The COCORAM project evolves in the context of a very strong increase of the integration density of electronic systems for communication, localization, or supervision equipments. The deployment of such systems also has to answer an increasing demand of flexibility in terms of frequency, power or coverage. The flexibility in frequency can be simultaneous with multi-band devices or selective by reconfiguration of the frequency band. The flexibility in terms of power allows minimizing the consumption of the system and the flexibility of coverage directing the beam through the target in order to optimize the link budget or on the contrary to protect itself from a noise source. The increase of both efficiency and compactness requires grouping elementary functions (antenna, filter and LNA), which allows to reduce interconnection stages and to take into account the interactions between individual elements. The first objective of this project is to develop a methodology for co-designing the antenna and the associated circuits (filters and LNA) in order to reach optimal performances (radiation, efficiency) with an integrated and compact device. The demonstration will be realized with the design of a network of 4 elements for GNSS (Global Satellite Navigation System) radio navigation systems. Several difficulties have to be raised: - The capacity to develop a generic tool for the co-design of multifunction systems, in particular the matching of a circuit on complex and frequency variable impedances at its input and output ports, - The design of a radiation element with multiband circular polarizations, large angular opening, and the minimization of couplings during the network assembly, - The design of multiband filters in a context of a mutual design (co-design) and the distribution of the filtering function within the system, between the antenna and the LNA, and after the LNA, - The design of sub-circuits in heterogeneous technologies, - The realization of a part of the filtering function with the low quality factor elements used for the LNA MMIC, - The compromise between power and noise matching during the co-design for which the impedances of reference are different from 50 ohms. This project associates two academic partners (XLIM and INRIA) and a center of technological resources (CISTEME) with complementary skills. XLIM will bring its skills in the domains of antennas, filters and low-noise amplifiers. INRIA will bring all its mathematical skills in polynomial synthesis and modeling, which are necessary for the implementation of a generic methodology of co-design. CISTEME will bring its experience in the definition of the systems specifications and its capacity to go beyond the academic concept for the realization of demonstrators. The 3 partners have a long experience of collaborative projects and work together for a long time.

The CHAOTIQ project proposes the theoretical and experimental study of chaotic vibrating reverberation chambers (CVRC) (generally called VIRC in the literature) made of a metallic tent attached on a light frame. This low-cost test facility (compared to existing faradized enclosures) has the advantage of being quickly removable and mobile, which generates a major change compared to the current situation: the displacement of the test facility towards the system to be tested. The objective is to prove that it is the first “2-in-1” electromagnetic test facility able to be used both as a “low uncertainty” RC and as a “virtual” anechoic chamber for antenna characterization, stealth measurement (RCS, ISAR) and electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) applications. Proposed in the early 2000s, this test facility has been the subject of little academic work since, apart from its inventor (F. Leferink) and some rare teams at the international level (including XLIM and the CRT CISTEME). Many fundamental questions linked to their functioning therefore remain to be clarified. In particular, the particular expected performance of CVRCs that we intend to highlight and the original applications planned within the framework of this project have not been considered until now (apart the EMC tests). Indeed, the stirring technique achieved by the continuous movement of the entire canvas over the time should theoretically allow two particularly interesting properties to be accessed : • the direct path between the transmitting antenna and the object to be tested (receiving antenna, target for stealth measurements, etc.) is likely the only invariant path over time within the CVR, which would help to filter all the indirect paths and therefore to make it possible to obtain a “virtual” anechoic chamber (at the cost of reproducing the measurement for a sufficient number of independent states of the CVRC); • the probable opportunity to obtain in a CVRC a very large number of uncorrelated realizations (potentially far greater than the number obtained in a “classic” parallelepipedical RC) making it possible to obtain a “low uncertainty” RC (potentially proportional to the time acquisition) while shortening the testing time compared to conventional RCs. During the project, emphasis will be placed on the development of experimental conditions, theoretical concepts, post-processing methods and determination of measurement uncertainty during 1) characterization (radiation pattern, efficiency, ...) of miniature and / or integrated and / or non-connectorized antennas, an emerging theme in the context of antenna measurement, in particular for future 5G millimeter bands, 2) measurement of RCS in particular at low frequency (when the absorbers in traditional anechoic chambers are only partially effective) of targets having a spread response over time and 3) EMC radiated immunity tests carried out in a changing environment as a function of time. The proposed project which respects the dual civil / military nature of the ASTRID AAP is likely to have repercussions in the future on related themes in RC such as broadband characterization of material or shielding or in bioelectromagnetism. The project consortium draws on the skills of the XLIM laboratory (project coordinator) and the CRT CISTEME in terms of characterizing the performance of RCs, design and characterization of antennas, RCS measurements in anechoic and reverberant environment, optimization of EMC tests as well as the know-how of J. DUBOIS SAS in the design of CVRCs and their associated stirring processes.

