Innovative Projects Realized

Digital Design & Presence for ScopeSys, an early stage UBC spin-out company.

The project aims to enhance ScopeSys’ brand and digital presence, ultimately benefiting the company by improving its market position and attracting potential partners, collaborators, and investors. This includes developing a new logo, brand guidelines, pitch deck, one-pager, and website. These efforts will clearly showcase ScopeSys’ technology and capabilities, leading to increased recognition and trust, accelerated scientific discoveries, and stronger engagement with the research community and investors .

Design and development of information systems for Nova Scotia’s Women’s Centres

Women’s Centres Connect is the Nova Scotia provincial association of 9 Women’s Centres. It articulates common activities, concerns, and needs, and coordinates association activities and information sharing among Women’s Centres. Nova Scotia Women’s Centres provide services and programs based on the identified needs of women within the community of each Centre and continue to grow as the demand for them increases. They provide women with the information and support they need to make informed decisions for themselves and their children.

The Centres collect data on their services but currently, there is no standardized way to keep track of such data and each Centre employs its own data entry approaches. Also, the existing system that the Centres use to generate reports will be discontinued, and the challenge that the Centres face is now significantly amplified.

Toward the goal of standardizing the data entry processes and replacing the current report-generating system, the project will build an information system that can be used across all the Centres and that allows for report generation.

Projet d’augmentation de la puissance de 96W à 192W

Fondée en 2020, AWL-E a pour mission de commercialiser des solutions de transmission d’énergie sans fil grâce à sa technologie unique offrant plus de distance, de puissance et d’efficacité à ses utilisateurs. L’entreprise se concentre sur l’implémentation de ses inventions aux applications à fort impact social et économique. AWL-Électricité travaille actuellement au développement d’un chargeur sans fil dans le domaine de la mobilité en utilisant une technologie de couplage capacitif résonant. Son premier produit consiste à recharger les fauteuils
roulants électriques de résidants de centres pour personnes âgées, pour ainsi améliorer leur autonomie et réduire la charge de travail du personnel soignant.
Dans le but de manufacturer et d’amener un premier produit sur le marché, AWL-E cherche à développer un système de recharge à distance plus efficace en améliorant significativement l’efficacité énergétique de son système, en passant de 30% à 50%. L’objectif principal est de réduire de manière substantielle le temps de recharge de ces fauteuils roulants, offrant ainsi une expérience utilisateur plus fluide et efficiente. Cette amélioration de performance, réalisée grâce à l’implication de nos employés et stagiaires, servira à réduire le temps de recharge des fauteuils roulants électriques et améliorer l’expérience utilisateur. Ce projet est crucial pour l’entreprise, car il augmentera grandement l’efficacité de notre produit, et accéléra sa mise sur le marché. De plus, en ayant des composants plus efficaces, notre produit sera plus attrayant pour les futurs clients et permettra de faire des avancées technologiques afin d’éventuellement viser d’autres marchés.

Développement de coupleurs sur le substrat MnM pour applications en onde millimétriques

Mon stage au sein du laboratoire de microélectronique (LME) du département des systèmes électroniques (PSI) de l’École polytechnique de l’Université de Sao Paulo, (EPUSP) sera d’une durée de quatre mois. Mon mandat sera de développer un dispositif (coupleur) qui sera utilisé dans des systèmes de communication sans fils à courte distance (quelques mètres). Le matériau (substrat) utilisé pour concevoir ce couleur relève d’une technologie développer et breveté par le groupe de recherche du LME en collaboration avec un partenaire français. Les caractéristiques de ce substrat permettrons une conception à faible coût et avec des dimensions réduites. Avant de passer à la réalisation, il me faudra simuler le modèle du dispositif à l’aide de logiciels conçu à cet effet. Cette simulation permet d’apporter les ajustements nécessaires pour optimiser le dispositif.

