
The research is focused on the study and development of digital signal processing architectures in VHDL and Verilog environments. This approach leads to the description of circuit structures that can be implemented both in configurable electronic devices (DSP, FPGA, SoC-Linux based) and in ASIC circuits. The first implementation choice is indicated for prototyping digital circuits and systems and when the reconfigurability property is a key factor in the application to which the processing architecture is intended. The second solution of implementation is pursued when particular performance targets are required or when the application corresponds to large production volumes.
In this perspective, the research activity mainly concerns the development, prototyping and engineering of digital architectures in hardware, firmware and software aspects for high-performance digital processing of signals and data with massive algorithmic treatments in real time.
The main application areas in which research has given and continues to provide significant contributions range from the latest "time-mode" digital circuits to power electronics with power supply control systems and, in particular, energy management in the automotive sector, from the processing of information from photon detectors in the physical and biomedical field to image processing and video signals.
Most of these activities are set in research contracts and collaboration agreements with national and international scientific institutions and have produced over three hundred publications in journals and international conference proceedings.
Most relevant research achievements
- "Time-Mode" Circuits and Systems
"Time-mode" circuits represent the information by time difference between digital events. In these circuits the time-to-digital converter (TDC) is a basic component, i.e. a system for mapping a time variable to a digital code.
Present and above all future applications of these circuits are vast and transversal to many scientific and industrial sectors, from LIDAR systems in automotive and cybernetics (Smart Mobility, Industry 4.0) to medical imaging systems as SPECT and PET (Health), from time-of-flight cameras for industry (Industry 4.0) to laser scanning systems for industry automation (Industry 4.0), just to name a few.
Key enabling technologies for these circuits are field-programmable gate array (FPGA) devices. It is well-known that the implementation can be performed both in digital ASICs and in FPGAs. Of course, the realization in FPGA is by far preferable due to extremely lower development costs and higher flexibility of the implemented architectures thanks to the programmable resources of the device. This is even more true in light of the fact that the huge evolution of FPGA devices is reducing more and more the gap of performance with respect to ASIC counterparts.
The research deals particularly with the development of innovative high-performance TDC architectures designed for FPGA and SoC devices, several of which are acknowledged as solutions beyond the state-of-art.
- Power Electronics
The research active for over fifteen years is focused on the study and development of innovative digital control architecture for energy management. At first, the mainstream was the digital control of DC-DC converters for low power supplies, where, for instance, the innovation of a designed circuit was recognized by the IEEE Power Electronics Society with the 2004 Prize Paper Award and international patent. Subsequently, the focus was on the development of innovative solutions for digital control of charge-discharge processes in the storage cells used in high-stress operating conditions, such as in vehicular electric traction. For instance, in the frame of the “Green Move” project we developed, experimentally tested and engineered a completely new architecture of the electronics for the control of the energy flow in lithium-ion accumulator arrays used in LEVs (Light Electric Vehicles). The new architecture allows combining the high power density of supercapacitors with the high energy density of lithium-ion cells. Furthermore, the research investigates digital energy management systems in the "distributed generation", in which devices within the distribution system can be both users and generators. This significantly improves the performance of distribution networks, which, as is known, can suffer serious limitations in terms of energy and power. In this context, high-efficiency digital architectures are studied and implemented to manage the modular accumulation with energy exchange with the distribution network in both directions. The results are also applied in the field of renewable energy sources, in particular photovoltaics.
- Radiation detectors: methods for optimum digital signal processing
The group has been studying methods for digital processing of signals from radiation detectors since 1992. Specifically, the milestones are the study and experimental realization of DSP methodologies for the real-time multi-channel processing of data from radiation detectors; the study and realization of optimal digital filters adapted to the waveforms of the signals and to the actual noise associated with the signal; algorithms for estimating waveforms and methods for determining weight functions in the presence of time and frequency constraints; waveform analysis methods; DSP techniques designed for operating in real time and simultaneously adaptive to changes in the characteristics of the experimental setup.
- Image processing
The research consists in the development and implementation of digital architectures hardware, firmware and software for processing and transmission of audio and video signals. In recent years research has focused on the development of electronic systems for image processing in the avionics area. A project of a multiprocessor system based on FPGA for real-time three-dimensional reconstruction of radar images was developed from the design concept to the implementation on the firmware and hardware side, and technology transfer. The architecture developed has also led to significant contributions in literature. A digital processor based on configurable electronic devices for the integrated management of real-time flight information images has led to the definition of hardware-firmware-software architectural structures with several innovative elements to guarantee absolute reliability.