Exposure to toxic gases or volatile organic compounds (VOCs) affects safety and public health. More than 6.5 million deaths per year worldwide are attributed to environmental pollution (indoor and outdoor air quality). With the Internet of Things, large-scale deployment of gas sensors becomes accessible to monitor and analyze the environment of individuals, in public or private spaces. This market, driven in particular by the construction, medical industry or consumer applications markets, requires low-energy, low-cost monitoring devices. Portable sensors alone represent a market estimated at 3 billion units in 2025, of which more than 30% are emerging communicating sensors, including chemical sensors, growing exponentially over the next 10 years. In these new markets, research and development of innovative tools is becoming an exciting new field for electronics. In this context, we propose to address some of the issues related to monitoring the quality of polluted air related to exhaust gases due, for instance, to transports and industrial activity. This has led to specifications in particular for certain harmful vapors such as nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2) and ozone (O3) as highlighted in the French regulations. The objective of CARDIF is to respond in particular to the challenge of selectivity, identified as a bottleneck limiting the contribution of conventional metrology in observing or diagnostic systems in a heterogeneous medium. This will be done using functionalized polymers with specific groups. The current innovative sensors generally suffer from high consumption and / or bulky instrumentation due to low frequency operation, and are mainly based on expensive solutions. As part of the CARDIF project, we propose another type of sensors based on microwave transducers operating at ambient temperature. In addition to being a passive device and therefore not consuming power, they could also operate wirelessly. They are thus suitable for networking and high-frequency communications, usable for real-time detection and providing directly exploitable information. In addition, because of its planar structure, the device can be manufactured on a flexible substrate by low-cost printing technologies. This multidisciplinary study is made possible thanks to the close collaboration between two industrial (ISORG, Efficacity) and three academic partners (LCPO, IMS, XLIM). Partners have the experience to meet these scientific and technical challenges. To our knowledge, no internationally referenced work has focused on such printed RF gas sensors with optimized selectivity, meeting the following key features: 1 - real-time monitoring of the quality of the outside air, 2 - high sensitivity at room temperature and therefore low energy consumption, 3 - the selective detection of NO2, SO2 and O3 at levels of a few ppb to ppm using functionalized polymers, 4 - low cost manufacturing processes based on collective printing technologies, 5 - new autonomous and wireless solutions, operating in real time thanks to the passive microwave transduction, 6 - outdoor tests following a realistic deployment scenario. By this way, CARDIF clearly responds to the priorities of the call, in particular the development of sensors for environmental monitoring (smart monitoring)

An in-depth knowledge of the microscopic fine ultrastructure of muscles is imperative for the accurate diagnosis of various diseases characterized by muscle dysfunction. At present, a biopsy is the only reliable clinical method that offers a conclusive diagnosis of the pathology. Duchenne dystrophy, inclusion body myositis or peripheral neuropathies i.e. Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease are few examples of muscle pathologies that require a muscle biopsy. But, a muscle biopsy is an invasive procedure that can be distressing for both the muscle tissue and the patient. Optical solutions offer label-free information compatible with in vivo clinical imaging. But the current solutions probe a limited number of biomedical substances of interest, not enough for a reliable diagnostic of muscle pathologies. The χ-MAlMa project introduces an innovative instrumental approach for characterizing biomedical targets based on their contrast in non-linearities characterized by four nonlinear parameters. A supercontinuum device serves as laser excitation, allowing the selective stimulation of each them. The emitted spectra are recorded across five spectral zones, constituting the χ-matrix of the sample under test. Hyperspectral data processing is undertaken to identify distinguishing features within this χ-matrix (15 spectra for each image pixel) utilizing first artificial intelligence (AI) and then chemometric methods. The solution of AI aims to identify the presence of discriminating biomarkers using a training database. The chemometrics solution aims to identify the discriminating spectral signatures from one or two χij parameters. This step plays a significant role for the test of the use of an optical fibre for the delivery of excitation and emission beams. This innovative approach would lead to a new medical device and practice that could improve the diagnostic reliability, orientation of therapy, patients care and healthy life expectancy.

IMPROVED targets studies and tuning of a new generation of tools dedicated to image and video enhancement, for police investigations, while keeping their ability to be used as evidence and respecting individual liberties. The project aims at bridging the gaps encountered by Scientific Police in the field of video enhancement for getting relevant evidence. New video sources, in addition to video surveillance cameras are now available, such as images from smartphones, dashcams or wearable cameras. These devices bring their own sensor characteristics, and video coding features and parameters, thus increasing the difficulties. Enhancement algorithms, especially those relying on Artificial Intelligence, set questions regarding their receivability as legal evidence, due to their black box like design. Image enhancements must consider rights and fundamental principles, in particular loyalty of the legal evidence, and guaranty explainability of the used algorithms. For this, in IMPROVED an interdisciplinary work will be performed between algorithmists and lawyers of the project, with the aim to check, for each enhancement algorithm, whether the processing did not alter the capacity of images to be considered as legal evidence. The project will study new algorithmic directions, such as explainable AI, for making system behaviour more understandable, while providing explanations at each processing step. These algorithmic studies target going beyond the state-of-the-art in image enhancement, while addressing challenges related to new generations of video coding and image sources.