Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Listen2Future (Acoustic sensor solutions integrated with digital technologies as key enablers for emerging applications fostering society 5.0)
Reporting period: 2023-02-01 to 2024-01-31
Listen2Future will boost the potential of piezoelectric acoustic transducers to provide new solutions in the key application areas of Health&Wellbeing and Digital Industry&Energy. Acoustic transducer solutions and the key underlying technologies are addressing many of the challenges in emerging applications towards a more digitalised society.
The demonstrators will address 14 use-cases in Listen2future with their benchmark in low power consumption, small size and low cost to open the door for disruptive acoustic applications. Major impact on quality of live for humans as well as on industrial and medical appliances can be expected. The European Position in Acoustic Sensors will be therefore strengthened by new piezoelectric materials and technologies with the capability to outperform the existing ones that are based on capacitive MEMS technologies. This will contribute to reinforcing the Union's strategic economy in electronic components and systems to support future needs to vertical industries and the economy at large.
The double transition of European Union toward digital and greener society there poses a high demand for reliable and secure data. Our integral acoustic sensor solutions are listening to these needs and mapping the acoustic senses and perceptions into Society 5.0.
The KDT project Listen2Future will focus on the next generation of piezoelectric acoustic transducers technology particularly addressing 3 major’s objectives along and across the entire vertical value chain of transducers systems. These objectives focus on research and innovation in the fields of transducer (including materials, equipment, and device concepts), packaging, signal processing hardware (ASICs) and software and algorithm as listed below:
O1: Create a new generation of MEMS transducer with increased performance for acoustic applications. Generate a strong IP portfolio to foster European leadership and excellence in international competition.
O2: Provide dedicated hardware accelerators/processors and AI powered algorithms for real-time, integrated signal processing. Enable best-in-class, intelligent and low-power acoustic systems.
O3: Demonstrate innovation potential, usability, and versatility of the new acoustic system solutions in existing and emerging applications in Health & Wellbeing and Digital Industry & Energy key applications areas.
The demonstrators will address 14 use-cases in Listen2future with their benchmark in low power consumption, small size and low cost to open the door for disruptive acoustic applications. Major impact on quality of live for humans as well as on industrial and medical appliances can be expected. The European Position in Acoustic Sensors will be therefore strengthened by new piezoelectric materials and technologies with the capability to outperform the existing ones that are based on capacitive MEMS technologies. This will contribute to reinforcing the Union's strategic economy in electronic components and systems to support future needs to vertical industries and the economy at large.
The double transition of European Union toward digital and greener society there poses a high demand for reliable and secure data. Our integral acoustic sensor solutions are listening to these needs and mapping the acoustic senses and perceptions into Society 5.0.
The KDT project Listen2Future will focus on the next generation of piezoelectric acoustic transducers technology particularly addressing 3 major’s objectives along and across the entire vertical value chain of transducers systems. These objectives focus on research and innovation in the fields of transducer (including materials, equipment, and device concepts), packaging, signal processing hardware (ASICs) and software and algorithm as listed below:
O1: Create a new generation of MEMS transducer with increased performance for acoustic applications. Generate a strong IP portfolio to foster European leadership and excellence in international competition.
O2: Provide dedicated hardware accelerators/processors and AI powered algorithms for real-time, integrated signal processing. Enable best-in-class, intelligent and low-power acoustic systems.
O3: Demonstrate innovation potential, usability, and versatility of the new acoustic system solutions in existing and emerging applications in Health & Wellbeing and Digital Industry & Energy key applications areas.
Work performed and main achievements towards Obj 1:
- Modelling platform: The proposed modelling platform yielded in a systematic optimisation guideline for PMUT bandwidth as computational core criterion. Within the context of multi-objective optimisation and challenges in acoustic MEMS, this approach enables the identification of an approximate global optimal solution.
- New Structure: A new PMUT array distribution method for reduction of the crosstalk and improvement of the filling factor of the array has been developed. Novel technology building blocks for fabricating piezoelectric corrugated membrane MEMS and new dedicated designs for low-power microphones for hearing aid application and for super-linear resonance free force-feedback concepts have been developed. Novel technology building blocks for fabricating PMUT on large area flexible substrates were created for the realisation of new generation PMUT devices that can enable large area sensors and actuators and can have flexible form factor.
- Piezoelectric material: In the first project year, some partners worked on a high-quality thin film deposition process.
Work performed and main achievements towards Obj 2:
For the performance potentials of new acoustic transducers, concepts for a number of ASICs with different purposes have been explored. Circuit design have been developed and were simulated and analysed. Concepts towards bi-directional driving of air-coupled US transducers and a concept towards multi-channel driving of MEMS devices for medical use-cases have been examined. Ultrasound and audio detection without reducing performance has been carried out together with the computationally complex and secure processing of audio and US.
Work performed and main achievements towards Obj 3:
The overall achievement was the thorough description of the use cases and a first set of specifications for the building blocks of the use case demonstrators that have been developed and documented. Also, first feasibility studies for UCs have been carried out and, for some use cases implementation has started.
- Modelling platform: The proposed modelling platform yielded in a systematic optimisation guideline for PMUT bandwidth as computational core criterion. Within the context of multi-objective optimisation and challenges in acoustic MEMS, this approach enables the identification of an approximate global optimal solution.
