What is IoT?
The IoT (Internet of Things ) is a development of the Internet in which every everyday object has a network connection enabling it to send and receive data. The fields of application of the IoT are therefore numerous and can be classified as follows:
The figure below is one possible presentation of the components of the Internet of Things.
Real-life" objects (1st vertical) exchange data via communication networks/concentrators/gateways (2nd vertical) with an application back-end (3rd vertical) which, among other things, hosts this data. This data is then processed, aggregated and valorized by business applications (4th vertical) to deliver service(s) to end-users.
In an ideal world, connected objects and their data would be useful, ergonomic, autonomous, secure, interoperable, and would respect our privacy and our laws. But in reality, all these dimensions are complex to achieve and sometimes even difficult to coexist.
ISEN Méditerranée launched its IoT Chair in November 2016 to provide a concrete response to the challenges of each of these topics.
What is the IoT Chair?
There are many definitions of the term chair. In the context of the Yncréa IoT Chair, our definition is the following:
"A chair is a relationship of trust based on a win/win model between a company(ies) and an R&D center(s) included in a school(s)."
The Yncréa IoT Chair provides concrete answers to societal and environmental challenges based on connected objects, their optimization and their ethical uses. It brings together different actors in order to remove technological and societal barriers. This ecosystem therefore provides multidisciplinary scientific and technical support in the "IoT" space.
Thus, in this context, the teacher-researchers of Yncréa :
- structure information for their partner companies; this information can be technology intelligence, strategy support (business model, vision, trends, etc.) or data from the world of advanced research;
- carry out innovation sessions in order to imagine the objects/uses of tomorrow in a target theme; for example, we carry out an annual fabweek per company during which we mix heterogeneous populations (industrialists, students, teachers/researchers, outsiders, etc.) for five days and reflect on the theme proposed by the company; we diverge for two days and propose about fifty ideas on the subject, select five with the company and implement them over the three days.For example, we hold an annual fabweek for each company, during which we bring together heterogeneous populations (industrialists, students, teachers/researchers, outsiders, etc.) for five days and reflect on the theme proposed by the company; we diverge for two days and propose about fifty ideas on the subject, select five of them with the company, and implement them over the remaining three days using our Fablab (a rapid prototyping tool) accredited by MIT; at the end of the week, the company leaves with its prototypes, and can decide on whether to industrialize them;
- support the strategy of their partner companies with state bodies (European Commission, national and international clusters, AIoTI, project review, etc.);
- are working on solutions to overcome certain technological barriers through advanced studies or PhDs supervision;
- participate in the study, design and development of tomorrow's connected objects;
- reduce the risks taken by companies in their technological choices, product development, etc. by developing proofs of concept for them, including hardware, software and packaging, or by studying/prototyping their future objects in advance;
- study the use/adoption of products/future products of companies sometimes directly with their end users;
- validate the objects according to the different legislations in force;
- train company personnel on the latest IoT technologies.
What have we achieved?
The following list represents a non-exaustive view of ISEN Yncréa Méditerranée's achievements since 2016 through the Yncréa IoT Chair.
Many projects have been submitted and for some won since 2016:
- assembly and submission of the PIAVE SafeCity project on 17/02/2017 (22 M€, 15 partners) => project won on August 21, 2017 ;
- Eurostar PCD Replay project set up and submitted in September 2018 => project won in December 2018 ;
- assembly and submission of the H2020 ICT-10 Interoperable and smart homes and grids project on 14/11/2018 (35,8 M€, 55 partners) => project won in February 2019.
In addition, two laboratories have been created at ISEN Yncréa Méditerranée: Smart Objects Lab (2018) and Smart Energy Lab (2020). Innovative solutions based on video and radar waves are realized for our partners EPS. And new PhDs have been launched.
Among the activities carried out by the IoT Chair, some require the analysis of complex scientific problems in order to try to provide viable solutions. In this context, PhDs are adapted and efficient "tools". This is why we accompany our students on the following theses:
- Amaury Auguste's thesis obtained in 2018 and directed by Ayman Alfalou (co-supervised by Ghislain Oudinet and Marwa El Bouz) whose subject is "Deployment of a video tracking system and behavioral analysis";
- Mélanie Brulc's CIFRE thesis with XtreamWave obtained in 2020 and directed by Alain Loussert (co-supervised by Thibaut Deleruyelle), the subject of which is "Characterization of biometric parameters detectable by a non-invasive millimeter-wave radar technology of the FMCW type";
- Rémi Grisot's CIFRE thesis with XtreamWave obtained in 2020 (but requiring a new submission for acceptance) whose subject is "Classification, characterization and determination of embedded artificial intelligence technologies and processes capable of extracting and interpreting biophysical information from millimeter-wave radar technology detection".
Here is a non-exhaustive list of events organized within the framework of the IoT Chair:
- organization of the AIOTI GA - General Assembly and working groups to define the guidelines on IoT used by the European Commission to launch its calls for projects. - 150 people received from May 3 to 5, 2017 on the site of Yncréa ;
- 2017: organization with Gemalto (Thales DIS) of the IoT Makers Race on the theme "smart energy" from 01 to 28 June 2017; the goal of this IoT Makers Race was to imagine, design and create the objects of tomorrow in the smart management of energy; in the end, 400 men/day were invested in 1 month on the project by all participants. The final jury took place on June 28, 2017. Three projects were awarded. Out of these 3 projects, one contributed to the InterConnect project filing (largest project funded by Europe in 2019), and another was developed at INDEWATT/SunLeavs, a startup hosted by our local incubator TVT and awarded at CES in Las Vegas.
- 2019: ISD conference organization;
- 2020: organization with Thales of a fabweek on the theme "smart card" from February 15 to 19, 2020; the goal of this fabweek was to imagine and design the future of the SIM card;
- 2022: organization of the innovation week #2 with Thales.
What projects are you currently working on?
4 research topics are in progress.
The year 2022-2023 was a year rich in work that enabled us to remove some dimensional technological barriers and provide our industrial partners with advanced video processing software building blocks for their industrialization.
In 2023-2024, we will continue our work on artificial intelligence and advanced algorithms embedded in connected objects in the fields of retail, e-health, smart cities and wearables.
Who are the co-founders of this Chair?
Who's working on it?
