The AI4CODE project brings together 6 research team with strong expertise in the design, decoding and standardization of forward-error-correction codes. The aim is to develop skills in artificial intelligence and machine learning, and to explore how learning techniques can contribute to the improvement of code design methods (by using less parameters, more relevant heuristics, producing stronger codes) and decoders (better performance, reduced complexity or energy consumption), on selected scenarios of practical interest for which a full theoretical understanding is still lacking. The proposed methodology is to augment legacy design methods and decoders with learning capabilities or decision support systems wherever relevant, rather than replacing them by a generic, black-box neural network, so that we can inspect the trained solutions and try to infer why they work better. Our ultimate goal is to obtain new theoretical hindsight that could translate into better codes and decoders.

Ventricular arrhythmias are a major cause of sudden cardiac death in Europe (350,000 deaths / year). The majority of these deaths cannot be anticipated and prevented due to the low sensitivity of current risk criteria. Cardiac mapping of surviving patients has shown the presence of distinctive electrical signals in areas generating arrhythmias. These signals are currently recorded by invasive measurement (catheters) as they are not perceived by electrocardiography or electrical mapping on the surface of the thorax. Detection of the magnetic components of these signals would allow a vector measurement including currents electrically invisible consequence of an altered myocardial zone. The aim of the MAESTRO project is to implement a network of ultrasensitive magnetometers on models of pathological hearts (ex-vivo and in-vivo) in order to develop a non-invasive method of identifying signals associated with a high risk of sudden cardiac death.

Information stands nowadays as one of the major global resources. As emphasized alongside the current Covid19 crisis, our society relies on an ever-increasing need to process and communicate data, with important repercussions in politics, healthcare, innovation, everyday life, and global economy. A high-level reliance on the transmission of sensitive information over the Internet by individuals, banks, governments, and key industries, has been reached thanks to the improvement of public-key cipher methods. Further improving security in the streaming of sensitive data still stands as a major issue for a variety of typical use-cases, for which secret-key cipher methods are provably-secure and can be enabled in the real-world by quantum-safe solutions. In this regard, the field of photonic quantum information aims at exploiting quantum states of light to achieve communication and computational tasks that are not classically feasible. For example, quantum key distribution (QKD) enables to establish secret keys between distant parties with unconditional security. One of today’s strong driving routes lies in the implementation of quantum systems for real-world applications and use-cases, with high societal and economic impacts. In this framework, the use of high-dimensional entangled states has recently attracted much attention as they enable the possibility of encoding large amounts of information on paired photons answering today’s challenge of fibre quantum communication in terms of data capacity, robustness, as well true securing. On the other hand, quantum integrated photonics has now reached a level of maturity allowing the development of practical, flexible, compact, and scalable solutions, holding the promise of technological breakthroughs in quantum information technology. In this context, SPHIFA’s consortium aims at being a lead contributor to this effort, namely by addressing the design and realization of new generation photonic quantum systems allowing to create, manipulate, and detect high-dimension photonic quantum states – qudits and clusters - encoded in the frequency domain. SPHIFA will tackle this hot topic by marrying quantum and integrated optics devoted to multimode entanglement-based quantum communication demonstrators that are fully exploitable, autonomous, and flexible. The ambition is to answer the quest to out-of-the-laboratory realizations by providing novel and strategic concepts and technological routes. This endeavour casts the scope of future functional quantum networks by reinforcing quantum communication technologies and protocols. The results demonstrated in this project are therefore expected to have major impacts at the international level in quantum information technologies. Strategically, we note that SPHIFA aims at promoting a collaborative research program in the field of quantum communications, based on complementary partners, to permit France to be highly competitive at the international level and in a leading position in Europe for both technology and application-oriented quantum communication systems. Repercussions of this ambitious research program will be both scientific and societal, notably in terms of improved data exchange security.

The mid-infrared (mid-IR, 3 to 15 um) wavelength domain is gaining a significant momentum across a whole range of applications from free-sapce telecommunications to health, industrial and environmental monitoring. Despite its recognized potential, mid-IR technologies are still limited to niche applications, largely due to the size of the devices and the prohibitive costs of the instruments used. Recently, interest in the mid-IR has been growing along with breakthrough demonstrations related to novel light sources in this band. In particular, supercontinuum sources are of great interest because of their high spectral brightness over a large spectral bandwidth with intense research efforts to reach deeper into the mid-IR so as to leverage the full application potential of the mid-IR. MIRthFUL will address current challenges of the mid-IR supercontinuum technology through realizing a robust, reliable and miniaturized broadband supercontinuum source with highly tunable performance in a hybrid fiber/chip architecture.

The wearable sensor platform proposed in CONVERGENCE is centred on energy efficient wearable proof-of-concepts at system level exploiting data analytics developed in a context driven approach (in contrast with more traditional research where the device level research and the data analytics are carried out on separate path, rarely converging). Here we choose realistic wearable form factors for our energy efficient systems such as wrist-based and patch-based devices. Their advancements, as autonomous systems is foreseen in CONVERGENCE to offer unique solutions for new generations of frictionless (non-invasive) quasi-continuous healthcare and environmental monitoring, and for forthcoming smart apparel with embedded autonomous sensing. At long term, the CONVERGENCE platform will form the basis for new generations of human-machine interfaces. Such energy efficient, wireless and multifunctional wearable systems will beneficially track and interact with the end-user through appropriate feedback channels on a daily basis. They will enable personalized advice and assistance promoting healthier lifestyle and improved healthcare prevention, far beyond what today’s wireless sensor networks are capable of providing. The project connects some of the best research in national and/or European projects, with a demonstrated potential of TRL level for system integration, of the partners constituting the Consortium and networks with end users in the healthcare field. The CONVERGENCE project supports holistically - by multiple efforts at technology, system integration, algorithms and data analytics levels - the advancement of early detection, minimisation of risks and prevention-based healthcare and lifestyle, based on the deployment of some focused embodiments of wearable technology for interactive monitoring and assessment. CONVERGENCE