Research teams from Poland and Belgium-Flanders will receive nearly PLN 3.3 million for their research projects investigating holography, cyclostationary signals and mystery of matter-antimatter asymmetry in the universe. The three proposals have been evaluated by the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO) and the evaluation results were approved by the NCN under the Weave collaboration.
Ultra-High Definition Holography
Prof. Dr hab. inż. Tomasz Kozacki from the Warsaw University of Technology, together with his team, will analyse ultra‐wide‐angle holography and ultra-high definition holography representing groundbreaking technologies. This type holography solves the primary shortcoming of conventional 3D displays that lies in the vergence‐accommodation conflict by providing an extended visual field of view bigger than 100°. Enabled by extremely dense light modulators, colour holography, and advanced processing algorithms, the encoding and display of large 3D objects in ultra-high quality becomes feasible, albeit at the cost of enormous computational demands and the need for novel methods of data acquisition, generation, and compression. The UltraHolo project addresses these challenges by developing a complete system, spanning from hologram generation and management through displays based on a resolution of 16K × 16K and a sub‐wavelength pixel pitch of 250 nm as well as quality assessment toolsets. The overall goal is to enhance achievement of a realistic and immersive 3D visualization systems in education, health, design, architecture and entertainment applications. The project budget of the Polish research team is over PLN 650,000. The Flemish research team from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel will be headed by Peter Schelkens.
Signals Exhibiting Natural Rhythm and Periodicity
Another awarded project will be pursued by Dr hab. inż. Agnieszka Wyłomańska from the Wrocław University of Science and Technology. Together with her research team, she will address the advanced signal processing techniques for cyclostationary modelling. The project focuses on the development of advanced methods for analysing signals exhibiting natural rhythm or periodicity in the presence of strong interference, both typical (Gaussian) noise and more challenging impulsive noise. Researchers aim to better understand the sources of such signals and interference, develop realistic mathematical models and algorithms enabling their detection, description and cleaning, for example by separating overlapping signals, segmentation or classification. The new, noise-robust representations, including generalised frequency- frequency maps, will be analysed for their accuracy and computational complexity. Although universal, those methods will be evaluated on the basis of rotating machinery, where the analysis of cyclostationary signals allows to detect faults in gears and rolling element bearings. The new tools will enable detection of cyclostationary signal sources, but also support further processing, e.g. identification of the frequency band containing the most diagnostically useful information, improving detection of faults in laboratories and under industrial conditions. The Polish research team will receive nearly PLN 1.3 million for the three-year project. Konstantinos Gryllias from the KU Leuven will head the Flemish research team.
Matter-Antimatter Asymmetry
The last project awarded in this round aims to develop Monte Carlo generators for future neutrino oscillation experiments. The Polish research team will be headed by Prof. Dr hab. Jan Sobczyk from the University of Wrocław, while Natalie Jachowicz from the Ghent University will head the Flemish research team. Over PLN 600,00 has been awarded for the Polish part of the project. Researches will address the mystery of matter-antimatter asymmetry in our universe which is currently attempted with, for example, neutrino-oscillation experiments. In Europe, the ESSnuSB+ collaboration is preparing for a contribution to this quest. Leveraging the unique opportunities offered by the intense neutrino beams that can be produced at the European Spallation Source, the collaboration proposes to measure this asymmetry at the second neutrino oscillation maximum with discovery precision, which primarily operates with neutrino energies ranging from 200 to 300 MeV, where conventional tools fall sort. The project aims to extend the neutrino simulation tool NuWro, grounded in microscopic theoretical models developed in Ghent, to fill this caveat and enable investigation of basic neutrino physics.
Weave-UNISONO and Lead Agency Procedure
Weave-UNISONO is a result of multilateral cooperation between the research-funding agencies associated in Science Europe and aims at simplifying the submission and selection procedures in all academic disciplines, involving researchers from two or three European countries.
The winning applicants are selected pursuant to the Lead Agency Procedure according to which one partner institution performs a complete merit-based evaluation of proposals, the results of which are subsequently approved by the other partners.
Under the Weave Programme, partner research teams apply for parallel funding to the Lead Agency and their respective institutions participating in the Programme. Joint research projects must include a coherent research program with the added value of the international cooperation clearly identified.
Weave-UNISONO is carried out on an ongoing basis. Research teams intending to cooperate with partners from Austria, Czechia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Germany, Luxembourg and Belgium-Flanders are urged to read the call text and apply for funding.