Special Sessions

Additive manufacturing (AM), aka 3D printing, is considered a game changer in its applicable fields. The "additive" approach allows challenging fabrication, e.g. interlacement of multiple materials and production of complex geometries, to be performed in a single run. However, AM faces serious hurdles in repeatability and controllability, which leave the reliability unsatisfactory. Discovering the defects after the production would result in wasted capital and would pose a huge quality control risk.

In-process monitoring and control for directly measuring properties of the object being produced would allow users to diagnose problematic processes and identify defects at an earliest stage, but this requires advanced sensors and algorithms, and a system capable of processing the feedback and autonomously optimizing the process in real time.

Aim of this special session is to draw together researchers involved in the development of real-time measurement of additive manufactured parts.

Organizer:
Yu-Fen Chang, University of Bergen, Norway

Email contact: [email protected]

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) gained a strong impulse in these years thanks to their scalability and flexibility, and this is an emerging technology also in the field of distributed measurement systems.

WSN applications span among different domains such as environmental and building monitoring and surveillance, health care, home-automation, energy management and, last but not least, industrial automation.

Collaboration among nodes is a key feature of WSNs, which may turn the whole system to be intelligent, leading to improved efficiency of processes, increased system robustness, and eventually enhanced reliability of user applications.

Furthermore, WSNs are also the basic elements of newly suggested Internet of Things (IoT) technology, which promises deep changes in almost every application scenario, merging computation capabilities and data collection into very basic devices.

Unfortunately, accurate performance evaluations of these technologies in real-world scenarios are often limited, if not missing at all.

Aim of this session is to bring together academic and industry professional to a session on the design, application and performance assessment of advanced wireless network technologies that will play a key role in the next future for implementing pervasive and ubiquitous communication systems. Technical papers are solicited describing original ideas, theory, methodology and experiences from the design, implementation and deployment of wireless sensor networks.

Field of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Protocols for reliable and real-time wireless communication
• Integration and coexistence of heterogeneous wireless networks
• WSN/IoT architectures, protocols, and algorithms
• Indoor and outdoor localization in WSN
• Data management in WSN/IoT
• Integration of WSN and Cloud computing
• Wireless sensor networks performance, simulation, RF measurements, modeling and case studies
• Control over wireless networks
• Security and safety issues
• Energy harvesting and scavenging for WSNs
• Smart Grid applications of WSN
• Biomedical applications of WSN.

Organizers:
Emiliano Sisinni, University of Brescia, Italy
Federico Tramarin, CNR-IEIIT, Padova, Italy

Email contact: [email protected]

Measurements of chemical, mechanical and electrical physical quantities are used in healthcare for accurate diagnosis of several medical conditions, for providing input to therapeutic systems, as well as for checking the performance of medical devices. During recent decades new and exciting developments of measurement systems, methods and technology have being made significant improvements to the mentioned applications.

Aim of this special session is to provide a wide overview of the present state-of-the-art about sensors design, technology and measurement in the field of medicine.

Papers dealing with research related to the following topics are welcome:
• Design and characterization of sensors for monitoring of physiological parameters
• Non-invasive measurement in medicine
• Monitoring of thermal treatments
• Wearable system for medical applications
• Measurement in clinical engineering
• Uncertainty estimation of medical measurements.

Organizers:
Paola Saccomandi, Institute of Image-guided Surgery (IHU), France
Emiliano Schena, Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Italy

Email contact: [email protected]

Fiber optic sensors (FOSs) are gaining large acceptance for application in several branches of industry. These sensors allow the measurement of physical and chemical parameters employing a large number of working principles and configurations. FOSs have good metrological properties, they offer the possibility to implement distributed sensors and they are immune to electromagnetic interferences. These features make FOSs an emerging solution for the monitoring of parameters of interest in harsh environments.

In recent years, there have been a number of exciting developments that promise to make significant improvements to fiber optic sensing field. The aim of this special session is to survey the current FOSs state-of-the-art, as well as to provide a forum for reporting some of the significant recent advances in this field.

Lastly, the proposed session can be an opportunity of interaction for researchers working on the characterization of FOSs and on the development of technology, methods and applications of FOSs

Papers reporting about research related to the following topics are welcome:
• Design and characterization of FOSs
• Measurement of airflow, pressure, force, temperature and displacement by FOSs
• FOSs for use in harsh environments
• FOSs for medical applications
• FOSs for safety and environment
• Health monitoring in civil and mechanical engineering by FOSs
• Condition based maintenance by FOSs.

Organizers:
Guido Perrone, Politecnico di Torino, Italy
Emiliano Schena, Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Italy
Alberto Vallan, Politecnico di Torino, Italy

Email contact: [email protected]

In recent years, archaeology has taken great advantage from new scientific methods and technologies, or from crucial advances in the older ones; consequently, a richer and more persuasive account of the past has become available. Besides the ongoing infusion of new methods and procedures, new questions have emerged: how can the information from different disciplines be combined on a truly interdisciplinary base? How can this knowledge be made available for the general public? How can the historical artifacts and archaeological remains be properly preserved?