Inner Alliance: A game for gender-responsive leadership, diversity, inclusivity and readiness in defense and national security teams

The Archipelago of Design (AOD) is a non-profit organization supporting the leading independent network of purpose-driven security practitioners, educators and researchers empowering leaders to shift mindsets for the sustainable evolution of national security organizations across NATO members and partners. This project strategically aligns with AOD’s mission of cultural transformation in defence, security, government, and academic institutions and organizations to better set conditions for inclusivity. The proposed project aims to develop a digital prototype of a squad-based tactics game focused on disaster relief for marketing purposes. The game will covertly teach players about inclusivity and team coherence while they battle their environment. By employing serious game methodology, the project will address urgent issues like climate change and equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in a fun and engaging way. The digital prototype will help AOD showcase the potential of transformative training tools to their extensive security and defense network, illustrating their innovative approach and generating funds to develop the full game experience.

Gestion des eaux pluviales dans le parc Prieur

Le projet de recherche s’intéresse à la problématique de la gestion des eaux pluviales dans l’arrondissement Ahuntsic – Cartierville à Montréal, accentué par l’augmentation des événements de précipitation extrêmes liés aux changements climatiques. Les infrastructures de drainage vieillissantes et les conceptions de l’époque rendent le réseau particulièrement vulnérable. Pour remédier à ces problèmes, deux principales stratégies sont envisagées : l’implantation d’infrastructures vertes favorisant l’infiltration et l’évapotranspiration pour retenir le ruissellement à la source, et la modification de la trajectoire du ruissellement vers des zones moins vulnérables.
Le parc Prieur de l’arrondissement est situé dans une dépression et reçoit naturellement des eaux de ruissellement à la suite d’un événement de précipitation et permet de faire de la rétention de façon temporaire. Pour cette raison, il a été ciblé comme un site potentiel pour implanter des infrastructures vertes et y rediriger un maximum de ruissellement afin de soulager le réseau de drainage existant. Ces travaux de recherche ont pour objectif d’analyser le comportement hydrologique et hydraulique actuel du parc et d’émettre des recommandations pour en maximiser l’efficacité en matière de gestion des eaux pluviales, notamment en y intégrant des infrastructures vertes.

Design and development of low-area high-accuracy controller circuit on ASIC for stabilizing a novel SiP-based external-cavity laser (ECL)

FONEX Data System Inc. is developing solutions to address the challenges that telecommunication service providers face in upgrading their access networks to sustain the growth in data traffic. A key component of these solutions is the development of a low-cost, widely tunable external cavity laser (ECL) utilizing Photonic Integrated Circuit (PIC) technology. A significant advantage of these PIC-based ECLs is their potential for integration with electronic circuits on the same wafer. This inherent compatibility enables a synergistic fusion of photonics and electronics, paving the way for advanced functionalities. In this research, our ultimate objective is to meticulously design a wavelength controller on an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) platform. This specialized ASIC platform is envisioned to serve as a robust control system for the newly developed ECLs. The proposed monolithic integration of electronic and photonic circuits is expected to deliver significant benefits to FONEX customers, including Canadian network operators, by meeting their evolving demands with cutting-edge technology.

Smart Textile Development for Health Monitoring

This project aims to develop a smart textile-based solution for early detection and management of sleep apnea, a condition that significantly impacts health, especially in those with chronic illnesses like heart failure. Traditional diagnostic methods are often inconvenient, uncomfortable, and expensive. To address these challenges, the project focuses on creating a comfortable, non-invasive, and cost-effective alternative using smart wearable textiles.

The project involves developing a smart T-shirt embedded with textile-based dry electrodes to monitor physiological signals such as ECG, body posture, and respiration. The T-shirt prototype will be finalized during a 3-month internship at Lille University, where extensive training in textile engineering and smart textile development will be provided. Afterward, data collection will be conducted in Canada at KITE, UHN, using the new prototype with participants over 40 years old. The study will assess the accuracy of the captured signals compared to traditional methods.