- New Structure: A new PMUT array distribution method for reduction of the crosstalk and improvement of the filling factor of the array has been developed. Novel technology building blocks for fabricating piezoelectric corrugated membrane MEMS and new dedicated designs for low-power microphones for hearing aid application and for super-linear resonance free force-feedback concepts have been developed. Novel technology building blocks for fabricating PMUT on large area flexible substrates were created for the realisation of new generation PMUT devices that can enable large area sensors and actuators and can have flexible form factor.
- Piezoelectric material: In the first project year, some partners worked on a high-quality thin film deposition process.
Work performed and main achievements towards Obj 2:
For the performance potentials of new acoustic transducers, concepts for a number of ASICs with different purposes have been explored. Circuit design have been developed and were simulated and analysed. Concepts towards bi-directional driving of air-coupled US transducers and a concept towards multi-channel driving of MEMS devices for medical use-cases have been examined. Ultrasound and audio detection without reducing performance has been carried out together with the computationally complex and secure processing of audio and US.
Work performed and main achievements towards Obj 3:
The overall achievement was the thorough description of the use cases and a first set of specifications for the building blocks of the use case demonstrators that have been developed and documented. Also, first feasibility studies for UCs have been carried out and, for some use cases implementation has started.
Listen2Future will create an impact through the technical results along all fields of the sensor value chain and second through their direct transformation into tangible results of the Use Cases.
The potential impact of this project can be defined as follows:
- The sensor Demonstrators of Listen2Future with their benchmark in low power consumption, small size and low cost will open the door for disruptive new acoustic applications. Major impact on quality of life for humans as well as on industrial/energy and medical appliances can be expected.
- The European Position in Acoustic Sensors will be strengthened by new piezoelectric materials and technologies with the capability to outperform the existing ones based on capacitive MEMS technologies. This will impact all battery powered applications using acoustic sensors (e.g. hearing aids) resulting in a longer runtime of batteries.
- The flexible and large area PMUTs present a completely new device class and will allow completely new possibilities for applications.
- The results of the Work packages will offer Demonstrators of different new Piezo MEMS sensors with outstanding performance regarding efficiency, size and cost including the entire further Signal-processing chain.
- The results of the medical use cases of Listen2Future will offer first of a kind applications and new versions of existing applications significantly smaller, lightweight, high performing and more efficient. Therefore, it addresses key health challenges at the level of the individual, i.e. directly impacting patients, patient outcomes and patient comfort. It provides hospitals and clinician better tools for decision making and implementing more efficient workflows.
- On society as a whole the Listen2Future use cases provide a path towards more personalized and home-centered healthcare causing a paradigm shift from localized care towards distributed care (i.e. home-care).
- The results of the industrial and energy related use cases of Listen2Future will offer again first of a kind applications and new versions of existing applications significantly smaller, lightweight, high performing and more efficient. The new possibilities regarding continuous monitoring and material analysis will lead to the next level of predictive maintenance for industrial and energy systems. Significant advance in production quality control will be achieved by solutions that allows on-line testing of all products. New sensors will open new possibilities in environmental perception applicable to automated industrial manufacturing.
- Finally, very relevant to the current gas crisis, a novel gas flow sensor will enable optimised industrial and domestic gas use. The outcome will be higher uptimes in more reliable systems resulting in global competitive production cost, thus impacting production in Europe.
The potential impact of this project can be defined as follows:
- The sensor Demonstrators of Listen2Future with their benchmark in low power consumption, small size and low cost will open the door for disruptive new acoustic applications. Major impact on quality of life for humans as well as on industrial/energy and medical appliances can be expected.
- The European Position in Acoustic Sensors will be strengthened by new piezoelectric materials and technologies with the capability to outperform the existing ones based on capacitive MEMS technologies. This will impact all battery powered applications using acoustic sensors (e.g. hearing aids) resulting in a longer runtime of batteries.
- The flexible and large area PMUTs present a completely new device class and will allow completely new possibilities for applications.
- The results of the Work packages will offer Demonstrators of different new Piezo MEMS sensors with outstanding performance regarding efficiency, size and cost including the entire further Signal-processing chain.
- The results of the medical use cases of Listen2Future will offer first of a kind applications and new versions of existing applications significantly smaller, lightweight, high performing and more efficient. Therefore, it addresses key health challenges at the level of the individual, i.e. directly impacting patients, patient outcomes and patient comfort. It provides hospitals and clinician better tools for decision making and implementing more efficient workflows.
- On society as a whole the Listen2Future use cases provide a path towards more personalized and home-centered healthcare causing a paradigm shift from localized care towards distributed care (i.e. home-care).
- The results of the industrial and energy related use cases of Listen2Future will offer again first of a kind applications and new versions of existing applications significantly smaller, lightweight, high performing and more efficient. The new possibilities regarding continuous monitoring and material analysis will lead to the next level of predictive maintenance for industrial and energy systems. Significant advance in production quality control will be achieved by solutions that allows on-line testing of all products. New sensors will open new possibilities in environmental perception applicable to automated industrial manufacturing.
- Finally, very relevant to the current gas crisis, a novel gas flow sensor will enable optimised industrial and domestic gas use. The outcome will be higher uptimes in more reliable systems resulting in global competitive production cost, thus impacting production in Europe.