Fraunhofer Portugal AICOS (FhP-AICOS), a research centre located in Porto, came about as a result of a partnership between the Fraunhofer Society, the Foundation for Science and Technology and the University of Porto.
FhP-AICOS’ career has been marked by various institutional and commercial collaborations that have resulted in a vast network of active partners. With a team of around 80 researchers and a portfolio of clients from different business areas (health, agriculture, retail and energy), FhP-AICOS has consolidated competences in the areas of user-centred design, artificial intelligence (AI) and cyber-physical systems.
These technological competences will be important within the scope of the Agenda, namely in the development of Industry 4.0 tools applied to the semiconductor industry, with FhP-AICOS being the sub-leader of 3 projects in this field.
– IoT-based image sensing module
Fraunhofer Portugal AICOS has been developing a modular platform for the IoT that allows different physical realities to be sensed (e.g. movement, magnetic field, temperature, humidity, sound, light, air quality) and communicated via different communication protocols (e.g. Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, NB-IoT, 5G). The development of an image capture module for this platform will make it possible to measure additional realities, both in the visible and invisible light spectrum, with potential for application in various industrial scenarios.
The platform currently being developed by Fraunhofer Portugal AICOS, and its modules, are currently being commercialised by Sensry GmbH, a German company operating in the IoT field, which may license the results obtained under this sub-project.
– Virtualised edge framework
Fraunhofer Portugal AICOS has been developing a framework for orchestrating devices for the “Internet of Things” in an industrial environment, with the aim of guaranteeing the configuration, updating and chaining of services in real time. This framework allows integration with other systems through the use of standardised communication protocols, guaranteeing the solution’s interoperability, modularity and scalability. The fact that it is a hardware-agnostic framework allows it to be implemented on any device adapted for use in an industrial environment. This framework is currently commercialised by Bresimar Automação S.A., under the TekOn Electronics brand. The fact that it is a modular and customisable platform will allow it to be licensed to other vendors of Software-as-a-Service solutions.
– Equipment Lifecycle Manager
Most software solutions for integrated equipment management are limited to inventory management functions. The software solution that will result from the development of this sub-project should make it possible to monitor the entire life cycle of a given piece of equipment, from its installation, through its configuration, maintenance and operation to its discontinuation. The various modules that will be part of this solution should include basic inventory management functions, as well as advanced functions for recording (i) equipment configurations, (ii) maintenance occurrences and interventions, (iii) operating parameters, and (iv) technical operating and intervention manuals.
These logging functions will enable advanced analysis of the operation, which in turn will make it possible to trigger fault alerts and anticipate interventions, reducing downtime.
The formats must take into account the completeness and detail of the information required at any given time and use different digital media (e.g. handheld, augmented reality, virtual reality). The solution can be licensed globally or on a modular basis following the Software-as-a-Service paradigm.