Innovation

TT does not only use measuring instruments and software: it also designs its own. This page gathers the instruments developed in-house, the patents, the publications and the work on open software.

Measuring instruments

TT designed, developed and brought into production instruments for photovoltaics, covering both research and development and production management. IVCurve and AS500CIV are industrial instruments for characterising PV modules and strings. FTV500, developed for Chauvin Arnaux in several versions, also measures the efficiency of inverters and whole plants. TT also produces calibrated PV reference cells for plants and a solar shield built to WMO specifications.

The same know-how in sensors, firmware and software underlies the noise and air quality networks TT designs (see Monitoring networks).

Patents

The technical director is the inventor of seven technical patents, filed between 1999 and 2007 and all now expired. We list them as a record of the work done.

• DNO (1999): apparatus for removing deposits and pollutants from water.
• InVarc (2003): method for deriving topographic parameters from Lidar measurements.
• RoadSp (2003): system for reducing the dispersion of exhaust gases and particulate matter from road vehicles.
• DDZ (2006): vehicle detection and signalling device with a related traffic control system.
• U-read (2006): system for the morphological reconstruction of digital terrain.
• DAG-TC (2006): airport surface detection and control system (US patent application).
• ARMM (2007): intercommunication apparatus and method for control and servo systems.

Publications

The technical director is author or co-author of 14 publications between 2002 and 2022: on Lidar for mapping and noise modelling (GRASS users conference 2002, TRB ADC40 2006, CIPA 2006, Techa 2008), on pollutant dispersion at airports (ACI Europe Greenport 2003), on road noise monitoring (TRB ADC40 2007 and 2008), on airport ground traffic control (FAA 2007) and on applying CNOSSOS-EU (Internoise 2019, ICA 2019, Internoise 2022). In 2007 he gave a series of lectures on mapping at Harvard University.

Open source and outreach

The technical director has released open source plugins for GRASS and maintains git repositories, some public on his GitHub profile, and several automatically updated Docker Hub images. He is a top contributor on gis.stackexchange.com and a Quora top writer in Environmental Noise, Noise and Physics. He created and edits the online magazines "The Curious Mind" and "Change Climate Change". In 2021 he spoke at TEDx Countdown with the talk "Virtual Energy Communities".