Research
The DET has research interests in all ICT fields, ranging from higher-level systems (telecommunications networks, electronic systems and equipment) to the circuit and device level. It also includes related areas, such as bioengineering. The coexistence of both academic research carried out as part of national and international projects and applied research, often linked to the needs of industry, gives the Department a technological edge. Let us review a few samples of the research activities within the Department.
Telecommunication issues are addressed both in terms of organization and management of long-distance communication – interconnection of devices, protocols, codes, modulations - and in terms of the physical implementation of the devices. Several branches stem from the telecommunication mainstream. Among these, optoelectronics, which focus on fibre optics and devices such as lasers, high-speed modulators, detectors; electromagnetism - antennas for communication systems and propagation; radio frequency and microwave electronics including wireless equipment, integrated circuits and devices for high frequency communications; microelectronics, including both digital and analogic microsystems and VLSI circuits; electromagnetic compatibility, broadly addressing the monitoring of electromagnetic pollution and interference; measuring and metrology, including systems and devices at both low and high frequencies; bioengineering, carried out in close collaboration with other Politecnico departments as well as with local health institutions.
Numerical simulation is widely used in all fields and many Computer Aided Design (CAD) instruments developed over the years by this department have become standard tools in the industry.
The Department successful track record in research can be gauged not only by the number of scientific publications per year, but also by the amount of funding it attracts – more than 2.5 million euros per year. Two thirds of it comes from industry and international research projects.
Experimental research was recently boosted thanks to new initiatives for new laboratories and research facilities linked to the expansion plans of Politecnico. It is foreseen that, over the next few years departments will be fully in line with the highest international standards for laboratory facilities.
The Department international research programme has a significant impact on big companies as well as on smaller outfits. The Department has many partners in the private sector in Italy and abroad. Among these are Agilent, Cisco, Corning, CRF, Infineon, Lucent, Nokia and ST Microelectronics. A large number of universities abroad (such as Berkeley, Boston, Stanford and UCLA in the USA; Grenoble, Lille, Limoges, Darmstadt, Madrid, Salamanca, Barcelona in Europe) have research links with the DET.