In the world of high voltages, isolation is needed to protect people and hardware. To enable the revolution in sustainable transport high voltage isolation for electric vehicles is critical. One form of isolation relies on polymer materials to separate the high and low voltage sides. The objective of PRISME is to enable safer devices operating at high voltage (HV) by providing isolation up to 2000V. A fundamental understanding of polymers and their electrical breakdown mechanisms is vital for the development of the next generation polymer materials for improved HV reliability performance. The innovative technologies to be developed by this project include improved insulating polymer stacks, new materials based on nanocomposites and a new test methodology. The long-term safe operation of the isolators is essential to meet international safety standards. However, testing the reliability of isolators requires novel methods for accelerated testing to predict reliability of isolation performance. The accelerated aging test will fast-track the learning cycles for the evaluation of isolation materials. A deeper physical understanding of the failure mechanisms will enable the development of next generation isolation materials to achieve the high working voltages. PRISME will allow the fellow to enhance cutting-edge research acumen and strengthening of international visibility ensuring that the fellowship will promptly result in a high level continuing two-way transfer of knowledge.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) remain the leading cause of mortality and a major cause of morbidity in Europe. Every year there are more than 6 million new cases of CVD in the EU and more than 11 million in Europe as a whole. With almost 49 million people living with the disease in the EU, the cost to the EU economies is €210 billion a year. There is a growing demand for a reliable cardiac monitoring system to catch the intermittent abnormalities and detect critical cardiac behaviours which, in extreme cases, can lead to sudden death. The objective of the Smart Autonomous Multi Modal Sensors for Vital Signs Monitoring (SmartVista) project is to develop and demonstrate a next generation, cost-effective, smart multimodal sensing platform to reduce incidences of sudden death caused by CVD. The key innovation in SmartVista is to integrate 1D/2D nanomaterials based sensors to monitor the heart, thermoelectric energy harvesters to extract energy from the body to power the system and printable battery systems to store this energy. Together these will result in a self-powered device that will autonomously monitor the electrocardiograph, respiratory flow, oxygen flow and temperature of the patient. This information will then be transmitted wirelessly for online health processing. This real-time self-powered monitoring of a patient’s health in this manner is not currently available so the technology that will be developed in SmartVista will position us at the forefront of digital health and wearable biosensor technology for wireless monitoring in hospitals and of remote patients, both of which are necessary in this era of an aging population. The SmartVista platform enables wireless, real-time, continuous patient monitoring and delivers a seamless feed of patient data and will contribute to the EU vision of an Internet of Things for healthcare.

Low-power wireless technology tends to be used today for simple monitoring applications, in which raw sensor data is reported periodically to a server for analysis. The ambition of the OpenSwarm project is to trigger the next revolution in these data-driven systems by developing true collaborative and distributed smart nodes, through groundbreaking R&I in three technological pillars: efficient networking and management of smart nodes, collaborative energy-aware Artificial Intelligence (AI), and energy-aware swarm programming. Results are implemented in an open software package called “OpenSwarm”, which is verified in our labs on two 1,000 node testbeds. OpenSwarm is then validated in five real-world proof-of-concept use cases, covering four application domains: Renewable Energy Community (Cities & Community), Supporting Human Workers in Harvesting (Environmental), Ocean Noise Pollution Monitoring (Environmental), Health and Safety in Industrial Production Sites (Industrial/Health), Moving Networks in Trains (Mobility). A comprehensive dissemination, exploitation, and communication plan (including a diverse range of activities related to standardization, educational and outreach, open science, and startup formations) amplifies the expected impacts of OpenSwarm, achieving a step change enabling novel, future energy-aware swarms of collaborative smart nodes with wide range benefits for the environment, industries, and society.

