Antonio Di Stefano

An FPGA-Based adaptive fuzzy coprocessor

The architecture of a general purpose fuzzy logic coprocessor and its implementation on an FPGA based System on Chip is described. Thanks to its ability to support a fast dynamic reconfiguration of all its parameters, it is suitable for implementing adaptive fuzzy logic algorithms, or for the execution of different fuzzy algorithms in a time sharing fashion. The high throughput obtained using a pipelined structure and the efficient data organization allows significant increase of the computational capabilities strongly desired in applications with hard real-time constraints.

A low power and high resolution data logger for submarine seismic monitoring

The design, implementation and characterization of a digital waveform recorder for ocean bottom seismic monitoring is here reported. The system is capable of synchronously acquiring, and logging on a flash memory bank, four high resolution signals. Thanks to a very careful design of the system architecture and by using robust digital signal processing techniques, two main conflicting issues have been addressed: a high dynamic range, better than 120dB, usually obtained with high energy demanding converters, and a power consumption as low as 250mW, hence allowing to easily increase the time of a continuous submarine monitoring session up to 3months.

A novel partial discharge detection system based on wireless technology

A novel Partial Discharge detection system is here described. The system employs a special wideband antenna as a sensor, allowing to sense either Partial Discharges pulses either the AC supply voltage at a distance from the component under test, so avoiding the need of direct connection or component shutdown. Thanks to its wireless nature and small physical dimensions, the system enables to perform accurate on-line Partial Discharge diagnosis even in circumstances where conventional instrumentation would be impractical to use, so greatly extending the applicability of this diagnostic method.

An embedded datalogger with a fast acquisition rate for in-vehicle testing and monitoring

A very compact and high performance datalogger for automotive in-vehicle testing is here described. The small logger dimensions and the availability of a CAN interface allows to easily implement multiple and distributed acquisition schemes, very challenging with traditional instrumentation. High acquisition rate, up to 100 Ksps/ch, and low cost was obtained through a very accurate hardware and software design.

High Resolution Time Domain Reflectometry for Dielectric State Monitoring in High Voltage Cables

A high resolution Time Domain Reflectometry system has been designed in order to investigate the possibility of measuring with good accuracy the dielectric properties of high voltage cables insulator materials by means of Time-of-Flight measures. The system employs a dedicated Time-To-Digital Converter in order to achieve a time resolution of 90 ps. By exploiting averaging techniques the resolution has been further increased. Experimental results showed the possibility of measuring the dielectric constant with a resolution of 0.03%.