Intelligent Advanced Photonics Tools for Remote and/or on-site Monitoring of Cultural Heritage Monuments and Artefacts

Project Information

iPhotoCult

Grant agreement ID: 101132448

DOI

10.3030/101132448

EC signature date 13 May 2024

Start date 1 June 2024

End date 30 November 2027

Funded under

• Culture, creativity and inclusive society

Total cost

€ 3 997 268,75

EU contribution

€ 3 997 268,75

Coordinated by

IDRYMA TECHNOLOGIAS KAI EREVNAS
Greece

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - iPhotoCult (Intelligent Advanced Photonics Tools for Remote and/or on-site Monitoring of Cultural Heritage Monuments and Artefacts)

Reporting period: 2024-06-01 to 2025-07-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

iPhotoCult aims to design, develop, demonstrate, and validate innovative and intelligent solutions that will allow for non-invasive and safe ways to inspect, document, diagnose, and monitor Cultural Heritage (CH) so as to ensure efficient adaptation of sustainable management plans. These solutions comprise (a) a unique suite of advanced diagnostic and monitoring tools along with methodologies for their effective and optimum use, combined with (b) an intelligent data processing, visualization and prediction software services platform, for the remote and/or on-site monitoring of CH buildings, monuments and artefacts impacted by a wide variety of environmental and anthropogenic threats. iPhotoCult contributes significantly to the preservation of CH by adding verifiable dimensions to preservation strategies. The iPhotoCult Solutions will enable and empower CH community to better assess CH in a cost-effective, efficient, reliable, user-friendly and safe manner. These solutions will revolutionize the capabilities of end-users to diagnose and continually monitor the condition of materials constituting CH including those used in their restoration. iPhotoCult interdisciplinary approach involving many different stakeholders and CH pilots across Europe will serve as use-cases for demonstration, testing and validation of the iPhotoCult Solutions delivered and applied in the form of demonstrators. The outcomes to a variety of CH pilots will provide crucial insights and enable the optimization of the tools and methodologies to help in the decision-making and serve for replication to Europe’s CH in many in real settings. Ultimately, iPhotoCult main goal is to contribute to the sustainable management of Europe's CH by leveraging advanced photonics technologies and intelligent software to contribute to the decision-making process for its preservation. iPhotoCult aims to
develop a comprehensive, cost-effective, and scalable solution that can be deployed across Europe and beyond.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The primary focus was on establishing efficient management processes at both general (technical, scientific, and administrative) and Work Package levels. The foundation for the Project’s scientific progress was laid through the identification of problems, needs, and requirements of the Cultural Heritage Pilots (CHPs), the definition of core components for the developed tools, and preliminary laboratory experiments to evaluate the capabilities, limitations, and potential applications of the iPhotoCult tools.

From a technical standpoint, progress achieved to date includes:
Testing of laboratory prototypes
Development and optimization of dedicated systems
Identification of the range of applications and material types suitable for analysis with the iPhotoCult tools
Demonstration of the proof of concept of iPhotoCult tools
Determination of the design of the prototypes / transportable systems

A total of 19 Use Cases have been identified, each one characterized by specific problems, conservation needs and requirements, that necessitate material characterisation and structural diagnostics both at the surface and in-depth. The tools under development within iPhotoCult aim to address the questions raised by conservation professionals and provide added value to existing analytical and diagnostic techniques. In this context, a comprehensive literature survey was conducted to assess the state-of-the-art of current methods and to identify the most appropriate KPIs.
The iSSP platform has progressed through the architecture and requirement specification phase for all diagnostic tools it will host. A demonstration prototype based on currently available data has been created to serve as a reference for integrating all iPhotoCult tools as soon as their data become available. Simultaneously, AI components are under active development. The remote monitoring bridge infrastructure has been designed with robust communication protocols and hardware specifications, incorporating miniSEED format and ringserver technology for efficient time-series data streaming. This architecture ensures seamless integration of diverse data outputs from all available tools.
Project management, as well as communication and dissemination activities have been successfully established and are progressing according to the GA. Progress monitoring is being conducted through regular project-wide and WP-level meetings.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

iPhotoCult aspires to trigger a breakthrough within the CH sector by introducing novel tools and methodologies which will foster a significant step forward in remote or on-site surface and in-depth diagnostic capabilities for monuments and artefacts beyond the current state of the art by:
Expanding the capacity of surface chemical diagnostics in terms of spatial resolution and accuracy by delivering a compact, multi-analytical hybrid tool incorporating a variety of photonic techniques based on Vis, NIR-SWIR, LIF, LIBS, and Raman spectroscopy, set on a tower platform for addressing the dual need for proximal sensing and remote control, encountered when monitoring built heritage, large monuments, or mural paintings, which are difficult to access.
Enabling capabilities for in-depth chemical diagnostics on-site by utilizing Photoacoustic spectroscopy for the first time, opening the capability for obtaining chemical fingerprints for a wide range of materials at unprecedented depths, which can exceed 500μm in opaque media. Furthermore, integrating PA spectroscopy with Non-Linear Optical Microscopy measurements (NLOM) in a single instrument will provide complementary chemical information which is crucial for the study of degradation effects of CH materials.
Enhancing the predictive power for in-depth evolution of structural defects in CH objects by fusing interferometric and thermographic data obtained by a novel tool combining DHSPI with IR thermography.
Customizing optical fiber point sensors for sensitive and multi-functional monitoring of temperature, humidity, strain and impact, utilizing small size, 3D printed transduction architectures attached onto CH objects, that are at high risk (e.g. during transportation), by combining new photonic and material technologies such as those of multi-core optical fibers and micro-metric polymer based porous resonators.
Innovating the data management and visualization associated with the documentation of diagnostic monitoring, conservation, and preservation processes by means of a cloud-based solution dedicated to CH conservators, professionals, and scientists, which will be an asset management platform where analytical maps will be displayed as superimposed layers ready to be explored in 2D and 3D.