European optical fibre sensor industry. The partners also engaged in stimulating awareness of this technology to other scientists and the wider public to encourage research, application and technology transfer in this field, and improve societal acceptance on distributed fibre sensing systems through various training events, opened to other early career researchers, and outreach activities. The research ambition in FINESSE is to use a radically innovative approach to develop customised sensing systems in combination with dedicated optical fibres leading to optimal measurement solutions, instead of relying on existing optical fibres. To reach this ambitious goal, the research partners have identified 4 work-packages: innovation in distributed optical fibre sensor (DOFS), fabrication of novel optical fibres, field applications, and technology transfer to industry. This proposed cross-fertilisation will generate a new breed of top scientists, capable of developing new products through research work, and equipped with business and entrepreneurship acumen in their domain. This will greatly enhance the future employability of the ESRs and boost the optical fibre sensing market in Europe.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union

Project objective

The unprecedented properties of optical fibres make them ideal to be implemented as 'artificial nervous systems', enabling any tool or structure to become a sensitive and smart object. Conventional optical fibres are small, low-cost and can be seamlessly integrated in materials, in engineering structures and in the environment. By exploiting the most advanced light-matter interactions, these tiny luminous wires can realize distributed sensing, which means that each point along an optical fibre can separately and selectively sense quantities such as temperature, strain, acoustic waves and pressure, in perfect similarity to a real organic nerve.These remarkable features have attracted the interest of different end-users covering application domains as diverse as pipeline protection, oil and gas well exploitation, electricity transport, perimeter, fire alarm, etc., leading to a sustained market growth in the last years. However, the full potential of state-of-the-art distributed fibre sensing is exploited in a fairly narrow range of applications only. This is mainly due to the lack of trained scientific personnel capable of creating the link between the sensors and possible applications.The ambition of FINESSE is therefore to educate and to train researchers in the development of a set of disruptive new optical 'artificial nervous systems' with improved sensitivity, precision and new sensing abilities, and to boost the industrial uptake of these sensors by training these researchers to valorise their work.The ultimate vision empowering the project is the widespread implementation of fibre-optic nervous systems dedicated to: (i) contributing to a safer society by returning early warnings for danger and (ii) ensuring sustainable development through the efficient exploitation of natural resources. The full set of specialists, who can turn this ambitious concept into a reality, is present in Europe and have teamed up to propose FINESSE training network.

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

  • ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE FEDERALE DE LAUSANNE · LausanneCoordinatorSwitzerland
  • ADMINISTRADOR DE INFRAESTRUCTURAS FERROVIARIAS · MadridSpain
  • AGENCE NATIONALE POUR LA GESTION DES DECHETS RADIOACTIFS · Chatenay MalabryFrance
  • ASOCIACION DE INVESTIGACION DE LAINDUSTRIA TEXTIL Y COSMETICA · ALCOY ALICANTESpain
  • BECSA SOCIEDAD ANONIMA · CASTELLONSpain
  • Brugg Kabel AG · BruggUnknown Region
  • CALCULO Y ESTRUCTURAS SENSADAS SL · VALENCIASpain
  • COMMSCOPE CONNECTIVITY BELGIUM · Kessel LoBelgium
  • FAST Laser GROUP Ltd · Kfar SabaIsrael
  • FBGS INTERNATIONAL · GEELBelgium
  • FIBER OPTICS CONSULTING SERVICES AND TECHNOLOGIES SL · MadridSpain
  • FIBERCORE LIMITED · SouthamptonUnited Kingdom
  • FLUVES · GentApproximate locationUnknown Region
  • GEOSENSE LTD · Bury Saint EdmundsUnknown Region
  • LAING O ROURKE PLC · DartfordUnited Kingdom
  • LEIBNIZ-INSTITUT FUER PHOTONISCHE TECHNOLOGIEN E.V. · JenaGermany
  • NANTES UNIVERSITE · NantesFrance
  • OMNISENS SA · MorgesSwitzerland
  • PHOTONICS BRETAGNE · LannionFrance
  • RISE ACREO AB · KistaSweden
  • RISE RESEARCH INSTITUTES OF SWEDEN AB · BorasSweden
  • TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY · Tel AvivIsrael
  • THALES · MEUDONFrance
  • THE CHANCELLOR MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE · CAMBRIDGEUnited Kingdom
  • UNIVERSIDAD DE ALCALA · Alcala De Henares/MadridSpain
  • UNIVERSITAT POLITECNICA DE VALENCIA · ValenciaSpain
  • VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT BRUSSEL · Bruxelles / BrusselBelgium

Links

Data: CORDIS, © European Union