Four new Inria Chile projects selected in the AmSud 2024 call

The CLIMAT, MATH, and STIC AmSud programs promote collaboration in climate change, mathematics, and computer science, respectively, through the exchange and mobility of researchers between France and South America, supporting research projects with potential for transfer and innovation. Four projects involving researchers from Inria and Chilean universities, supported in this context by Inria and the National Agency for Research and Development ANID, were awarded: two Math projects and two STIC projects.

Three of these research groups, leading the projects "CANARD," "CHA2MAN," and "DORSAL-IoT," are already benefiting from the support of Inria Chile through various support programs, such as the Associate Teams program or the Inria Chile Research Internship Program at Inria.

Bruno Cessac, from the BIOVISION project-team at the Inria Centre at Université Côte d’Azur, and Adrián Palacios, from the Universidad de Valparaíso, lead the new AmSud project "CANARD" and also the Associate Team FUSION. In a joint interview published in 2024, Bruno Cessac explained that "the ongoing work between Inria and the researchers from Valparaíso exemplifies the potential of interdisciplinary research to discover new knowledge and drive technological advances." Meanwhile, Adrián Palacios valued the impact of the cooperation with the French team, stating, "this synergistic interaction enhances the quality of research and its potential outcomes." This year, the BIOVISION team also welcomes Andrés Navarro, an intern from the Federico Santa María Technical University, as part of the Inria Chile Research Internship Program.

For "CHA2MAN”, Mireille Bossy, from the CALISTO project-team at the Inria Centre at Université Côte d’Azur, and Kerlyns Martinez, a researcher from the Universidad de Concepción, lead the project from France and Chile, respectively, and also lead the Associate Team SWAM. Mireille Bossy indicated in 2024 that the Franco-Chilean collaboration in the Associate Team "is based on complementary experience (in stochastic modeling, physics, and biology), but also on complementary simulation tools: direct simulation, which is more fundamental and helps develop models, and computational fluid dynamics simulation, which seeks to meet more engineering-oriented needs." In 2024, the CALISTO team welcomed Diego Ruiz, a student from the Universidad de Chile, as part of the Inria Chile Research Internship Program at Inria.

For DORSAL-IoT, this internship program of Inria Chile has been crucial in fostering scientific collaboration with Chile. After receiving four interns from Chilean universities in the AGORA project-team at the Inria Lyon Centre, two of them are pursuing their doctoral theses in the team: Carlos Fernández and Diego Maldonado, under the supervision of Oana Iova and Fabrice Valois, and Juan A. Fraire and Hervé Rivano, respectively.

STIC AmSud

• CANARD: Computational Approaches in Neuroscience for Aging and Retinal NeuroDegeneration

Partners: Universidade Federal do Rio do Grande do Norte, Universidade Federal do Minas Gerais, Universidad de Valparaíso, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Inria (BIOVISION project-team, Inria Centre at Université Côte d’Azur)

As the global population ages, the incidence of neurodegenerative diseases is expected to triple by 2050. Developing computational models to enhance the mechanistic understanding of these diseases is crucial. This proposal focuses on the retina, a promising source of biomarkers for various neurodegenerative diseases, to study the impact of pathological processes on retinal circuits, emphasizing the temporal dynamics of neuronal activity. The Biovision team at Inria, France, will use the Macular platform to model cellular degeneration and its effects on the retinal network. The model will be refined with neuronal data from rodent retinas (degus and mice) and in vivo recordings from feline retinas and LGN. Rodent experiments at the University of Valparaíso, Chile, in collaboration with the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, will use genetically modified mouse models.

Experiments at the Instituto do Cérebro-UFRN, Brazil, will develop an Alzheimer's disease model in cats using intraocular injections of beta-amyloid oligomers. Based on previous collaborations, our goal is to share innovations in signal processing among the groups. Our data-driven model is expected to advance diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for neurodegenerative diseases.

Coordinators:

• Sergio Neuenschwander, Federal Universidade de Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil
• Jérome Baron, Federal Universidade de Minas Gerais, Brazil
• Evelyn Avilés, Pontificia Universidad Católica, Chile
• Bruno Cessac, Inria, France
• Adrián Palacios, Universidad de Valparaíso, Chile

• DORSAL-IoT: Downlink Optimization for Robust Direct-to-Satellite LoRaWAN IoT

Partners: Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC), Universidad Tecnológica Metropolitana (UTEM), Universidad de Chile (UCH), Universidad Diego Portales (UDP), Inria (AGORA project-team, Inria Lyon Centre).

