Rouages: “The private sector couldn’t have offered me such diversity.”
Paul Leloup is an electronics engineer at the Montpellier Laboratory of Computer Science, Robotics, and Microelectronics (LIRMM). He programs, welds, encapsulates, and puts his expertise to work for the environment and to help people. He reveals all of these missions in Rouages, a video series produced by the University of Montpellier. Action!
His electronic cards are little gems. Working in the LIRMM research support department since 2019, Paul Leloup puts his talent to work for his fellow researchers as well as the laboratory's doctoral students. "There are about fifteen engineers and technicians in the department, and we work with all 400 people employed at Lirmm. I specialize in embedded systems, so I work exclusively with the microelectronics department," explains Leloup, who is also co-manager of the microelectronics platform.
A carbon-neutral data center
In this large microelectronics hall located on the second floor of the building, where we meet Paul Leloup for the filming of our episode, oscilloscopes sit alongside soldering irons and 3D printers. On the workbenches are a few simple tools, spools of wire and solder, and ingenious ideas encapsulated in small boxes or large cases. The young engineer stops in front of one of these cases to tell us about the Genesis project.1project. In front of us are electronic cards and their circuits, which house technology designed to create a data center that is as carbon neutral as possible.
"The idea is to recycle conventional data centers and turn them into mini data centers, each equipped with a solar panel, a battery, and a mains power supply, then interconnect them so that they can exchange energy with each other. The goal is to improve their energy efficiency and power them solely with green energy, mostly solar," explains the engineer who helped design the electronic cards, wiring, and software. The technology currently being tested on the roof of Polytech Montpellier could eventually find its way onto the market.
Help Wireless Messenger Project
On the workbench next door, same room but different atmosphere. The Hermes project is a service for people with reduced mobility, such as quadriplegics, who require constant personal assistance. This wireless electronic system allows users to send a message to their caregiver to let them know they need help quickly. "We focused on redundancy, reliability, and the ability to operate without a SIM card subscription in order to reduce costs and ensure operation even in the event of a temporary power outage."
Once again, innovation benefited from live testing thanks to LIRMM documentalist Isabelle, herself a quadriplegic, who kindly agreed to take part. Paul Leloup even promoted this project for commercialization with the support of SATT AxLR, but it has not yet found a market.
Good fishing
A third project demonstrates the diversity of areas in which microelectronics can be applied. SmartSnap aims to limit bycatch caused by longline fishing. These large devices consist of a main line to which lines with hooks are attached at regular intervals. Used mainly for bluefin tuna fishing, they are responsible for the annual capture of sharks, rays, and even seabirds. "The aim would be to have an electronic device at the end of each line that can detect whether the fish caught on the hook is bluefin tuna or an unwanted catch. In the latter case, the line cuts itself and the fish can swim away. We are also working on biodegradable lines," explains the engineer.
Paul Leloup is primarily working on the artificial intelligence aspect of this project. "We have to teach it to differentiate between tuna, swordfish, and stingray.We've conducted campaigns in Réunion and the Mediterranean that have enabled us to collect data. Now we need to format it in software and extract an artificial intelligence model that will enable us to perform well on these issues." This work is being carried out in collaboration with the Marbec marine biology laboratory.
Pchit
And because the engineer is passionate about his work, he can't resist telling us about a latest project called PCHIT, carried out in collaboration with the ESYCOM laboratory at Gustave Eiffel University in Paris. A BIA electronic chip "that allows bioimpedance measurements to be taken at different frequencies. What's quite innovative is that our sensor measures all frequencies simultaneously." The application could be a patch for high-level athletes that would measure muscle fatigue in real time to prevent cramps and injuries. "There are many different applications in my work; the private sector could not have offered me such diversity."
And when Paul Leloup isn't working on one of his many projects, he devotes his time to students, either by helping and advising them on the microelectronics platform, or in the practical classes he leads at Polytech, or by training them on equipment that LIRMM is the only public institution to possess: the industrial tester. "This machine, which is worth over €1 million, is made available by the manufacturer so that we can train students on it." This equipment allows each electronic component to be tested individually to ensure that it complies with its specifications, i.e., its technical requirements. "In electronics, we test all electronic components that leave the factory one by one. This represents a cost of about 25% of the price of each circuit."
The LIRMM recently took advantage of this multi-tasking ability by asking Paul Leloup to organize and oversee the relocation of the microelectronics platform. " It was great fun. I had to draw up plans, get quotes from companies, work with my colleague in logistics who helped me a lot with this, and talk to colleagues to make sure everyone was happy with the arrangements... I really enjoyed the experience!"
- Patent: Gilles Sassatelli, Abdoulaye Gamatié, and Michel Robert. "Data Processing System with Energy Transfer," France, Patent No. WO2017178571. 2018 ↩︎