The rise of digital services and products, the continuous interconnection in the Internet-of-Things (IoT), as well as the growing role of AI in every aspect of modern life, create new technological challenges which require advanced products and production processes. These challenges establish significant needs for advanced Electronic Components and Systems (ECS) and energy efficient and high-speed edge/cloud computing infrastructures. Furthermore, the advancement of High Automated Driving sets important requirements for Level 4 and 5, which the current radar technology cannot meet because of lack of resolution, classification, segmentation, localization, and mapping.

These needs are translated also in new production processes and methods in the Semiconductor Industry, which over the years has recognized the potential sequences of the challenging physical limitations they face to maintain performance in a Moore’s Law-like rate. For that reason, heterogenous integration (HI) has been adopted in chips architecture, packaging and interconnection of different components.

HiCONNECTS aims to address the above issues, by developing various solutions in computing infrastructure and sensor technology. The two main objectives of the project are: 

• Support major societal and industrial challenges by developing heterogenous integration (HI) core technology solutions for energy-efficient and high-performance wireless/wired cloud and edge computing, as well as automotive radar to solve two of the main state-of- the-art roadblocks: the transmission of IoT data over the IT network and sensing of objects to enable Highly Automated Driving (HAD). 

• Use these HI components to develop solutions in societal and economical important areas, with major focus on RF technologies (5G/6G and radar) and IT data growth infrastructure (networking cards and switches) for the advancement of vertical sectors such as connected vehicles, smart cities, and connected industry

Moreover, the project will actively support the development of heterogenous integration standards, critical to the success of European companies on domestic and foreign markets. The partners will perform development of standards recommendations within Industry 4.0 and Semiconductor industry.

In the main areas of Public Health and Safety and Automotive and Smart Cities, the project will demonstrate its solutions in key application use-cases. These include Life Science and Health, Public Protection and Disaster Relief, Smart Logistics and Digital Twining, Smart Construction Connectivity and Connected and Autonomous Mobility.

ITML’s role in the project

ITML is a technology provider in the project, focusing on the development of a data management tool to support an Order Manager System in Smart Logistics and Digital Twining use-case. Additionally, ITML contributes to the validation and evaluation of AI-based algorithms. The tool will ensure efficient, scalable and secure exchange and distribution of messages from different components, while it will provide permanent storage for access to historical data regarding the transport orders.

For more information, visit the official project website: https://www.hiconnects.org/

Acknowledgments

The project HICONNECTS has received funding from the Chips Joint Undertaking (Chips JU) and its members (including top-up funding by the National Authority of Greece, General Secretariat for Research and Innovation – GSRI) under Grant Agreement No. 101097296. The action is also implemented within the framework of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan “Greece 2.0”, with funding from the European Union – NextGenerationEU.