Francesco Picariello

The research activities of Ph.D. Francesco Picariello is in the Electrical and Electronic Measurement field.

His activities are focused on the design, implementation, and experimental assessment of: (i) mobile measurement systems, (ii) wireless sensor networks, (iii) data acquisition systems based on compressed sensing, (iv) signal processing, (v) and image processing. These research activities were applied to: (i) intelligent transportation systems (ITSs), (ii) aerial photogrammetry based on UAV, (iii) indoor navigation, (iv) motion tracking and Range Of Motion (ROM) measurements, (v) power consumption analysis of processors, (vi) wideband data acquisition systems, (vii) data acquisition systems for physiological monitoring.

The research activities can be classified as follows:

1. Development and metrological characterization of mobile measurement systems based on smartphones;
2. Development of uncertainty models related to measurement systems based on UAV;
3. Development and metrological characterization of distributed measurement systems;
4. Development and metrological characterization of wideband data acquisition systems;
5. Development of measurement systems for critical applications.

His contributions in the development and the metrological characterization of mobile measurement systems based on smartphones are: (i) the analysis of the state of the art of measurement systems based on smartphones and their classification, (ii) the development of a measurement system, which measures the energy consumption of processors embedded on mobile platforms, and (iii) the development of a method for the compensation of the magnetic disturbance effects on the measurements provided by magnetometers embedded on smartphones.

The development of uncertainty models related to measurement systems based on UAV was carried out with the following research contributions: (i) the analysis of the state of the art of mobile measurement systems based on UAV, (ii) the metrological characterization of ultrasonic sensors embedded on UAV for altitude measurements, (iii) the development of automatic measurement systems for the assessment of the electrical and mechanical performance of small UAVs, and (iv) the development of a mathematical model for the estimation of the measurement uncertainty in case of aerial photogrammetry of the 3D reconstruction of archeological sites.

The research activity related to the ultrasonic altimeters was carried out in collaboration with the University of Naples “Parthenope”. The research activity related to the assessment of the electrical and mechanical performance of small UAVs was carried out in collaboration with the D.P.M. Elettronica S.r.l. and the Military University of Technology of Warsaw (Poland).

The development and metrological characterization of distributed measurement systems included: (i) the design and the hardware implementation of an ITS applied on guardrails, (ii) the design of a structural health monitoring systems for bridges based on the IoT paradigm, (iii) the development of a body area sensor network (BASN) for the implementation of a motion tracking system, and (iv) the development of a wearable device embedded on a T-shirt for the monitoring of physiological parameters.

The development and metrological characterization of wideband data acquisition systems included: (i) the implementation of a data acquisition system based on compressed sensing, and (ii) the development of a method for the measurement of the frequency response of wideband data acquisition systems.

In particular, this last activity has been carried out in collaboration with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for the development of an accurate phase measurement system for sinewave signals, and with Keysight Laboratories for the implementation of a compressive sampling-based method for estimating the impulse response of a wireline communication channel.

The development of measurement systems for critical applications included: (i) the analysis of the state of the art of measurement systems and sensors working at cryogenic temperature, and (ii) the development of a measurement system for the mechanical loss measurement of a tungsten wire at cryogenic temperatures.

The former activity was carried out in collaboration with the CH-1211 section of the CERN Institute, while the latter one was carried out in collaboration with the University of Tokyo.