Printable versionDetails about funded positions - 38th Cycle - Curriculum 5
(5A) Space Surveillance and Tracking with Radar Systems
Funding institution: Consorzio Nazionale Interuniversitario per le Telecomunicazioni (CNIT)
Doctoral site: CNIT RASS laboratory in Pisa
Contact: Marco Martorella (marco.martorella [at] unipi.it)
Resident Space Objects (RSOs) are fast increasing in number and need to be monitored to safely preserve space assets, which critical services are based on (e.g. GNSS, Satellite Comms, Earth Observation and Surveillance from Space). Sensors of various types are continuously employed to detect, track and classify such objects. Among such sensors, radar systems are widely and consistently used to perform such tasks. Nevertheless, the current technology is not sufficient to perform these tasks effectively as many objects are still not catalogued, and those that are present in catalogues need continuous updates.
Modern radar systems and, more specifically, radar networks are needed to respond to the increasing demand for highly performing sensors.
This PhD work will concentrate on the study of a radar-based sensor network that is able to accurately detect, track and classify space objects. More specifically, the candidate will work on innovative system architectures and the signal processing that is necessary to perform optimal detection, tracking and imaging of RSOs. Performance predictions will be derived that will allow to optimize the radar system architecture. Several different scenarios will be considered including surveillance of LEO and GEO belts.
(5B) Study, design and qualification of electronics and electro-optical systems for space applications
Funding institution: Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR)
Doctoral site: IFAC-CNR Sesto Fiorentino
Contact: Sergio Bruno Ricciarini (s.ricciarini [at] ifac.cnr.it) and Valentina Raimondi (v.raimondi [at] ifac.cnr.it)
Technologies for space applications require an extensive study and accurate design in order to provide cutting edge performances and compliance with environmental conditions expected during both launch and in-orbit operation (mechanical stresses, thermal and vacuum conditions, radiation environment, electromagnetic compatibility). This in turn implies the execution of qualification tests that require specific expertise to be carried out.
Within the PhD the candidate will work on one or more of the following themes:
(a) design, implementation and laboratory characterization of electronics dedicated to analog signal read-out and/or digital data processing for a specific space application (e.g. charged particle or photon detector, optical system);
(b) system modelling, data simulations and analysis of technologies for the development of optical payloads for Earth Observation, with an emphasis on the study of very compact instrumentation;
(c) planning, execution and data analysis for mechanical / thermal / vacuum / irradiation / electromagnetic qualification tests performed on electronics or electro-optical systems.
(5C) Space compliant LGAD sensors
Funding institution: Fondazione Bruno Kessler
Doctoral site: FBK- Trento; University of Trento
Contact: Matteo Centis Vignali (mcentisvignali [at] fbk.eu) and Paolo Zuccon (paolo.zuccon [at] unitn.it)
Low Gain Avalanche Diodes (LGADs) are silicon sensors that feature internal charge gain.
These sensors were initially developed to provide the time information of tracks at high luminosity colliders, with performances reaching single hit time resolutions of a few tens of picoseconds for minimum ionizing particles.
These timing capabilities can find applications in spaceborne experiments like: particle identification through time of flight, distinction between incoming and outgoing particles, identification of splash back and punch through of showers in the calorimeter systems, identification of electromagnetic and hadronic showers by observation of the splash back and punch through from calorimeters.
A first production of LGADs dedicated to space applications was completed at Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK) and is currently being characterized.
The activities of this position will be focused on completing the characterization of this first batch, and on the qualification tests to determine whether the LGAD sensors are flight-ready.
The sensor characterization will be mainly performed in the laboratories of University of Trento and FBK.
The lessons learned in the sensor characterization and qualification will be reflected in the design of future sensors dedicated to spaceborne experiments.
Within the timeframe of this position, a second batch of LGADs for space will be produced and characterized.
(5D) Design and prototype characterization of innovative high energy particle detectors for space application
Funding institution: Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN)
Doctoral site: INFN- Bari - INFN- Rome Tor Vergata
Contact: Fabio Gargano (fabio.gargano [at] ba.infn.it) and Roberta Sparvoli (roberta.sparvoli [at] roma2.infn.it)
The next generation of space missions, aimed at studying the charged and neutral cosmic radiation, will require highly innovative high-energy particle detectors.
