Fields of activity

At PSNC we use the huge potential of ICT infrastructure and many dedicated laboratories, including a fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles, which are the basis for innovative applications in agriculture, among others in logistics and education. Together with the Polish Air Navigation Services Agency we take up a huge challenge to co-create innovative digital services and solutions for new generation aviation under the NaviHUB initiative. We plan to take advantage of the new experimental and laboratory space at the airport in Kąkolewo connected with the infrastructure of the PIONIER scientific network as well as data collection and processing services.

We cooperate with experts in the field of computer modeling of atmospheric phenomena, environmental monitoring, and atmospheric pollution. For many years PSNC research teams have been carrying out research and development activities and implementing new services and applications, providing information on the current and projected state of the environment on an urban, regional, national and international scale. Information and communication technologies, in particular high-performance computing and new techniques for processing and analyzing data generated by control and measurement equipment, terrestrial sensors, IoT networks, and satellite-based earth observation systems are playing an increasing role in addressing these great challenges.

Specialized software packages supporting various processes of digitization of culture, art, and national heritage collections have been created at PSNC since 2002. We have successfully completed many implementations and individual orders both for individual entities and consortia. Our solutions are already used by several hundred institutions and companies in Poland and abroad, including libraries, universities, museums, archives and non-governmental organizations. During implementation, we take care of appropriate configuration and adaptation of our solutions to individual customer needs, which thanks to our experience is fully efficient and professional.

The core areas of PSNC’s data protection and cyber-security activities include operational supervision of advanced network and computing infrastructure as well as cyber-security tasks within the framework of research projects. The team of IT security experts at PSNC actively participates in the work of the PIONIER-CERT group, whose main task is to handle all security incidents in which computers connected to the PIONIER National Broadband Scientific Network are directly or indirectly involved.

The natural path of using the technological knowledge of the Poznan Center is to support all activities on the borderline of audiovisual, multimedia, theater and film art. Many years of experience and cooperation with interdisciplinary artistic environments allow us to create original sceneries, attractive and non-standard use of research equipment, and implement complex ideas using the latest equipment and modern, often prototype IT solutions. Thus, at PSNC, we develop methods of creating innovation using the creative dialogue of engineering and art creators.

Modern science and the development of new technologies require promotional activities in order to effectively reach a wide audience. Such activities in larger and smaller projects often become the nucleus of new and more interesting applications for scientific research, meeting the needs of different interest groups and contributing to the creation of a positive image of scientists. Our achievements include dozens of conferences, events and workshops, which support Polish science in the field of IT, using modern technologies with new media at the forefront. We are an important “point of contact” between scientists and society, showing how to do even better what they are passionate about.

PSNC has designed and created a dedicated educational laboratory space that enables modeling and researching student and teacher interaction with next-generation digital network services based on interfaces using voice, motion and gesture, bioelectric brain activity, eye movement, and other sensory-motor activities. Currently, works are carried out in the field of advanced perception analysis of artificial multimodal stimuli, new interfaces involving various human perception systems, such as Tangible User Interfaces, haptic devices, sight and hearing, and virtual and augmented reality. R&D activities at PSNC are based on innovative applications, educational games and virtual vocational trainers which are the basis for student experiments.

R&D activities in the field of intelligent energy management aim at optimizing resources in order to minimize environmental impact. The development of environmentally friendly technologies and energy-saving methods is one of the key challenges for scientists and engineers. The implementation of green and energy-saving technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and pollution is one of the European Union’s research priorities. Therefore, work on energy-efficient ICTs focuses, on the one hand, on the use of energy-efficient ICT equipment, the energy efficiency of applications, resource management, but also on the use of ICTs for modeling and simulation of heating and cooling processes, energy management in homes and offices or smart energy networks.

