The RIVOLI project (Inertial & Vision Research for Indoor Localization) proposed by iXblue and ONERA is aimed at developing a pedestrian localization system for non-collaborative indoor / outdoor environment and test it during the 3 competitions of the MALIN Challenge. RIVOLI is based on the recognized iXblue know-how in navigation systems and ONERA know-how in embedded vision algorithms. The hardware solution is based on these two main components: - an iXblue compact FOG50 inertial navigation system (FOG = Fiber Optic Gyroscope), having a high performance (0.1°/h) within a small volume - an ONERA 3D vision system measuring displacements and building up environment map The first objective is to design progressively a smart hybridization between inertial and vision data through the successive competitions, in order to maintain high position accuracy. The intrinsic high INS precision can maintain localization accuracy during outages of the vision measurements (in case of bad visibility or indoor-outdor transitions). Around the core inertial-vision solution, additional sensors will be evaluated in order to improve robustness and performance of the RIVOLI system: additional vision sensors, podometers, Doppler velocity sensors, etc… Selecting the right additional sensors for the Challenge will be done after a multi-criterion analysis looking at cost, volume, consumption, hardware and firmware integration facility, and contribution to the localization accuracy. The consortium proposes a first INS / vision efficient solution able tomeet the Challenge objectives. Nevertheless, the objective is to improve this solution in order to maintain requested accuracy while scenarios difficulties increase. For each competition, an upgraded system will be integrated, including the recent research advances:use of already mapped environment for position update in the second competition and a global fusion with all additional sensors in the last one. The RIVOLI project takes place in an operational context of a civilian or military pedestrian moving in a non-cooperative or even hostile environment with a need for a metric localization precision and an environment mapping, easy-to-use and as cheap as possible. Operational constraints, ergonomy and adequate INS performance/cost ratio will be key drivers during the whole project in order to reach at end of project the most efficient solutions. The RIVOLI project proposed by iXblue and ONERA satisfies all the requirements of the MALIN Challenge by mixing innovation and experiments. At the end of the project, both partners’ developments will benefit from technological improvements that can lead to future military or civilian applications dealing with 3D mapping and localization of a pedestrian in an unknown environment.

The objective of our proposal is to design and develop a multi-domain/multi-method computation method that is a suitable response to the great simulation challenges posed by the complexity of industrial electromagnetic applications. The areas of application are complex on-board antennas, electromagnetic compatibility and radar signatures. We need to solve Maxwell’s equations efficiently in the harmonic regime in a domain that is unbounded and at a potentially very high frequency. The number of unknowns to be determined is considerable. On the other hand, the heterogeneous scales typical of complex industrial objects prevent the employment of a “universal” method.. The proposal is on a new method of calculation by sub-domains that should remove these difficulties by fully exploiting the massively parallel architectures of future computers. Each domain will be defined so as to be able to use a specialized solver dedicated to its treatment. The design of well conditioned solvers will enable to use efficiently iterative methods The scientific heart of our proposal is the preconditioning of large linear electromagnetic systems. The conditioning problem will be taken into account from the design of the equations, meaning at the continuous problem formulation level rather than after its discretisation.

