The infrastructure programme carried out by Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science  (UM FERI) provides a support research environment and infrastructure in the broad field of electrical engineering, electronics, automation, computer science and informatics. The infrastructure programme at UM FERI is organized into 5 sub-sections:

1)  Photonics and micro/nanoelectronics

This research infrastructure provides support in the area of Key Enabling Technologies (KETs). It includes critical infrastructure for the development of advanced photonic technologies and components in the field of micro and nano-electronic, as well as micro-optoelectronic systems. The objectives of this sub-section are:

• enabling state-of-the-art capabilities for research, experimental fabrication, testing and manipulation of complex engineering micro and nanostructures, including photonic micro-devices, sensors, MOEMS, MEMS, micro and nano-electronic structures and other similar micro and nano systems,
• providing advanced facilities for the micromachining of optical fibers and other silicon glass structures into complex photonic devices and structures,
• establishing facilities for the experimental development of advanced special optical fibers, capillaries, and fiber-related structures,
• providing key measuring equipment to support research in the field of photonics and micro and nano systems.

2) RF and microwave technology

The aim of the infrastructure programme in this segment is to provide access to complex and otherwise hard-to-reach RF/microwave equipment. This segment thus directly supports research and development in the field of modern space, radar, telecommunication, sensing, and optical technologies. Research infrastructure within this part includes equipment for experimental work in the field of terahertz waves and comprises of terahertz transmitters, generators, and receivers. The equipment allows the implementation and analysis of various experiments in the frequency range between 600 GHz and 1.5 THz, such as spectral absorption and refractive index measurements. The platform is modular and enables the development of different solutions within THz range. Equipment within this part also includes a high-performance oscilloscope (0-40 GHz) with an optical module, lock-in amplifier, and spectrum analyzer for the frequency range between 1 and 60 GHz, allowing for operation in the most demanding RF/microwave frequency range.  Part of the equipment is also the georadar for the analysis beneath the earth’s surface and similar applications.

3) Active electricity networks and energy efficiency

This set of infrastructure programme equipment aims to enable advanced and highly demanding research and development work in transforming existing power-grids and solutions for (self) energy supply, necessary for the transition to carbon-neutral green energy supply. The individual components of the infrastructure programme equipment set, properly connected in an interlaced system, enable unique functionalities, not available anywhere else in the radius of at least 500 km.

4) Advanced materials

Establishment of a new research unit at UM FERI, which will carry out interdisciplinary research by combining fields of material, engineering and natural sciences, is one of the objectives of the infrastructure programme, pertaining to the division of Advance materials. The existing infrastructure enables research pertaining to a wide variety of functional materials (nanoparticles, coatings, porous matrices and polymer composites), as well as comprehensive analysis of material building blocks’ processing characteristics and developed products’ functional properties. Two main research directions in the field of Advance material will be given special attention: material design in the field of low-carbon technologies including research in the filed of energy-efficient materials (phase change materials, absorption coatings, battery and fuel cell components) and the integration of sensor and telecommunication systems into polymer matrices for means of wearable technologies. The available research infrastructure can support basic research as well as applied research and development activities.

5) Advanced computer science through environmental simulations

The work package Advanced computer science through environmental simulations will provide support for the design and implementation of new algorithms for performing environmental simulations using data obtained by remote sensing systems, such as LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging). To parallelize the algorithms, the existing infrastructure, which includes the new VEGA and Maister supercomputers at UM, would be used to a greater extent. The new environmental simulation algorithms would be largely based on the improved Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) method, where a new methodology would be developed to enrich fluid particles and simulate domain boundary conditions with additional information from structured low-level geospatial data.