The RACOON project (Coherent dual-comb lidar adapted to the marine environment) is part of the development of new underwater imaging techniques, both for military applications (threat detection, intrusion, monitoring of sensitive sites, etc.) and civilian (resource detection, submerged works monitoring, navigation safety and wreck inspection...). This project aims to validate the concept of a coherent underwater lidar, develop a prototype, then test it and characterize its performances under realistic conditions of underwater environment. RACOON therefore proposes to go beyond the state of the art of underwater lidar, which is based so far exclusively on an incoherent approach, that is to say that the signal detected is the light intensity. On the contrary, the coherent approach, which relies on the detection of the electric field, offers a priori important advantages. Indeed, in this approach, the signal varies as the inverse of the distance to the target (against the inverse square in the incoherent approach). In addition, the detection of the field makes possible the filtering of the photons diffused by the particles suspended in the sea water, and therefore must significantly increase the signal-to-noise ratio. Finally, coherent detection offers the possibility of measuring the movements or speeds of the target. First, we will demonstrate the relevance of the coherent approach on a 532 nm laboratory test system, which will allow a simple direct comparison of coherent and in coherent configurations. This test system will also be characterized during the project, in the seawater tank DEXMES of the Laboratoire Géo-Océan, in Brest, which allows to have controlled marine environments (turbidity, flow velocity). Then we will develop a coherent lidar prototype in the blue-green spectrum. This prototype is based on an architecture well mastered by the FOTON Institute, a double loop with frequency shift (or bi-directional loop). Initially, a 1550 nm loop will be made on the basis of the experience acquired by the laboratory on previous projects (ANR COCOA, ANR Astrid MECHOUI). A tripling frequency stage will reach the blue-green region (517 nm), suitable for underwater propagation. This prototype, which uses the principle of dual-comb and multi-heterodyne detection, must offer a sub-centimeter resolution. It will be tested first in the DEXMES tank, then, at the end of the project, in the IFREMER instrumented channel (50 m) which will characterize the performance of the prototype under realistic conditions, in terms of scope, resolution, signal to noise, and the ability to measure movements and speeds. In parallel, a technology watch task will be conducted on the sources and components in the blue-green spectrum. For the moment, the performances of these do not allow the realization of a dual-comb system directly in this spectral range, but we anticipate in the long run this possibility, which will greatly simplify future coherent underwater lidar systems. The RACOON project is a 36-month, single-partner project led by two teams from the FOTON Institute, in Rennes and Lannion. It will draw on the experience and know-how of external collaborators (). The work will be carried out by researchers, faculty members, and technical staff of the FOTON Institute, with the help of a postdoctoral researcher recruited for theis project.

The future European research project, namely MSCA-Doctoral Network NanoF3Ind, on nanofluids comes in synergy to Cost Actions NanoUptake (2016-20), and Cost Innovator Grant Nanoconvex (2020-21). This previous efforts and works did not achieve the original goals of nanofluid development and applications in real industrial situations. Then, in line with these Actions, the ambition of this project is to train the new generation of researchers in this field for reaching a controlled use of nanofluids in real operating conditions from a global approach. This project will be performed from joint training and research activities involving, at starting point, scientific, technical and economic stakeholders in a common strategy. This project responds to current and future challenges about transition to a climate-neutral society by 2050, and sustainable economic developments for smart strategies to improve heat transfer and thermal storage. With this goal, the planned training programme, enabling innovative and responsible research, will be based on a complementary, pluridisciplinary and intersectoral network involving academic partners, European scientific consortia, industries (start-ups, SMEs, large groups, etc.), non-profit organizations, certification and standardisation agencies. This will make it possible to give a broad spectrum of skills and knowledge to future doctors, which can be completely transposed to other fields, thus guaranteeing them a strong employability at the end of the project, with entrepreneurial capacities, innovation, communication in a multidisciplinary international context. In a socially responsible research approach, they will be able to balance the challenges and tensions between science and industrial development, economic growth, public benefit and sustainable environment. The project will also strengthen Europe’s position and competitiveness in the field of nanofluids. Through the training excellence program developed by this project, it will be moving forward the current scientific knowledge to ensure the technological and normative development associated with the exploitation of nanofluids in energy systems, focusing on cooling and the use of solar energy.