The research activity of this PhD will be focused on a detector design based on scintillators, readout by Silicon Photomultipliers, to detect gamma-rays and charged particles from the MeV up to the GeV/TeV energy region.
The doctoral work will be organized in a first phase, dedicated to simulations of the detector geometry and its expected performance. In this phase it will be essential to use Montecarlo packages typical in high energy physics (Geant4, Fluka ...).
The work will continue in a second phase in which the detector prototype will be produced, assembled and tested.
The PhD activity will fit the space projects supported by INFN.
(5E) Photonic Integrated Sensor Systems for Space Applications
Funding institution: Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna
Doctoral site: Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna (Pisa)
Contact: Claudio Oton (c.oton [at] santannapisa.it) and Fabrizio Di Pasquale (f.dipasquale [at] santannapisa.it)
Silicon photonics (SiPh) provides a disruptive technology for reducing the size, weight, cost and energy consumption of optical fiber telecommunication and photonic sensor systems. SiPh ensures in fact low-cost and high-volume production, complimentary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) compatibility and potential for monolithic integration with electronics. The most widely developed platform utilizes Si-on-Insulator (SOI) nanowire waveguides and has been extended to include integrated active components such as modulators and photodetectors.
SOI based photonic integrated circuits (PICs) are particularly attracting for industrial sectors requiring mass production such as automotive, sensing, computing and datacom markets. Addressing the design and development of radiation-hard PICs for sensing in space applications will be the main subject of this PhD. Although preliminary results have recently pointed out the SiPh potential for operation in harsh environment characterized by large ionizing radiation, further studies are required to fully validate and qualify the technology for space missions and particle accelerators.
(5F) Modular observatories to study the most energetic events in the Universe
Funding institution: University of Palermo
Doctoral site: Palermo
Contact: Alessandro Busacca (alessandro.busacca [at] unipa.it), Giovanni Marsella (giovanni.marsella [at] unipa.it) and Fabio Reale (fabio.reale [at] unipa.it)
This project regards the study of high-energy astrophysics phenomena, the most energetic events in the Universe. In particular the observation in the X-ray-Gamma-ray band of systems containing a compact object, i.e. a black hole or a neutron star, such as X-ray binaries, Gamma-ray Bursts, etc. and the search for the electromagnetic counterparts of Gravitational-Wave events, produced by the merging of two compact objects. This study will be performed through dedicated observations obtained with the available to date X-ray and Gamma-ray observatories.
Furthermore, a part of this project will regard the study of the performances of an all-sky monitor for high energy astrophysics (hard X-ray/soft gamma-ray) made up of several small satellites (CubeSats for instance) equipped with off-the-shelf instruments and able to locate impulsive events with a triangulation technique very similar to that used by the gravitational antennae, such as the HERMES (High-Energy Rapid Modular Ensemble of Satellite) constellation. This was financed by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and the European Community (through a H2020 project) in order to build a technological and scientific pathfinder made up of six nano-satellites in Low Earth Orbit. The HERMES Pathfinder should be launched and start operations by the end of 2023, demonstrating the feasibility to build a high-energy all-sky monitor in a few years from the mission concept to the operative phase.
This PhD project will contribute to the HERMES project through simulations, in order to address its capabilities, and possibly analyzing the first data from the constellations as soon as it will start operation.
(5G) Design, simulation and test of a not-imaging space detector devoted to cosmic-rays studies
Funding institution: University of Salento
Doctoral site: Lecce
Contact: Francesco De Palma (francesco.depalma [at] unisalento.it)
Space detectors are fundamental instruments for the understanding of cosmic ray (CR) origin and composition. Several detectors have already taken data on orbit and our knowledge of cosmic radiation has improved significantly in the last decades. A new CR space detector to be relevant to the field will need to precisely measure CR spectra and mass composition in a large energy range and to have large acceptance and sensitivity for gamma-rays. Those goals require the design, the simulation and the test of new and challenging sub-detectors.