Additionally, the project will explore the development of functional textiles with sensing capabilities for treating sleep apnea, focusing on comfort and effectiveness. These efforts aim to advance the field of smart textiles, offering practical, user-friendly health monitoring solutions that could lead to earlier diagnosis and intervention for sleep apnea, ultimately improving health outcomes and reducing healthcare costs.

Development of Bio-material based Nanocomposite Thermoelectric Generator

Thermoelectric systems can produce electricity using temperature difference and heating/cooling effect using electricity. Thermoelectric systems are basically combination of p and n-type semiconductor materials. Thermoelectric systems have many advantages such as, environment friendly, no moving parts, silent in operation, and long service life. However, at this stage thermoelectric systems have very low efficiency so they are not popular in usage. Nevertheless, high performance thermoelectric systems can be prepared using nanotechnology. Scientists and engineers around the globe have reported high performance nanostructured thermoelectric materials. In addition to this, most of the thermoelectric materials are rare earth materials and they are not abundant. So, our work addresses two problems; (i) develop high performance nanocomposite thermoelectric generator (ii) use agriculture biomass to reduce the use of rare earth materials. The final outcome of this research can benefit many industries such as automotive, aviation, and energy.

Synthesis and Characterization of Functional Magnetic Polymer Beads for Bioapplications

STEMCELL Technologies supports the research of Canadian and international scientists (academic, industrial, clinical) by supplying labs with research tools to investigate research questions tied to some of the most pressing health care needs faced by the Canadian community. STEMCELL’s high quality standards in the cell and biomolecule isolation market are continuously driving the company to improve their products and applications through an advanced understanding of the critical mechanisms involved. The knowledge gained from this research may impact the development of future products for new bio applications. By participating in this MITACS project, STEMCELL Technologies will collaborate with the academic partner, who has a long-standing track record of tackling fundamental research questions pertinent to glycan research.

Developing Smart Technologies for Aging in Place at Home

Transitioning patients from hospital to at-home care is vital for health care operations. However, there is a general concern that these at-risk populations would not be receiving the same level of care at home as they would in a dedicated medical facility. Elderly populations experience a significantly higher risk of readmission after discharge from acute care hospitals. This shows that there is a significant gap in transitioning the care of older adults from hospitals to home/community settings. Adequate and safe rehabilitation requires close monitoring of the patients’ mobility, nutrition, and exercise to complete the recovery process and ensure restoration of independence. This project aims to develop advanced sensing and imaging technologies for smart home monitoring of elderly populations aging-at-home. This includes a full suite of technologies from various sensors, cameras, and other devices that can measure mobility patterns, nutrition intake, as well as provide self-administered physiotherapy in a home setting.

Machine Learning-Based Modeling of Spreading Dynamics in Complex Interfacial Systems

Understanding droplet interactions with surfaces is crucial for large-scale oil recovery, coating industries, and microfluidic devices. To address the remaining challenges, including the need for a universal timescale and improved theoretical and computational models, this project brings together the SoftSimu group at Western University and the Soft Materials Modelling (SMM) group at Aalto University, Finland. The SoftSimu group, led by Prof. Karttunen, specializes in advanced molecular simulations and applying machine learning to bridge theoretical models with practical applications, particularly in elucidating droplet spreading process. The SMM group, a founding member of the Academy of Finland National Center of Excellence in Life-Inspired Hybrid Materials (LIBER), excels in modeling soft materials from the atomistic to mesoscale, leveraging the advanced LUMI supercomputer. In collaboration with experimental groups at LIBER, they have demonstrated the importance of molecular simulations in designing super-slippery coatings. The project aims to (1) develop expertise in simulating surfactant-laden droplets and SAMs-decorated surfaces, (2) enhance daily collaboration with experimental groups at LIBER, and (3) share expertise in modeling wetting dynamics using machine learning. Through this collaborative effort, we aim to advance the fundamental understanding and practical applications of droplet dynamics, ultimately contributing to the development of more effective and innovative technologies.