There is an urgent need to develop reliable and reproducible sensing technologies for in situ and continuous water monitoring for surface water and wastewaters. The AQUAE project will address this need by specifically developing dedicated chemical sensors that are versatile and adaptable enough to monitor priority substances and their degradation in a wide range of aquatic environments. Real-time monitoring of water quality using these chemical sensors will be performed in the real environment and at the point of discharge, which is necessary to prevent micropollution, define appropriate corrective actions for environmental remediation and decide when they should be undertaken (SCIRPE, BRGM, IFREMER with CEDRE). The AQUAE project will provide an attractive solution for real-time monitoring of nutrient concentration to control sustainable remediation processes such as phytoremediation (SCIRPE with DEEP INSA) and nutrient recovery treatment (Bioengine Laboratory, U. Laval, Canada). The development of chemical sensors for on-site detection will skillfully combine infrared photonics (IR) and electrochemical (EC) technology, both well mastered by the consortium (ISCR, KLEARIA, I.FOTON, BRGM & IFREMER). These two spectroscopic methods will be coupled in a portable device with a common microfluidic system for a fast, multivariate and in situ monitoring of organic contaminants. This hybrid prototype combining IR and EC sensors is oriented towards water pollution problems and wastewaters treatment by phytoremediation or nutrient recovery treatment. In addition to its fabrication for on-site use, a major challenge of the project is to overcome a new scientific barrier by designing and fabricating IR & EC sensors on a unique Lab-on-Chip. This AQUAE's LOC multifunctional sensors with an adapted microfluidic system will be designed to detect various priority substances (BTEX, PAH, pesticides, phthalate, drug residues and nitrates). Its efficiency will be tested at the laboratory scale for a first proof of concept. The detection concentrations in the AQUAE project for considered micropollutants will be at laboratory scale : BTEX and PAHs in case of vicinity of accidental pollution range from 50-150 µg/L, phthalate DEHP often in the range of 1-100 µg/L in wastewater and rain water, pesticides more than 5 µg/L in polluted sites for which the standard at 0.1 µg/L can be largely exceeded like in the north of France (metolachlor), non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (diclofenac and ibuprofene) with tested range µg/L-mg/L. For nitrates detected by electrochemical sensor, we will consider the Nitrates Directive (91/676/EEC) which requires Member States to respect the quality standard not to be exceeded for the good status of groundwater (50 mg/L). The recommendation for discharges to water are about 15 mg/L of total nitrogen in the case of a treatment plant with a capacity of more than 600 kg/d. At the national level, the nitrate pollutant load of small treatment plants remains marginal. Reduction efforts must be concentrated on agricultural inputs especially in “vulnerable zones" where specific agricultural practices are imposed to limit the risks of pollution. In the AQUAE project, the sensors robustness will be demonstrated in the range 1-100 mg/L, at least with daily measurements to prevent any accidental event and with a t of 30 min to follow the denitrification process, in agreement with surface water analysis and industrial applications. The 0.05-1 mg/L range is a bonus for seawater analyses.

The project is organized around four important topics in fluid mechanics: free surfaces and interfaces, boundary layers, vortex dynamics and fluid-structure interactions. The mathematical and the physical-environmental motivations of the project are connected to the events of the 2013 Mathematics of Panet Earth program which will also suggest new directions of research. The four topics are closely interconnected because they often coexist in the same physical situation and because the mathematical tools (such as multiscale analysis, asymptotic expansions, stability theory) that are needed to analyze them are quite similar. Our main directions of research will be: -Free surfaces and interfaces. We are mostly interested in situations which are singular, either because of the lack of smoothness (examples are wave breaking, the description of shorelines and the influence of rough topographies in shallow water models) or because of the presence of small parameters (examples are continuous but sharp stratification in two fluid models, multiscale models that describe the energy spectrum in wave breaking and compressible fluids with free surface at low Mach number). We expect improvements in the modelling and numerical simulations of these phenomena through the derivation of more accurate asymptotic models. We also plan to develop suitable mathematical tools in order to handle these singular situations rigorously. -Boundary layers. We are interested both in the construction of boundary layers expansions and the study of their stability properties. For the first aspect, we shall study the construction of boundary layers in degenerate situations, for example in the presence of rough boundaries or in situations where boundary layers of different sizes need to be connected (this is crucial to understand oceanic circulation). We shall also study the well-posedness of the Prandtl type equations that arise in oceanics models. For the second aspect, we plan to make progress in the understanding of instabilities in boundary layers either in the classical inviscid limit of the incompressible Navier-Stokes equation with Dirichlet boundary condition by addressing the question of the destabilizing effect of viscosity or in slightly regularized situations like some critical Navier conditions or the alpha-models equations -Vortex dynamics. We shall study both perfect and viscous incompressible fluids using mainly the vorticity equation. Our interest lies in singular domains (flow around rough obstacles for example) or in singularly pertubed domains (flow around small obstacles). In the two-dimensional case, the question of understanding the large time behaviour of perfect and viscous fluids will be also adressed. Another important direction of research will be the study of vortex filaments , the most challenging question being the rigorous understanding of the motion of vortex filaments in the vanishing viscosity limit (the expected asymptotic model is the binormal flow). -Fluid-structure interactions. We first plan to get a better understanding of qualitative properties of the fluid-structure interactions on the most simple models (incompressible fluids with rigid bodies). Typical questions that will be addressed are the uniqueness of weak solutions in 2D for viscous fluids and the study of the smoothness of particles trajectories. Some singular limits like vanishing viscosity limit, vanishing particles limit and mean field limit will be also studied. Finally we plan to make progress in the understanding of more complete models that take into account for example deformable solids or compressible fluids.

Today's robots are good at executing programmed motions, but they do not understand their actions in the sense that they could automatically generalize them to novel situations or recover from failures. IMAGINE seeks to enable robots to understand the structure of their environment and how it is affected by its actions. "Understanding" here means the ability of the robot (a) to determine the applicability of an action along with parameters to achieve the desired effect, and (b) to discern to what extent an action succeeded, and to infer possible causes of failure and generate recovery actions. The core functional element is a generative model based on an association engine and a physics simulator. "Understanding" is given by the robot's ability to predict the effects of its actions, before and during their execution. This allows the robot to choose actions and parameters based on their simulated performance, and to monitor their progress by comparing observed to simulated behavior. This scientific objective is pursued in the context of recycling of electromechanical appliances. Current recycling practices do not automate disassembly, which exposes humans to hazardous materials, encourages illegal disposal, and creates significant threats to environment and health, often in third countries. IMAGINE will develop a TRL-5 prototype that can autonomously disassemble prototypical classes of devices, generate and execute disassembly actions for unseen instances of similar devices, and recover from certain failures. For robotic disassembly, IMAGINE will develop a multi-functional gripper capable of multiple types of manipulation without tool changes. IMAGINE raises the ability level of robotic systems in core areas of the work programme, including adaptability, manipulation, perception, decisional autonomy, and cognitive ability. Since only one-third of EU e-waste is currently recovered, IMAGINE addresses an area of high economical and ecological impact.