Institute of Electronics and Computer Science

EDI Elektronikas un datorzinātņu institūts (EDI) (in Eng.: Institute of Electronics and Computer Science) in Riga, Latvia was established within the framework of the Latvian Academy of Science in 1960. EDI is a public research institution.

Currently, EDI is the highest-rated scientific institution in Latvia in the field of engineering and technologies, specializing in Smart Embedded Cooperative Systems (SECS). Our mission is to perceive the world and design a better future by creating new knowledge, developing innovative technologies, and demonstrating their practical significance in real-life applications. This mission drives a scientific staff of over 80 people, who are organized in four laboratories: Signal Processing; Space Technology; Robotics and Machine Perception; and Cyber-Physical System labs.

At EDI we believe that our future world will be even more connected, digital and automated than ever, forming various ambitious challenges to achieve, e.g. personalized predictive and preventive healthcare; flexible, efficient, connected and autonomous (zero defect) factories; safe (zero fatalities), affordable, sustainable, connected, cooperative, automated and clean (zero emissions) mobility; secure, safe and trustable connectivity and system interoperability; to name a few, which will impact the everyday life of citizens and all business sectors. At EDI we have a unique perspective, expertise, and capacity to contribute to solving all these challenges on a global scale. The key driving force of EDI scientific activities is its economic and social impact; therefore, we apply our SECS expertise in mobility, industry, health, digital life, and space domains. Meanwhile, we are focusing on the following research directions: extremely precise event timing; remote sensing and space data processing; robotics and machine perception; signal processing and embedded intelligence; smart sensors and IoT.

Our expertise is complemented by close collaboration with 300+ international partners. EDI has coordinated and participated in numerous EU projects (Horizon Europe, Horizon 2020, EIT, ECSEL, ERA-NET, COST, etc.).

Research directions and competences

Extremely precise event timing incl. space domain.  

Equipped with the best instrumentation and decades of experience, our team of scientists develop general purpose event timers and application-specific timing, synchronization, signal processing and signal conditioning systems. Our timers are used in more than half of all satellite laser ranging stations. With extreme precision of 3 pico-seconds our timers are used worldwide by different entities such as NASA. Each new system is thoroughly tested to ensure stable and predictable performance even in harsh and fast-changing conditions. In collaboration with European Space agency we have developed a space-grade timer, which is planned to be used for Luna-27 space mission with ROSCOSMOS and for Portuguese satellite in lidar systems.

Remote sensing Space data processing.

EDI has decades of expertise in developing unique sub-8GHz short-range high-resolution Ultrawideband radar technology and their testing in different applications, including ground and wall probing, through wall imaging, remote human breathing and heart rate detection, non-contact ice thickness measurement and time domain reflectometry. With support of European Space Agency, we also develop complex methods and software for Earth observation. Our unsupervised land cover classification technology is focused on automatic classification of multispectral satellite images or other data and our latest results show the superiority of our non-parametric clustering algorithm over other available methods such as K-means and ISODATA.

Robotics and machine perception. 

We enable robots to operate in changing environments and perform tasks that require autonomous decision-making and adaptability. Our systems combine sensor technologies with original data fusion, processing and computer vision algorithms, including AI. We develop new and fast data labelling methods to facilitate the use of our perception algorithms on various real-world tasks. We perform cutting edge R&D on connected and automated driving, where we develop fail-safe, fail-aware and fail-operational V2X communication technology as well as perception system. We use our drive-by-wire test platform in our ITS TestBed to test different functionalities of the developed technologies. Other mobile platforms, including drones, are targets for machine learning algorithms trained at EDI HPC. Our research on trustworthy and explainable AI envisions safe and collaborative operation between robots and humans.

Signal processing and embedded intelligence.

Our extensive expertise in signal processing and embedded intelligence has facilitated development of unobtrusive wearable sensing fabrics capable of real-time 3D reconstruction, train integrity monitoring system, patented multi-modal FPGA-based biometric system, industrial low latency and high-data rate wireless sensors, hardware accelerators for image processing and depth sensing, V2X communication systems, one of the first Artificial Neural Network accelerators for realizing state-of-art vehicle control and many others. Currently, EDI experts work with hardware platforms ranging from the smallest micro-controllers to the most advanced state-of-the-art Systems-on-Chips and their expertise covers high-speed PCB design, low-level software development, algorithm design, digital and analog circuit engineering, prototyping, and smart embedded cooperative-system development.

Smart sensors and IoT. 

EDI has more than 10 years of R&D expertise in smart sensors and internet of things systems, including PCB and firmware design, network architectures, and data collection and processing. We have developed our own WSN programming language, operating system and unique large scale 100 node IoT testbed with the possibility to move 50 nodes to any testing location for extensive testing, debugging and data gathering, including battery discharge simulation and energy consumption measurements. We develop cutting-edge wearable systems based on inertial and bio-electrical sensors on flexible PCBs and conductive textiles for applications in healthcare, active life style and sports. We focus on energy and computationally efficient data transmission and processing to enable unobtrusive usability of wearable devices that provide real-time feedback. We have developed proprietary communication solution that supports connection of hundreds of sensors with only four wires, and is used for deformation monitoring systems for buildings, bridges and tunnels.

Targeted collaborations are key to achieving the long-term goals of the EDI, and it is therefore planned to continue working with: universities in developing talented students; research centres in high-level interdisciplinary research; industry (both SMEs and large companies) in joint and contract research; industry associations and digital innovation centres in shaping ICT policy and digitisation opportunities; and national and local government institutions in enhancing the role and use of science. EDI has a large number of international partners (400+) and successful cooperation with them in research and innovation projects, with plans to strengthen cooperation also with local partners in the coming years.

Research projects and achievements

Information about all the Institute's programs is available on the Edi website: https://www.edi.lv/en/projects/

Infrastructure

Information about all infrastructure facilities is available on the Edi website: https://www.edi.lv/en/available-infrastructure/

Leading researchers:

1. Modris Greitāns, Dr. sc. comp., h indekss 12, Orcid  0000-0002-5405-0738, Scopus Author ID 24478597700;
2. Kaspars Ozols,Dr. sc. ing., h indekss 7, ORCID 0000-0002-9009-7306, Scopus Author ID 57208987064;
3. Atis Elsts, Dr. sc. comp, h indekss 18, ORCID 0000-0001-5150-272X, Scopus Author ID 36720291600;
4. Ints Mednieks, Dr. sc. comp., h indekss 7, ORCID 0000-0002-7233-9391, Scopus Author ID 8412086300;
5. Rihards Novickis, Dr. sc. ing., h indekss 4, ORCID 0000-0001-8585-1821, Scopus Author ID 57203004109;
6. Roberts Kadiķis,Dr. sc. ing.,  h indekss 4, ORCID 0000-0001-6845-4381, Scopus Author ID 55904810600;
7. Aleksejs Tatarinovs, Dr. sc. ing., h indekss 2, ORCID ID 0000-0002-5787-2040, Scopus Author ID 57211216763;
8. Kaspars Sudars, Dr. sc. comp., h indekss 6, ORCID 0000-0002-9110-9065, Scopus Author ID 24512667900;
9. Krišjānis Nesenbergs, Mg. sc. comp, h indekss 7, ORCID 0000-0002-2445-2891, Scopus Author ID 55578343800;
10. Kārlis Freivalds, Dr.sc.comp., h indekss 6, ORCID 0000-0003-2684-559, Scopus Author ID 8537440500 .  

More information: www.edi.lv