The Radar and Surveillance Systems (RaSS) National Laboratory is a branch of the National Interuniversity Consortium for Telecommunications (CNIT) which is a noprofit organization of 38 Italian Universities, founded in 1995 with the aim of coordinating and promoting advanced training and theoretical and applied research activities in the field of Telecommunication and Applied Electromagnetism. The RaSS Lab was instituted in Pisa, in December 2010, by CNIT, to acknowledge the intense and remarkable research activity in the field of Radar, Applied Electromagnetism and Remote Sensing carried out by a team of researchers from Tuscan Universities, and in particular from the University of Pisa. The RaSS Lab became fully operational at the end of 2011. The Laboratory, which takes up an area of about 200 m2, gets together professors from Tuscan Universities, CNIT research and technical-administrative staff and some consultants, and it is an important reference point for doctoral candidates and research benefit recipients.

RaSS has been involved both as leader as well as participant in several national and international research projects, funded by MoD (Ministry of defence), EDA (European Defence Agency). MIUR (Ministry of Education), MISE (Ministry of Economic Development), EU FP7, H2020, ESA, ASI, Tuscany Region, NCIA (NATO), Italian Industries like LEONARDO, MBDA, VITROCISET, INTERMARINE, GEM, E-GEOS, others. Most of the RaSS projects led to the production of technological demonstrators at TRL 5-6.

RaSS participates in the NATO SET panel meetings, in several NATO SET (Sensor Electronic Technologies) Task Groups, and in EDA CapTechs.

RaSS is also a member of the AFCEA (Armed Forces Communications & Electronics Association) through CNIT and is a partner of the Cluster “Trasporti Italia 2020”.

As a consequence of the high-level technological capabilities reached by RaSS, some researchers founded a CNIT and Univ. of Pisa spin-off company called ECHOES for the production of multichannel radar for civilian and military applications.

RaSS is strongly involved and participates in research and experimental activities at the JCC lab. “Ugo Tiberio”, a joint Italian navy CSSN and CNIT laboratory.

MISSION

The RaSS Lab carries out applied research activity in the field of radar, applied electromagnetism, remote sensing, telecommunication, signal processing and network security.

The RaSS Lab is organized in research areas, instrumental laboratories, security office, secretariat, quality control and public relation offices. Specifically, the current research areas are: namely radar systems, radar signal/image processing, remote sensing, antenna, electromagnetic modelling & materials, explorative areas.

Most of the RaSS Lab projects led to the production of technological demonstrators at TRL 5-6.

ECHOES s.r.l.

As a consequence of the high-level technological capabilities reached by the RaSS Lab, a CNIT spin-off company called ECHOES s.r.l has been created in July 2015 for the development of low emission, small size and low energy consumption radar systems.

ECHOES research activities mainly focus on harbour surveillance and environmental and structural monitoring. ECHOES aims at bringing to market solutions and skills developed in the field of scientific research. ECHOES focuses mainly on radar imaging (SAR, ISAR), multichannel and multistatic systems, detection and tracking processing, Automatic Target Recognition and Change Detection.

The innovation proposed by ECHOES is in the components of the radar system and software solutions for signal processing. The products offered by ECHOES exploit frequencies within the X and Ku-band (8-18 GHz). Also the use of compact and stationary antennas minimizes the footprint of each sensor allowing its easy installation on existing structures thus reducing installation costs. The ECHOES’ products are the result of years of research and prototyping. These prototypes were designed, developed and tested in the field at national and international research projects, where innovation and efficiency of such devices were the added value compared to existing products on the market.

ECHOES s.r.l. website