Nowadays the Internet is a prominent staple in providing youth with learning, entertainment and interactions. Taking advantage of the same dynamics, terrorist groups have begun to reach out to youngsters in an attempt to spread messages of hate and violence or even find potential recruits on the Internet. Bringing together researchers from sociology, linguistic, and artificial intelligence and BERTIN IT, a French software publisher, FLYER aims at creating effective solutions for cyberspace exploration. The project is coordinated by ONERA, an EPIC involved in various security related projects at national and Europe level, and the consortium was built in an effort to combine fundamental research contributions and innovation efforts towards efficient solutions to nowadays problems. FLYER is scheduled to run over two years as a joint research project, and its objective is twofold. First, it addresses the analysis of online extremist content as highlighted by sources of indoctrination, messages and conversations in the French-speaking cyberspace. The goal is to acquire specific knowledge about online extremist content and to shade light on underlying social models and their specific forms of communication. FLYER focuses on radicalized and far right extremism specific content. The second objective is the implementation of innovative solutions for cyberspace exploration. FLYER aims at implementing methods for in-depth characterization of online content, according to domain specific concepts and the subjective engagement expressed by users. In particular, FLYER uses models and resources created by researchers in sociology and linguistics as a solid background to develop procedures for the automatic characterization of digital content (messages, conversations) from lexical, discursive and semantic points of view. For online content filtering and exploration FLYER adopts Adaptive Supervised Learning (ASL), a hybrid paradigm augmenting learning algorithms with adaptation mechanisms acquiring new descriptors, in order to acknowledge and cope with domain evolution. By adopting ASL, the project will provide unprecedented capabilities for a systematic exploration of online content. From a practical standpoint, FLYER aims at offering support to users tackling the propagation of extremist content online: sociology and sociolinguistics researchers can use the tool to detect both relevant website content and ongoing chatting or messaging, to investigate specific patterns of online content, to describe radical conversations and narratives, to build, enrich or validate their models. Intelligence analysts and homeland security experts can use the tool for a more accurate exploration of the cyberspace and for empirical validation of their hypotheses. In addition to breakthrough in research, FLYER can have commercial impact, as the consortium integrates BERTIN IT, a French software publisher which can accelerate the integration of developed functionalities into final products. Thanks to synergies within the consortium, FLYER will deliver several results going beyond the state of art, as well as technological building blocks whose practical usage will reveal new findings on the societal and technological issues at the frontier between real and virtual environments. Results of FLYER can impact the civilian domain, where the project can offer support to mediators of social networks. Military applications are also to be expected, as technological blocks can be used to build intelligence solutions for intelligence and homeland security.

This proposal involves the « Laser Spike » concept which uses femtosecond laser filaments to produce linear energy deposition upstream of a supersonic body. First, this study addresses the topic of supersonic commercial air transport, in the context of the so called “low-boom” supersonic aircrafts. Second, it also concerns the topic of drag reduction and steering of supersonic projectiles. The consortium gathered in this proposal demonstrated experimentally for the first time the effect of a single femtosecond laser pulse in a M = 3 supersonic airflow. The experiment showed that a femtosecond laser pulse could reduce the instantaneous drag of blunt bodies by more the 50%. The present proposal seeks to further this study using a new femtosecond laser producing femtosecond laser pulses at a high repetition rate. The aims are to: • Obtain a deeper understanding of the gas heating caused by the femtosecond laser pulse, using in particular simulation tools and advanced diagnostics, • Demonstrate a reduction of the mean drag thanks to the laser high repetition rate, • Assess the control authority of the laser spike to produce a side force that could be used for steering and trajectory control. This project will enhance our understanding of the femtosecond laser pulse energy deposition in supersonic airflow. It will quantify the performances of the laser spike in repetitive mode. It will also provide the models and diagnostics required to extrapolate and critically analyze the laser spike performances for operational systems.

The proposed project offers opportunities to explore, discover and develop new classes of compositionally complex alloys called High-Entropy Alloys (HEAs) – whose name emphasizes their inherent high mixing entropy. HEAs are a promising way toward the development of new and innovative metallurgy. Based on a real breakthrough from traditional materials concepts, the alloy design considers the formation of simple solid solution(s) with the mixing of multi-principal elements. The resulting materials have advanced properties, as they are likely to form distorted (solid solutions) phases with thermally stable microstructures with tremendous solid solution strengthening. The project is a premiere in France, aimed at investigating HEAs capability for turbomachine applications for aerospace industry and especially low-pressure turbines (LPTs) in the 800-1000°C temperature range. The design of new high potential HEAs systems with significantly improved properties requires a multi-scale approach and a suitable combination of experiments. The ambitious nature of the proposal lies in this approach and also focuses on scientific axes, considered since decades as expertise domains of the involved partners: from the chemical metallurgy (formulation and preparation) to the properties through microstructure investigations and the understanding of the microstructure/mechanical properties relationships.