Luceat

2

LUCEAT

ITALY

Address and references

Luceat S.p.A.

Reference address: Viale G. Marconi 31, 25020 Dello (BS), Italy

Reference person: Alessandro Nocivelli

Phone +39 030 9771 125   Fax +39 030 9971 260

E-mail: alessandro.nocivelli@luceat.it

General description, expertise and role in the project

Luceat S.p.A. has been founded in November 2000 with the purpose of developing and commercializing plastic optical fiber (POF) and POF-based data communication devices. Luceat is partly owned by Metallurgica Bresciana S.p.A., a leading Italian cable manufacturing company. In the last 4 years of operation Luceat invested more than €2,5 million in R&D, which led to the development of cutting-edge POF manufacturing technology. As of today it employs six electronic engineers and two chemists, and is the only company outside Japan with POF manufacturing capabilities, as well as the only company in the world specializing in POF data transmission techniques.

Luceat presently sells its products and consultancy services in several markets: automotive, industrial automation, robotics, video surveillance and networking.

Luceat will provide the consortium with the following:

a)      knowledge in design and production of POF-based transmission devices;

b)      POF manufacturing capabilities;

c)      POF characterization and test instruments.

Luceat will also have the fundamental role of carrying on market analysis and researches, to ensure that the project objectives fit with telecom companies and end users requirements.

The total number of person-months dedicated to the POF-ALL project is 61.

Facilities

Luceat’s facilities include:

a)      An optoelectronic laboratory, where POF is measured and characterized. This laboratory is equipped with several instruments, many of them designed and assembled in-house, such as:

·         Attenuation measurement system;

·         Refractive index profiler;

·         NA measurement system;

·         Internal stress monitoring system;

·         Optical power meter

Moreover, this laboratory is equipped with every available mechanical or optical component (i.e. connectors, lenses, etc.) for POF.

b)      An electronic laboratory, where PCB are designed and tested. This laboratory includes electronic design tools and electronic equipment (i.e. oscilloscopes, network analysers, signal generators etc.), and is provided with a PCB prototyping facility.

c)      A chemical laboratory where MMA, styrene, carbonate, fluoropolymers and cyclic olefins can be characterised and/or polymerised, equipped with:

·         high precision weighing devices;

·         reaction equipment;

·         100l dewar;

·         thermally controlled oil bath;

·         vacuum-maintained ovens.

d)      A POF manufacturing center where POF can be tailor-made with core diameters ranging from 125µm to 1,500µm, NA from 0.3 to 0.85 and Tg from 70°C to 105°C.

CV partner reference person

Alessandro Nocivelli earned its Bachelor degree in Mathematics and Physics in 1990. From 1990 to 1994 he studied Electronic Engineering at the Politecnico di Milano University and specialized in Mathematics and Physics. From 1994 to 1996 he visited the Ecole Supérieure d’Electricité (Supélec), granted by an Erasmus-Time scholarship. In 1996 he majored in Electronic Systems Modelling and Design at both Politecnico di Milano (summa cum laude) and at Supélec. In 1998 he earned the Master in Business Administration degree (MBA) at the Collège des Ingénieurs (Paris, France).

His working experience begins at Thomson CSF-LCR (Central Research Laboratory) in France, where he developed the first optical regenerative memory. He then moved to Air Liquide Electronics Europe (France) where he acted as strategic planning consultant, and co-operated with senior management to re-engineer the activity. In 1996 he founded Noptronics Limited (UK) and applied for patenting of a proprietary scheme for an accordable opto-electronic filter. In 2000 he founded Luceat S.p.A. (Italy), which he presently  leads as CEO and CTO for the R&D activities of polymer optical fiber-based systems.