M- CONNECTED OBJECTS

The objective of the Connected Objects Major is to train connected objects in electronics, computing, communication and interoperability in order to integrate environments such as Internet of Things (IoT), machine-to-machine communication (M2M) or wireless sensor networks (WSN Wireless Sensor Network). It is a question of positioning oneself on the side of the data source, from data acquisition to their availability in the cloud, with a double requirement:

• an advanced technical mastery of the design of these connected objects,
• and a broader understanding of the industrial, institutional and societal issues and problems associated with their deployment in large or complex ecosystems.

The ambition is to train engineers capable of deploying intelligent, high-performance and reliable systems of cyberconnected sensors and controllers of different complexities and scales with relevance and efficiency.

In order to guarantee the full efficiency of these edge devices for data science and artificial intelligence software, four key elements will be the red wires that conduct the training: 

1. The validity of the signal acquired and transformed into data,
2. The quality of service of the system nodes (efficiency and reliability of communication, in particular radio, and interoperability with computer networks) 
3. The quality of digital architectures that support both terminal objects and communication gateways to networks
4. The lifetime and autonomy of the system nodes

Particular attention is paid to constrained objects (wireless devices on power reserve, with limited capacities): life extension techniques and optimization of processing capacities.

At the end of this Major, the students will have acquired through practice the fundamental technical skills to implement a cyber-physical system (1) in its electronic, embedded computing, metrology, energy and telecommunication dimensions.

They will be able to undertake or participate in any project integrating an electronic dimension of high complexity, whatever the field they wish to focus on: the industry of the future, design, energy, health, the city, innovation and entrepreneurship, transport, agriculture, the environment, the digital industry, telecommunications, the Internet of things.

(1)A Cyber Physics System (CPS) is a system that integrates electronics and software, sensors and actuators, and has the communication capabilities and possibly autonomy to interact with its environment. SCPs are the building blocks of the Internet of Things (IoT) and the industry of the future, known as the Cyber-Physical Production System (CPPS). Cyber-physical systems involve the fields of electronics, computer science, metrology, telecommunications, automation, mechanics and data fusion. They are characterized by a high degree of complexity and are intended to be used in a network.

The Major relies on a significant part of practice, through six training units (UPs):

1. Energy management and signal conditioning - 21 hours of courses and TD in digital simulation: provides the knowledge and understanding of the challenges in analog electronics essential so that at the end of this UP, the student knows how to determine the power and signal conversion architecture of a connected node to guarantee object life and signal quality.
2. Electronics and Digital Architectures - 27 hours of courses and TD and TP in digital simulation: provides the necessary knowledge and skills so that at the end of this UP, the student knows how to determine the appropriate digital electronic architecture of a connected node of a connected node or a communication gateway, around a microcontroller.
3. Radio communication for connected objects - 21 hours of courses, table-top TDs and radio instrumentation TPs: at the end of this UP, the student knows how to specify, design and deploy the radio architecture of a system or object connected wirelessly in ecosystems such as IoT, WSN, M2M.
4. Cyber-physical systems - 30 hours of APP on microcontroller module: being able to manage the interaction between a connected object and the physical world around it (data validity and actuators). At the end of this UP, the student knows how to choose and design a cyber-physical system.
5. Communicating objects - 36 hours of TP and mini-project on a microcontroller platform: at the end of this UP, the student knows how to specify and design a communicating object, i.e. an object connected to the external digital world (computer networks and information systems). 
6. IoT system: case study - 21h of mini-project on multiplatforms with microcontroller: deploy a network of nodes connected to a single gateway for communication to the cloud. These cyber-physical nodes must be fully operational in the sense of what will have been seen in the other UPs. At the end of this UP, the student knows how to integrate a cyber-physical node into an IoT ecosystem.

The ambition is to train, through all these courses, on the one hand to the main issues and challenges that connected objects must face in IoT, M2M or WSN environments and on the other hand to the practical design and implementation of said connected objects. The Major travels through the elements of a connected system from the sensor & control edge devices to the communication gateway to the cloud.

Thanks to the acquired ability to deploy intelligent, high-performance and reliable systems of cyberconnected sensors and controllers of different complexities and scales with relevance and efficiency...

... the Major is articulated with the following Majors in a continuity of skills:

• Production and Logistics Management for businesses focused on the industry of the future, energy networks, health, transport, design
• IT for professions focused on the Internet of Things, machine-to-machine communications networks, cybersecurity, telecommunications, energy networks, industry of the future, the city and intelligent transport
• Data Science for businesses focused on energy networks, the environment, industry of the future, cities and intelligent transport

... but also with the following Majors, more distant in terms of skills but precisely for more multidisciplinary profiles: 

• Biomedical engineering for professions focused on health, sport and life sciences
• Materials science for professions focused on design and eco-design of innovations, the automotive and aeronautics industries
• Energy processes for businesses focused on the production and management of energy networks, the automotive and aeronautics industries, the industry of the future
• Industrial and Territorial Environment for businesses focused on the sustainable management of territories, industries and resources, with the ability to deploy intelligent environmental metrology systems.

The Major has the specificity to prepare particularly students 2A who wish to pursue one of the courses (Major + Technological Challenge) of semester S9 on the campus Georges Charpak Provence in Gardanne, around the electronics of the future: 

• Major 3A : Computer Science, Embedded Systems or Microelectronics Design - Technological Challenges 3A: Information and Technologies for Supply chain, Mobility and Security, Energy Engineering & Electronic Systems, Bio-Medical Devices.
• The possibility of following a Research Master is integrated into the course.