Exposure of citizens to potential disasters has led to vulnerable societies that require risk reduction measures. Drinking water is one main source of risk when its safety and security is not ensured. aqua3S combines novel technologies in water safety and security, aiming to standardise existing sensor technologies complemented by state-of-the-art detection mechanisms. On the one hand sensor networks are deployed in water supply networks and sources, supported by complex sensors for enhanced detection; on the other hand sensor measurements are supported by videos from Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), satellite images and social media observations from the citizens that report low-quality water in their area (e.g. by colorisation), creating also social awareness and an interactive knowledge transfer. Semantic representation and data fusion provides intelligent DSS alerts and messages to the public through first responders’ mediums. The proposed technical solution is designed to offer a very effective detection system, taking into account the cost of the aqua3S platform and targets at very high return over investment ratio. A strategy for the insertion of aqua3S solution into the market is designed towards the standardisation of the proposed technologies and the aqua3S secure platform.

Real-time measurements of multi-components in process streams respond to long demanded industry requirements of fast, accurate, reliable and economical process analyzers. The rise of such -yet unavailable– systems will lead to a paradigm change throughout the process control and production chain. Significant cost savings from the Total-Cost-of-Ownership to improved process efficiency will result. We focus on the development of compact, robust and maintenance-free sensors for fast in-line multi-species chemical composition measurements for process analytics of many technically relevant gases such as hydrocarbons. The projected sensors will replace state-of-the-art systems of elevated cost and pollution. We will extend established laser-based in-line gas sensing to the mid-infrared “chemical fingerprint” spectral range for multi-species detection. The developments base upon two key technologies: (1) The integration of mid-IR laser arrays and (2) the advancement of spectroscopic and chemometric data evaluation. Tasks performed today with extractive systems with a delayed response of several minutes will become available within seconds and negligible delay. Demonstrators will be integrated in the control loop of a petro-chemical plant allowing significant improvements as optimized product quality, minimized waste and thus less environmental pollution and increased safety in cases where hazardous conditions have to be detected without delay. The consortium represents the whole value added chain with major players in the field of mid-IR laser sources and their integration (nanoplus, III-V Lab), as well as a major player in the field of process analyzing equipment (Siemens AG). The contributions of scientifically established universities and institutes (CEA Leti, Universität Würzburg and Politechnika Wroclawska) and one SME (Airoptic) complete together with a prominent representative of the petrochemical industry (PREEM AB) as end user the consortium.

The generation of light across the mid-infrared (MIR) and terahertz (THz) spectral regions of the electromagnetic spectrum has become an enabling technology, opening up a plethora of sensing applications across the sciences, as well as enabling the study of fundamental light-matter interactions. The key disruptor in this domain is the quantum cascade laser (QCL), which has grown from a laboratory curiosity to become an essential and practical optoelectronic source for a broad range of application sectors. The expansion of applications has, however, highlighted a technology gap lying between the MIR and THz domains, between 25 μm and 60 μm (5 – 12 THz), which is termed the far-infrared (FIR). Compared to neighbouring MIR and THz domains, the FIR lacks solid-state source technologies, despite the many sensing applications that such compact sources would enable. In the EXTREME-IR project we will breakthrough this technological barrier by pioneering a radically new platform exploiting nonlinear optics in 2D materials to realize functionalized, compact and coherent FIR sources. 2D materials are becoming an important area of scientific interest owing to their unique optical and electronic properties, distinct from bulk materials and conventional semiconductors.This has led to an extensive applicative potential ranging from quantum optics at room temperature to the next generation of ultrafast electronics. However, they have not been exploited for the FIR. Here we will use the distinct phonon spectra and extreme nonlinearities in 2D transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) and Dirac matter (DM) to create new optoelectronic sources for the FIR. In particular, we will capitalize on the new phenomena of giant room temperature intra-excitonic nonlinearities and efficient high harmonic generation through plasmonics and resonators, combined with state-of-the-art QCLs as optical pump sources, to access and exploit this unexplored electromagnetic region fully for the first time.

Environmental water pollution is a growing global issue, leading to increasing regulations and concurrent increased demand for improved water quality monitoring solutions to meet the European Green Deal objectives. Real time in situ devices offers the promise of more rapid and efficient monitoring, and numerous such solutions are available from a wide number of primarily non-EU suppliers. However, existing in situ solutions detect very limited parameters, and are restrained by high costs, low reliability, and high energy usage. To better meet end user needs and improve environmental water quality monitoring, novel sensing technology is required. To this end, IBAIA will develop four innovative optimally functionalised sensor modules based on complementary photonics and electrochemical (EC) technologies. Mid-IR will be used to detect organic chemicals, Vis-NIR for microplastics and salinity, Optode technology for physicochemical parameters, and EC technology for nutrient salts and heavy metals. Leveraging consortium expertise in cutting edge material science, microfluidics, data processing and integration/packaging technology, these four sensors will be integrated and packaged into a single advanced multisensing system and validated by end users in real in situ conditions. The IBAIA system will more accurately monitor a wider range of parameters than existing solutions, whilst simultaneously being more cost effective, more reliable, more environmentally friendly to manufacture, and more user friendly to use. These dramatic improvements will manifest in an extremely competitive product that acts as a one-size-fits-all solution for many end users, with a highly EU-centric supply chain, that will supplant a wide number of inferior non-EU alternative solutions.