This session will be dedicated to face the several issues related to instrument and measurement science and technology when dealing with the tangible Cultural Heritage. Contributions on novel methods and procedures for managing multidisciplinary data, for the display (also on the web), the conservation and the restoration of archaeological and historical artefacts are encouraged. Moreover, new research and innovative/effective approaches for the characterization of ancient materials (stone, wood, glass, pottery, metals etc.) and dating will be also included.

Topics of interest
• Non-invasive and micro-invasive approaches for the characterization of materials
• Synchrotron, ion beam and neutron based techniques/instrumentation
• Tomography (X-ray, ultrasound, neutron, etc.)
• Spectroscopic methods
• Mobile instruments
• Digital Imaging and Computer Science
• Microclimate
• Geophysical survey and remote sensing
• Authentication and Detection of Forgery
• Provenance studies
• Dating
• Genetic data in archaeology, dietary reconstruction and zooarchaeology.

Organizers:
Alessandro Lo Giudice, Università di Torino, Italy
Monica Gulmini, Università di Torino, Italy
Alessandro Re, Università di Torino, Italy
Roberto Giustetto, Università di Torino, Italy

Email contact: [email protected]

Nowadays in many contexts it is mandatory to fulfill requirements of Testing and Diagnostics, Reliability, Maintainability, Safety and Risk assessment. Such tasks play a fundamental role in different fields of application (energy, transportation, information and communication technology, logistics, etc.) and are considered as fundamental in high-tech industry and plants.

This Special Session represents an interesting opportunity for engineers and researchers who work in this area to meet and discuss about live issues. In particular, useful and beneficial discussion can be promoted with the aim to provide an increasing of knowledge and an easier diffusion of the most recent developments. Prospective authors can provide original contributions in this topic, which can cover, but not only, the following aspects:

• Instrumentation and measurement methods for Testing and Diagnostics (Destructive and Non-destructive Testing, Vibration monitoring, Built-in Test Equipment and Automatic Test Equipment, etc.)
• Monitoring and maintenance of industrial process, plants and complex systems
• Measurements and techniques for Fault detection and diagnosis
• Design and implementation of laboratory tests (Reliability test, Environmental test, Burn-in test, quality tests, etc.) and Qualification tests for components, assemblies and process
• Measurements, methods and instrumentation for evaluation of Reliability, Availability, Maintainability and Safety (RAMS), Risk assessment and management
• Impact of RAMS requirements in the emerging technologies for Life and Society, environment and new energy sources
• Effects of measurement uncertainty on the estimation of the RAMS parameters
• Standard definition, certification and accreditation.

Organizers:
Lorenzo Ciani, University of Florence, Italy
Marcantonio Catelani, University of Florence, Italy
Loredana Cristaldi, Politecnico di Milano, Italy

Email Contact: [email protected]

In-line measurement of product quality is mandatory in chemical, pharmaceutical, biochemical, and process industry to meet product quality requirements. Monitoring tools can be used in advanced control loops in such a way that the operating conditions of the process are modified in-line, thus minimizing also process duration and the energy consumption. During last decades new process monitoring and control tools resulted in significant improvements in this field.
Aim of this Special Session is to provide a wide overview of the present state-of-the-art and of the most significant innovations about monitoring and control tools in the field of chemical, pharmaceutical, biochemical and process industry.

Papers dealing with research related to the following topics are welcome:
• Design and characterization of monitoring tools for product quality monitoring
• Non-invasive measurement systems in chemical, pharmaceutical and process industry
• Advanced control system for in-line optimization and energy saving
• Uncertainty estimation of process measurements
• Process monitoring using image analysis
• Process Analytical Technology for pharmaceutical applications.

Organizers:
Antonello Barresi, Politecnico di Torino, Italy
Davide Fissore, Politecnico di Torino, Italy

Email contact: [email protected]

Environmental monitoring is fundamental to understand our ecosystem, to prevent adverse effects on human health and environment, to inform policy design, and as a tool to evaluate the effectiveness of regulations. Recent advances in technology, instrumentation and procedures have pushed forward laboratory capabilities in testing and analyzing soil, water, gas and biota specimens and have created new opportunities for real time monitoring through, for example, distributed sensor networks.

The aim of this special session is to survey and discuss state of the art, difficulties, innovations and improvements on environmental data acquisition, monitoring, analysis, risk assessment and management. The observed trends in the pollution of soil, air and water, the global warming and the increased awareness of environmental themes shove scientists to work on effective methods to be able to detect and react to environmental parameters changes in a timely and authoritative manner. Some of these measurements are particularly challenging, due to the large range of spatial and time scales, the large amount of data to store and process, the high value of specimens, and the strive to reduce costs while maintaining accuracy. The research institutions, the institutional and the industrial world facing these issues will find in this special session a great opportunity for a fruitful meeting.

