Tuscany Region calls - QUASAR
“QUASAR – QUantitative Analysis for Services and Assets Reliability”
co-funded by POR-FESR Tuscany 2014–2020, Priority Axis 1 – Action 1.1.5 sub A1 – Call 2 “Research and development projects for MSMEs”.
A wide range of industrial and manufacturing organisations operating in “business-critical” domains (e.g. Smart City, Industrial Manufacturing, Environmental Monitoring) have embarked on a path of innovation and maturity that has often led to the adoption of “complex” hardware/software systems, capable of responding dynamically to the changes dictated by the evolution of internal processes while ensuring continuous alignment between IT/OT systems and the business.
The QUASAR project aims to develop a platform supporting the digitalisation of asset-management processes in Industry 4.0 contexts, advancing the JARVIS framework through quantitative diagnostic and predictive analysis methods based on data and on models derived from artefacts of industrial practice, and connecting the digital-twin representation of an asset with that of operation and maintenance workflows, through a software architecture adaptable to a variety of product types, product lines and specific configurations. This will be achieved by leveraging advanced “enterprise” software solutions:
- a digital “plant logbook”, understood as an executable representation able to characterise hierarchies of complex systems, both in terms of product line and in terms of failure-propagation logic, and accompanied by information such as observations and measurements of the operating and logistical-geographical conditions of internal assets;
- an extension of the Workflow and Trouble Ticketing modules of LASCAUX’s AskMe Desk product, delivering an ITIL 4-compliant IT Asset Management system integrated with the digital “plant logbook”;
- an ecosystem of analysis agents able to perform asset reliability assessments at “runtime”, in order to monitor correct operation under steady-state conditions, and “offline”, in order to support the design or refinement of new or existing systems;
- a “cloud” environment for release and execution according to the paradigm dictated by service-oriented architectures.
The project will produce a prototype of SW modules to finalise a concrete instance of the platform, carrying out experiments in business-critical operating contexts (Smart City, electrical-panel production chains, telecommunications services).
QUASAR, by aiming to leverage the research results of the Tuscan manufacturing system, is consistent with the technology roadmap “ICT applications and services for industry and technology transfer” (cloud computing, business intelligence, smart manufacturing).
The project is carried out by an association of companies and research bodies with diversified expertise: software and information systems (LASCAUX, UNIFI-DINFO), HW/SW systems for Smart City (SISMIC), asset and workflow management (ESSETI, LASCAUX), and technical-scientific experience in the field of models, quantitative methods, machine learning and Software Engineering (UNIFI-DINFO).
Total project cost: €1,499,275.45
Total grant awarded: €674,673.95
