Section Chair:
Dr. Stefano Mariani, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Italy

Section Chair:
Dr. Francesco Ciucci, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong

Section Chairs:
Dr. Dirk Lehmhus, ISIS Sensorial Materials Scientific Centre, University of Bremen, Germany and Dr. Alberto Vallan, Department of Electronics and Telecommunications, Politecnico di Torino, Italy

Section Chair:
Dr. Stefano Mariani, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Italy

Section Chair:
Dr. Thomas B. Messervey, CEO and Co-Founder, Research to Market Solution s.r.l., Italy

In this section, posters can be presented without an accompanying proceedings paper. Posters will be available online on this website during and after the e-conference. However, will not be added to the proceedings of the conference.

Section Chairs:
Dr. Stefano Mariani, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Italy and Dr. Marco de Fazio, STMicroelectronics, Genève, Switzerland

The MEMS and NEMS Section is aimed at gathering together contributions on the modelling and analysis of Micro-Electro-Mechanical-Systems (MEMS) and Nano-Electro-Mechanical-Systems (NEMS), and on their real-life applications. Works on the theoretical, numerical and experimental aspects are solicited, especially those stemming from multi-disciplinary approaches.

Contributions are welcome to address the following topics:

• Multi-physics modeling
• Uncertainty quantification at the micro- and nano-scale
• System identification and control
• Sensor optimization
• Damping phenomena
• Stiction and other contact or proximity phenomena
• Effect of emerging materials, like graphene

Applications to be considered include, but are not limited to:

• Inertial sensors
• Physical sensors
• Chemical sensors
• RF switches
• Micromirrors
• Energy harvesters

Section Chair:
Dr. Stefan Bosse, Department of Computer Science, Workgroup Robotics, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany

Trends emerging in engineering and micro-system applications such as the development of sensorial materials show a growing demand for distributed autonomous computing in sensor networks consisting of miniaturized low-power smart sensors embedded in technical structures. A Sensor Network is composed of nodes capable of sensor processing and communication. Smart Systems are composed of more complex networks (and networks of networks) differing significantly in computational power and available resources. They provide higher level information processing that maps the raw sensor data to condensed information. They can provide, for example, Internet connectivity of perceptive systems (body area networks...). These smart systems unite the traditionally separated sensing, aggregation, and application levels, offering a more unified design approach and more generic and unified architectures. Smart systems glue software and hardware components to an extended operational unit.

Smart can be defined on different operational and processing levels and having different goals in mind. One aspect is the adaptivity and reliability in the presence of sensor, communication, node, and network failures that should not compromise the trust and quality of the computed information, for example, the output of a Structural Health Monitoring System (SHM). A Smart System can be considered on node, network, and network of network level. Another aspect of "smartness" is information processing with inaccurate or incomplete models (mechanical, technical, physical) requiring machine learning approaches, either supervised with training at design-time or unsupervised based on reward learning at run-time.

Growing system complexity requires an increase in autonomy of distributed data processing systems, addressed, for example, by the deployment of mobile multi-agent systems carrying and processing information. Self-organizing systems are one major approach to solve complex tasks by decomposing them into smaller and simpler task performed by a large group of individuals.

Smart "Functional" Structures extend classical perceptive systems with actuators responding to changes in the environment or load conditions in real-time, enabling Reactive Perceptive Systems.

Topics included but not limited to are:

• Software engineering for sensing applications and sensor clouds
• Data mining in sensing applications
• Autonomous computing systems
• Multi-agent systems and intelligent computing
• Machine learning supporting sensing applications
• Ubiquitous smart systems and applications
• Sensor cloud, cluster and grid computing
• Internet of Things
• Human-computer, human-sensing, and human-machine interaction
• Machine-to-Machine (M2M) networks
• Service-orientated information processing and computing
• Reliable and fault-tolerant system design and algorithms
• Platform design and architectures
• Active perceptive systems coupling sensing + actuation including robotic systems

Section Chair:
Dr. Giuseppe Andreoni, Design Department, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy

Smart textiles are functionalized textiles for sensing, actuating or interaction. They could be either wearable or environmental, embedded in clothes or in the physical interface of systems and products. The web-conference session aims at collecting researchers and their work about development and applications of smart textiles in a wide range of fields.

Original contributions are solicited on scientific advances of sensors and actuators embedded in or made of smart textiles. Theoretical, numerical and experimental works are welcome, including papers developed with a multi-disciplinary approach.

In particular, participants are invited to submit their contributions in the following areas:

• Methods, materials and technology for smart textiles design
• Metrologic validation of smart textiles sensors and actuators
• Smart textiles sensor for Healthcare (monitoring, rehabilitation, …)
• Actuation properties in smart textiles
• Technological issues in smart textile development and application (miniaturization, power supply, energy harvesting, communication,…)
• Ergonomics of wearable systems
• Design and interaction with smart textiles

Experimental and application oriented papers are also welcome, including but not limited to:

• Sport and fitness applications of smart textiles
• Ultratechnical textiles for safety and protection
• Smart textiles sensor in Healthcare processes (monitoring, rehabilitation, …)
• Wearability studies
• Interaction and emotion analysis with smart textiles

Section Chairs:
Dr. Francesco Braghin, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy and Dr. Manuela Galli, Department of Electronics, Information and Biongineering  (DEIB), Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy

The Sports & Sensors session is aimed at sharing scientific researches in sensor technology applied to sports and at collecting valid points of discussion in the standardization of performance indicators.

Original contributions are solicited on scientific and engineering advances in quantitative analysis of sport gestures in athlete, equipment performance and environmental influence.