There is insufficient radio spectrum below 6GHz to cater for future mobile communications demand. Researchers are also now beginning to consider the needs of the 2030 intelligent information society, which will likely include a further push into sub-terahertz radio spectrum, to deliver yet more user data bandwidth. In 5G, future 6G and beyond, use of millimetre wavelength (mmWave) bands in fixed wireless access and handheld equipment will require power efficient, low cost yet high-performance RF transceivers. Such transceivers must also support extremely high data rates (e.g. Gigabit Ethernet; 5Gbit/s for USB 3.0; 10's of Gbit/s peak rates for vehicular 'infotainment' and '8k' ultra-high-definition TV for virtual reality). This challenging set of requirements has, to date, been mutually exclusive in all conventional mmWave technologies. With the release of early 5G smartphones, such as Samsung Galaxy S10 5G incorporating 28GHz / 39GHz communication radios (bands n257-n261), the era of mmWave mobile communications has begun. Although entry-level 5G is in early stage deployment (using modifications to 4G), it is unlikely to be defined or viable for deploying at high mmWave bands (circa 73GHz) before 2030. Initial analysis shows the digital signal processing (DSP) required for multi-Gbit/s data may extend to 10's of billions of 'multiply-accumulate' instructions per second. When combined with analogue radio functions, this could result in consumed battery powers of 14W by receive functions alone, with considerably more for transmit. Smartphone battery capacities are now circa 4.5Ahr, which would support just 1 hour of operation at such consumed receive powers. Thus, there is an urgent need for new research into mmWave radio hardware and software architectures, for frequencies at E band (circa 73GHz) and beyond. The Fellowship will focus on the following areas:- 1) Cost-effective and power-efficient techniques to form mmWave antenna arrays. Our recent research into Time Modulated Antenna Arrays (TMA) has shown ways of improving TMA efficiency at lower frequencies. A key attraction of the TMA is its simplicity of control interface (all digital). 2) Reinvestigation of fundamental mmWave circuit concepts, such as mixers and oscillators, using new insight and making use of the latest findings for manufacturing key components such as resonators. The research in resonators at mmWave could now benefit from the latest 3D printing techniques available at the University of Sheffield as well as updated techniques in low temperature co-fired ceramics. 3) A holistic view of the mmWave transceiver in terms of hardware and software, with partitioning to give best power efficiency for an RF performance target. Novel techniques will be valuable in saving power in massive multiple-input multiple-output systems (M-MIMO), having many hundreds of antennas and transceivers. In existing M-MIMO systems the power consumed by RF hardware could rival that of the digital signal processors. Research will include reconsidering long-forgotten circuit topologies and ideas, in this new setting. 4) Exploration of signal processing techniques for mmWave cognitive radio- allowing it to sense its operational environment and optimise its performance (via reconfigurable RF hardware). Also, the emergence and increase in capability of artificial intelligence is now becoming relevant for operation closer to the hardware itself, such as in demodulating an incoming RF signal. 5) Prototype test chips and subsystems will be created during the project. These will be used to build mmWave radio system demonstrators, including for propagation measurement research. The post-fellowship application for the trial platforms will support further research in future mass-producible mmWave systems, as well as facilitating enhanced industry engagement.

SiGNE will deliver an advanced lithium-ion battery (LIB) aimed at the High Capacity Approach targeted in this work programme. Specific objectives are to (1) Develop high energy density, safe and manufacturable Lithium ion battery (2) optimise the full-cell chemistry to achieve beyond state of art performance (3) Demonstrate full-cell fast charging capability (4) Show high full-cell cycling efficiency with >80% retentive capacity (5) Demonstrate high sustainability of this new battery technology and the related cost effectiveness through circular economy considerations and 2nd life battery applications built upon demonstrator and (6) Demonstrate high cost-competitiveness, large-scale manufacturability and EV uptake readiness. SiGNE will achieve these objectives by incorporation of 30% Si as a composite where it is electrically connected to the Graphite in nanowire form. This will realise a volumetric ED of >1000 Wh/L when pre-lithiated and paired with a Ni- rich NCM cathode optimised to deliver 220 mAh/g. This will be further enabled by a specifically designed electrolyte to maximise the voltage window and enable stable SEI formation. A sustainable fibre based separator with superior safety features s in terms of thermal and mechanical stability will be developed. SiGNE will establish the viability of volume manufacturing with production quantities of battery components manufactured by project end. The battery design and production process will be optimised in a continuous improvement process through full cell testing supported by modelling to optimise electrode and cell designs through manufacture as a 21700-type cylindrical cell and prototype testing at by OEMs. (SOH) monitoring across the entire battery lifecycle will optimise safety 2nd use viability. SIGNE will go significantly beyond SoA with recovery of anode, cathode and electrolyte components. In this circular economy approach recovered materials will be returned to the relevant work package to produce new electrodes.