Mashfrog and Epigenesys for CNR's NFFA-DI project

Mashfrog won the tender organised by the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), more specifically by the Istituto Officina dei Materiali inTrieste, for the development of a new platform for the collection and management of data and metadata from its research laboratories of the Nano Foundry & Fine Analysis - Digital Infrastructure (NFFA-DI) project.

NFFA-DI is a nationwide project funded by the PNRR and aims to create a wide-ranging research infrastructure for nanoscience and nanotechnology, capable of enhancing the competitiveness of Italian nanoscience research on fundamental interactions in multi-atomic matter. Its 11 nodes, located throughout the country and formed by units of the CNR, AREA Science Park, Politecnico di Milano and Università degli Studi di Milano, are equipped with the most advanced instrumentation available for research on advanced materials and nanostructures and provide a reference point for the scientific community in the industry.

An ambitious challenge

The project, which will be managed by the resources of the new "Intelligent & Data Solutions" area, involves the implementation of a shared platform that unifies the process of collecting, processing, organising and transmitting the data produced by the sensors and instruments used to perform the experiments conducted by NFFA-DI's research laboratories. This is a process that has so far been heterogeneous, and the platform will help to standardise and automate it as part of a transformation programme aimed at making the work of researchers and the sharing of results within the national scientific community more efficient.

Our team will design and implement the software systems that will support the NFFA-DI laboratories in the full implementation of the FAIR (Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, Reusabilty) paradigm for the management of data generated by research activities, enabling previously unexplored scenarios for global collaboration between research institutes.

The transformation will be designed and implemented in eight laboratories of the CNR and its partners, each one dedicated to specific research activities and characterised by its own instrumentation and specificities. In this process, Mashfrog will be supported by Epigenesys, a company highly specialised in embedded and real-time solutions specifically related to hardware, which will take care of the integration aspects of the laboratory instrumentation.