Experimental works are welcome, including papers developed with a multi-disciplinary approach.

In particular, participants are invited to submit their contributions in the following areas:

• Quantitative evaluation of sportive gesture and performance
• Movement analysis in elite atletes and disabled people
• Indoor and outdoor movement analysis devices developed for sportive applications
• Metabolic analysis in sports
• Equipment monitoring for performance evaluation and interaction with the athlete
• Environmental monitoring and correlation with performance

Application oriented papers are also encouraged, including but not limited to:

• Optoelectronic system
• Force platform
• Baropodometric platform
• EMG system
• Metabolimeter
• Inertial systems

Section Chairs:
Dr. Dirk Lehmhus, ISIS Sensorial Materials Scientific Centre, University of Bremen, Germany and Dr. Thomas B. Messervey, CEO and Co-Founder, Research to Market Solution s.r.l., Italy

Today, production technology is going through a transformation toward increasingly autonomous manufacturing systems and environments. This change is sometimes seen as being fundamental enough to designate it as the fourth industrial revolution captured in the term “Industry 4.0” first coined in Germany, where mechanization, mass production and computerization are considered the three preceding landmark transformations.

In Industry 4.0, factories will increasingly decide autonomously on aspects like production process parameters, process sequences, production logistics etc. In order to be able to do so, these factories will need large amounts of data, from which the information needed in decision-making has to be derived without or with limited intervention of human beings. In parallel, new (or improved) manufacturing capabilities such as flexible manufacturing, mass customization and additive manufacturing bring new possibilities in terms of how products are made.

The present session invites papers to respond to the data driven demands of this next industrial revolution through the implementation of appropriate sensor systems through all phases of the product life-cycle. Results from ongoing or past European Factories of the Future projects and like research programs worldwide are welcome. Possible topics include:

• Development of new sensors for the monitoring of production processes
• Enabling KPI assessment and use via cost effective sensors and meters
• Application of sensor systems in production engineering on various levels, from the individual sensorized tool to heavily sensor-based, fully automated production systems and facilities
• Sensor data evaluation methods tailored for or transferred to applications in production engineering
• Workpiece-based monitoring of production processes, i.e. use of product-integrated sensors to provide feedback to production equipment
• Use of product-integrated sensors for feedback of life cycle data into the product (re) design phase to enable continuous improvement of products, including concrete examples of implementation of such feedback loops both on conceptual and realization level

Given this scope, the session has links to almost all sections of the conference, the common denominator being the fact that the presentations should target advanced manufacturing as application scenario.

Section Chair:
Dr. Alberto Vallan, Department of Electronics and Telecommunications, Politecnico di Torino, Italy

This session is focused on Fiber Optic Sensors (FOS) and related applications. In the sensor market, FOS represent a relevant portion which is rapidly growing thanks to the availability of new optical and electro-optical devices characterized by a low-cost, a reduced power consumption and small dimensions. Session topics concern all the aspects related to the use of optical fibers in the sensor field, such as the development and testing of intrinsic sensors, the usage of fibers for extrinsic sensors or to power non-optical sensing devices, and also original fiber sensor applications and in-field results.

Suggested topics include:

• Fiber optic sensors for structural monitoring
• Health related applications
• High voltage/current/EM-field measurements
• Sensors for harsh environments
• MRI compliant sensors
• Chemical and biochemical sensors
• Fiber Bragg Gratings
• Interferometric sensors
• Polarimetric sensors
• Disposable fiber sensors
• Plastic Optical Fiber (POF) sensors
• Photonic-crystal fibers, microstructured fibers and other innovative fibers for sensing applications
• Quasi-distributed and distributed sensors
• Sensor testing and characterization procedures
• Multiplexing and remote sensing
• Power-over-fiber for sensor applications
• Modeling and correction of systematic effects and influence quantities

Section Chair:
Dr. Thomas B. Messervey, CEO and Co-Founder, Research to Market Solution s.r.l., Italy

The USA documents 237,600 water line breaks each year costing €2.8 billion annually. Normal water leakage instead runs at 7 billion gallons per day (http://www.waterworld.com/articles/print/volume-30/issue-7/editorial-features/patching-up-the-pipes-how-smart-technologies-help-cities-prevent-leaks-and-save-money.html). Globally, 750 million people (1 in 9 people) lack access to safe water (www.water.org). Indeed, most persons would likely be surprised that the water crisis is the #1 global risk based on impact to society (as a measure of devastation), and the #8 global risk based on likelihood (likelihood of occurring within 10 years) as announced by the World Economic Forum, January 2015 (http://reports.weforum.org/global-risks-2015/#frame/20ad6).

 The need for water resource management stands at the intersection of several global challenges and cross-cutting themes which include climate change, aging national infrastructure, increased population and urbanization, and government, corporate and individual responsibilities toward the environment and sustainability. Amongst the range of possible solutions to answer the need for better water resource management is ICT (information communication technologies) in the form of sensors, smart meters, and the analytical platforms and software they make possible through the data they provide. In many cases, knowledge transfer and lessons learned can be taken from the energy and gas markets where work started earlier. It is also noteworthy the correlations between energy auditing and water auditing, carbon footprint assessment and water footprint assessment. Water (as a resource) is a next logical extension of ISO50001 (Energy Management Systems) principles.

 Session G invites researchers and industrials working in the area of water sensing technologies for water resource management to present their work. A special invitation is extended to the platform www.ict4water.eu which clusters 10 research projects co-funded by the European Union on this topic area. A special invitation is also extended to industrials with new innovative solutions coming to the market. As the problem is global, papers are encouraged from all parts of the world.