Papers reporting research related to the following topics are welcome:
• Analytical methods, sensors and instruments for measuring environmental variables and pollution in air and/or liquids, water and/or gases, soil and/or solids
• Environmental noise and vibration pollution
• Geotechnical soil characterization
• Renewable energy sources monitoring
• Remote sensing, airborne-based and ground-based systems
• Sensors, sensors networks and devices
• Ambient intelligent and smart home
• Environmental data and big data processing and dissemination, image processing
• High performance computing for extreme events and climate changes
• Expert systems and decision making systems
• Quality assurance and quality control of measurements

Organizers:
Attilio Di Nisio, Politecnico di Bari, Italy
Maurizio Spadavecchia, Politecnico di Bari, Italy

Email contact: [email protected]

Engineering system health monitoring has attracted increasing attention during the last decade and significant research efforts have been taken by both academia and industry. Dynamical changes of engineering systems have to be captured in time for safe and reliable operations. These tasks are typically realized by using measurement technologies in combination with data processing algorithms. Recent advances in the theory and methodology for measurement and data processing have provided viable tools to dealing with issues encountered in engineering system health monitoring. This invited session aims to provide a platform for academic and industrial communities to report recent research and development on engineering system health monitoring with theoretical and/or applied nature. Suitable topics for this special session include but are not limited to:

• New measurement methodology for system health monitoring

• Wireless sensor networks for distributed measurement

• Advanced time scale/frequency analysis

• Intelligent health monitoring and prognosis

• Non-linear time series analysis

• Other-related topics

Organizers:
Dr. Ruqiang Yan, Southeast University, China
Dr. Xuefeng Chen, Xi’an Jiaotong University, China
Dr. Weihua Li, South China University of Technology, China

Email contact:
[email protected]

The proposed special session seeks submission of technical research articles addressing topical issues, underpinning better sensors and instrumentation for monitoring environment and climate change. The need for monitoring parameters of climate change has never been greater - driving research in accurate, robust and reliable sensors and associated instrumentation to achieve reliable measurement of these parameters.  Key examples include temperature (e.g. water, atmospheric), gas concentration (CO2, NO2, NO SO2, etc) and water quality (e.g. poisoning by algal blooms). Sensors and instrumentation is core to today's Engineering curricula, being strongly cross-disciplinary and an ideal subject for today's environmentally-aware research community.

Organizer:
Professor Subhas Mukhopadhyay, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia

Email Contact:
[email protected]

Design, fabrication and testing of nanodevices, nanosensing system even nanomaterials require particular  specifications and requirements since quantum aspects prevail on traditional conditions. That is why measurements assume special importance as well as dedicated instrumentation. The special session will collect scientific expertise emphasizing measurement and instrumentation. Simulations are also welcome since it is not always easy to perform measurements in nano-dimensions. Papers dealing with all aspects of nanotechnology and bio-molecular are welcome.

Organizers:
Aimé Lay-Ekuakille, University of Salento, Italy
Ada Fort, University of Siena, Italy

Email Contact:
[email protected]

The availability and the analysis of “big data” from various sensing sources provide unprecedented opportunities to the instrumentation and measurement methodologies. With big data analytics, multiple factors impacting accuracy, performance, efficiency, security, privacy, reliability, fault tolerance, and sustainability of devices can be simulated or assessed during the design stage and the operation stage. For example, modern devices are vulnerable to various security threats such as hardware hack and cyberattacks, which induces significant concerns on the secure measurement. Tackling the accurate and secure measurement issues require innovative and highly efficient big data analytics to handle the massive historical and real-time readings from devices. This special session will present the state-of-the-art research results on the topic of leveraging big data sensing and processing for online, accurate and secure measurement, and stimulate a broad range of researchers to participate in this highly interdisciplinary research in the future. The topics of interests for this special session include, but are not limited to

• Leveraging big data modeling and analytics to improve measurement accuracies
• Development and evaluation of security oriented testing, measurement and instrumentation methodologies
• Development and evaluation of online calibration and measurement
• Big data sensing and transmission
• Security and privacy of sensing systems
• Design methodologies for multi-scale sensing systems
• High performance computing for big data analytics for sensing systems
• Reliability and sustainability of sensing systems
• Emerging applications of big data analytics based accurate and secure measurements

Organizers: 

Prof. Shiyan Hu, Michigan Technological University, USA
Prof. Rajiv Ranjan, Newcastle University, UK

Email contact:
[email protected]

The latest findings in instrumentation and measurement impose new educational models and methodologies to raise awareness in youth of the new available measurement tools and the new scenarios and opportunities that they open.

The special session “New trends in education in instrumentation and measurement” is trying to examine common ideas and directions between different contemporary educational efforts to teach modern instrumentation and measurement effectively. The special session will collect scientific expertise emphasizing the basics, the contents of I&M-related courses, and the various technology-based tools for teaching. The goal is to give a set of triggering contributions useful to the interested teachers of I&M related courses anywhere in the world.

Organizers:

Luca De Vito, University of Sannio, Italy
Francesco Lamonaca, University of Sannio, Italy
Maria Riccio, University of Sannio, Italy

Email Contact:
[email protected]