Thanks to the advanced PSNC laboratory base, in particular including experimental spaces consisting of robotic and cyber-physical systems and the experience of teams in the integration of technologies based on the Internet Things (IoT), cloud technologies and the existing HPC infrastructure, joint activities are undertaken together with PSNC partners (on a regional, national and EU scale) in the implementation of pilot solutions of Industry 4.0. Together with partners we create and provide digital transformation services of Industry 4.0. We develop technological competence of current and future employees by organizing dedicated workshops and demonstrations in the smart factory model.

PSNC has been successfully implementing the construction of the PIONIER national fiber optic scientific network since 2001. Currently, PIONIER covers 6824 km of fibers in Poland and 2454 km in Europe, connecting all Polish academic environments, i.e. 21 municipal computer networks in 21 academic cities and 5 High-Performance Supercomputing centers. Within the framework of the PIONIER network, there have also been built cross-border fiber-optic connections with all scientific networks of neighboring countries and a large part of international scientific cooperation is realized thanks to these connections. Additionally, a node of the pan-European research network GÉANT has been built by PSNC and connected to the PIONIER network with a 100Gb/s connection.

At our Center, we promote and support applications of modern ICT technologies in a variety of contexts related to the diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of patients, as well as increasing the quality of life of people at risk of social exclusion due to health condition or disability. Our challenges include the areas of personalized medicine, medical tele-education, telemedicine and patient e-Health services for patients. An important topic undertaken in our projects is the creation of innovative solutions to support active and healthy life of the elderly, adults and people with disabilities. These solutions are based on the integration of advanced technologies, including the Internet of Things or Artificial Intelligence.

PSNC has created dedicated laboratories for the development of new media technologies, providing scientists with access to modern test infrastructure. Existing PSNC laboratories can provide ultra-high resolution visualization (16K, 8K, 8K 3D), real-time encoding and decoding, as well as live streaming, real-time rendering of VR and 3D graphics for immersive spaces (cubic and cylindrical CAVE technologies with support of remote visualization) or interaction with multiple users around the world. PSNC is also a co-producer of international events using innovative new media technologies.

From the very beginning, PSNC provides the scientific community with high-performance computing services, communication services, data archiving, regional databases, specialized services, cloud services and scientific applications using computing resources and virtualization techniques. The HPC Center operating within PSNC, provides computing power, disk space and archiving systems for science, business and public institutions, and the Eagle supercomputer was present on the list of the fastest computing installations in the world – TOP500.org. Our computing resources include systems with shared and distributed memory of various architectures (vector-parallel, multiprocessor SMP and clusters) connected by fast local networks with low latency.

PSNC implements a number of research and development works aimed at developing and implementing dedicated platforms for data exchange, services and applications for innovative agriculture. PSNC is also making use of the Internet of Things infrastructure, satellite imagery, and drones to monitor crops and optimize agricultural processes. Thanks to the results of our work, farmers receive access to information and tools necessary to run a modern farm, and software producers and data providers – receive customers for their products and services. Special emphasis is placed on the dissemination of tools for managing the plant protection process using the decision support system.

One of the important areas of PSNC activity is the integration and implementation of scientific results in the form of services developed in partnership with public sector entities, acting as substantive partners – including public administration, medicine, education and the social sphere. Within the framework of this path of PSNC’s activity, cooperating with the City of Poznań since 1996, PSNC has created and develops information and service systems supporting the local government, as well as offers innovative services to the inhabitants of Poznań, including an information and service platform for the City of Poznań (Municipal Multimedia Guide), a system supporting recruitment to schools, an online platform of the Poznań Civic Budget or the city’s Open Data Platform.

For many years we have been trying to create favourable conditions for the development and support of innovative undertakings in close cooperation with the local business community. Together with the City of Poznań, Poznań University of Technology and Poznań IT companies we have created the Wielkopolska IT Cluster. The aim of the Cluster is to connect and cooperate with local authorities, research and development units and business representatives in order to popularize and develop initiatives based on modern information and communication technologies.