The DORSAL-IoT project is dedicated to developing efficient downlink communication algorithms and protocols within the landscape of direct-to-satellite IoT (DtS-IoT), utilizing low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite networks. While long-range wide-area network technologies like LoRa/LoRaWAN are widely used in the current Internet of Things, their efficiency in the satellite domain remains to be demonstrated. DORSAL-IoT focuses on optimizing the use of LoRa/LoRaWAN for effective operation within the unique challenges of space. The central ambition of DORSAL-IoT is to develop downlink communication algorithms and protocols that address the limitations of IoT communications in space. This initiative is poised to catalyze advancements in the non-terrestrial network (NTN) sector, offering innovative solutions for efficiently transmitting data to Earth in resource-constrained satellite environments. The DORSAL-IoT project proposal focuses on enhancing downlink communication in direct-to-satellite IoT (DtS-IoT) systems, particularly for LoRaWAN-based networks. The primary goal is to develop efficient techniques to address challenges in downlink communication, which is crucial for robust data exchanges and remote device operations in DtS-IoT. The project brings together experts from Inria (through the Agora research group) and various Chilean and Brazilian institutions to leverage their strengths in satellite network operations, medium access control (MAC) layer, low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) protocols, physical layer, deterministic routing, energy-aware relaying, data compression, and nanosatellite engineering. First-year activities include a system study, use case identification, requirements definition, downlink design and optimization, and dissemination. The project has strong potential for academic and industrial impact in areas such as asset tracking, remote environmental monitoring, and global data collection.

Coordinators:

• Cesar Augusto Azurdia, Universidad de Chile, Chile
• Diego Dujovne, Universidad Diego Portales, Chile
• Samuel Montejo Sánchez, Universidad Tecnológica Metropolitana, Chile
• Richard Demo Souza, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Brazil
• Oana Iova, Inria, France

MATH AmSud

• CHA2MAN: Stochasticity & Chaos in Multiscale Phenomena

Partners: Instituto de Matemática Pura e Aplicada, USP, Universidad de Concepción, CMM, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Université Côte d'Azur, Université de Toulouse, Université de Bordeaux, Inria (CALISTO project-team, Inria Centre at Université Côte d’Azur).

The CHA2MAN project aims to address the complex behaviors of multiscale dynamic systems by incorporating stochastic perturbations to account for inherent uncertainties and randomness. This approach serves as a regularization mechanism when deterministic models are insufficient. To achieve this goal, CHA2MAN integrates perspectives from two mathematical 

disciplines: stochastic modeling and analysis and the study of complex dynamic systems to address specific multiscale phenomena with chaotic behaviors

Coordinators:

• Alexei Mailybaev, IMPA, Laboratory of Fluid Dynamics, Brazil
• Kerlyns Martínez, Universidad de Concepción, Chile
• Mireille Bossy, Inria, France

• EXPLORE-SDE: Explosions for non-markovian and related stochastic differential equations

Partners: Universidad de Valparaíso, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Universidad de la República, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Université de Lille, Université Paris Saclay, Inria (Inria Centre at Université Côte d’Azur).

In this proposal, we are interested in studying explosion criteria and numerical schemes for non-Markovian stochastic differential equations (SDEs). Specifically, we propose working on three main themes. The first involves studying explosion criteria for stochastic differential equations with Markovian switching and additive noise derived from a non-Markovian process, such as fractional Brownian motion. We plan to develop a numerical scheme to approximate the explosion time. The second part of the proposal involves studying a class of stochastic functional differential equations. We plan to study explosion criteria as well as a numerical scheme to approximate the explosion time. The third part deals with the study of characterizing the random explosion time from a statistical perspective and estimating parameters in a nonlinear AR model with fractional Brownian motion noise, which can be considered a statistical model derived from a stochastic functional differential equation.

Coordinators:

• Johanna Garzón, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Colombia
• Ernesto Mordecki, Universidad de la República, Uruguay
• Etienne Tanré, Université Cote d’Azur, CNRS, Inria, France
• Soledad Torres, Universidad de Valparaíso, Chile