Alessandro Ferrero
Alessandro Ferrero is a Full Professor of Electrical and Electronic Measurements at the Politecnico di Milano University in Milan, Italy[1]. In his scientific activity he has pioneered methods, based on advanced Digital Signal Processing techniques, for material and component characterization and power and energy metering, as well as the development of Virtual Instruments. His work has helped improve power quality, especially for identifying sources that produce distortion and compensating for unnecessary current and power components. He has explored innovative methods to evaluate and express uncertainty in measurements, based on the mathematical theory of evidence, aimed at providing a faster and more direct evaluation in the presence of different contributions to uncertainty. He is a Life Fellow of the IEEE[2], a Fellow of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, a Founding Member of the Italian Association “Gruppo di Misure Elettriche ed Elettroniche”[3], and a Foreign Member of the Class of Technical Sciences of the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts[4]. He has been included in the 2020 list of the top 100K scientist in the world and in the top 2% Italian scientist by Standford’s University[5] and is in the list of Top Italian Scientists[6].
 | |
| Born | |
| December 12, 1954, Milan, Italy | |
| Nationality | |
| Italian | |
| Education | |
| Politecnico di Milano University (Italy) | |
| Fields | |
| Electrical Engineering | |
| Institutions | |
| Daco Systems, Italy, (1980-1983) | |
| Politecnico di Milano University, Italy, (1983-1987) | |
| University of Catania, Italy, (1987-1991) | |
| Politecnico di Milano University, Italy, (1991 – present) | |
| Notes | |
| Top Italian Scientist in Engineering | |
Education and career
Ferrero graduated in Electrical Engineering from the Politecnico di Milano University in 1978. After serving in the Italian Army for one year, he joined Daco Systems, an Italian branch of Landis & Gyr, as a designer of protective relays and contributed to the design of the first Italian fully digital distance relay. In 1983 he joined Politecnico di Milano as an Assistant Professor of electrical measurement. In 1987 he was appointed Associate Professor of electrical measurement at the University of Catania, in Catania, Italy. In 1991 he moved from the University of Catania back to Politecnico di Milano, where, in 1994, he was promoted to Full Professor of electrical and electronic measurement, and where he has worked till now.
Ferrero has also been an active member of the IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Society, whose AdCom (Administrative Committee) he joined in 1999[7]. He served as the IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Society President during the two-year term 2007 - 2008[8], first non-US member to be elected Society President. He served as the Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement from January 2012 to December 2017[9].
He has been a very active member of the Italian community of metrology. He chaired the Italian Association “Gruppo di Misure Elettriche ed Elettroniche” (GMEE) during the three-year term 2004 - 2007. He is the present Editor of the Italian journal Tutto_Misure, devoted to instrumentation and measurement[10].
Research
Digital Signal Processing
Alessandro Ferrero has pioneered measurement methods, based on advanced Digital Signal Processing techniques[11], for material and component characterization[12][13][14] and power and energy metering[15]. In Europe, Alessandro Ferrero has led in the use of Virtual Instruments[16]. The measurement and instrumentation technologies he developed have been used to solve complex measurement problems by pioneering Distributed Measurement Systems[17].
Power and energy measurements
Alessandro Ferrero is also known for his milestone contributions in the definition and measurement of power components in the electric systems under non-sinusoidal conditions. These include his interpretation of power definitions based on hyper-complex algebra, as well as his landmark paper, Definitions of Electrical Quantities Commonly Used in Non-Sinusoidal Conditions[18]. His work allowed him to define new indicators for evaluating supply and loading qualities under non-sinusoidal conditions[19]. At the same time, his mathematical approach, which is based on hyper-complex algebra, has provided an easier to use and more powerful framework for modelling such conditions[20].
Alessandro Ferrero founded and chaired the first four International Workshops on Power Definitions and Measurements. Sponsored by the North Italy Chapter of the IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Society, these workshops brought together the world’s top measurement and instrumentation researchers to exchange ideas and explore theoretical and practical applications in the field. The presented papers and related discussion were published on dedicated issues of the European Transactions on Electric Power[21][22][23][24]
Uncertainty evaluation
The complex measurement procedures and instruments studied and proposed by Alessandro Ferrero challenge the traditional methods for uncertainty evaluation, based on probability. To find a solution to this problem, Alessandro Ferrero has reconsidered the mathematical representation of a measurement result, moving from the presently employed probability theory, to the more general theory of evidence and pioneering the use of this mathematical theory for representing measurement results together with their uncertainty[25][26]. He has also reconsidered the way correlation can be estimated in uncertainty evaluation[27] This method has been suggested by the recent European Standard EN 17507:2021, “Road vehicles - Portable Emission Measuring Systems (PEMS) - Performance assessment”.
Forensic metrology
More recently, Alessandro Ferrero has started a multidisciplinary research team on Forensic Metrology, that is the application of metrology inside the Forensic Sciences, whenever measurement results are used as evidence of a crime or misconduct. This team, composed by scientists and lawyers, is aimed at showing that correct and metrology-sound results, including measurement uncertainty, are of great help to the trier of facts to render a decision “beyond any reasonable doubt”, whilst measurement results, absent uncertainty, may be misleading and hide the presence of a reasonable doubt to the trier of facts.
Publications
The scientific results achieved by Alessandro Ferrero are reported in over 200 papers he has authored or co-authored, and published in the most qualified international scientific journals and in the proceedings of international conferences in the field of instrumentation and measurement. 231 papers have been published, up to date, in ISI journals. Alessandro Ferrero has an h-index of 32 (according to SCOPUS), which ranks him among the presently most cited scientists in the I&M field. He is the third most prolific author of the IEEE Transactions of Instrumentation and Measurement since ever[28] and the co-author of the most popular article published in the IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Magazine[29].
Alessandro Ferrero is also the co-author of the book: “Digital Signal Processing for Measurement Systems -Theory and Applications”, published by Springer in its series: Information Technology: Transmission, Processing and Storage, in 2006 [30], the co-editor of the book “Modern Measurements – Fundamentals and Applications”, published by Wiley – IEEE Press, in 2015[30], to which he contributed with two chapters, and the co-author of the book: “Forensic Metrology”, published by Springer in its series: Research for Development, in 2022[31].
References
- ↑ Prof. FERRERO ALESSANDRO - POLITECNICO DI MILANO
- ↑ Alessandro Ferrero - IEEE Fellows Directory
- ↑ I 25 anni del GMEE
- ↑ Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts - Members
- ↑ ELSEVIER - Data for "Updated science-wide author databases of standardized citation indicators"
- ↑ Alessandro Ferrero - Top Italian Scientist in Engineering
- ↑ IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Society - Members
- ↑ IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Society - President
- ↑ IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation & Measurement Editor-in-Chief
- ↑ Tutto_Misure
- ↑ A. Ferrero and R. Ottoboni, High-accuracy Fourier analysis based on synchronous sampling techniques, IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement, vol. 41, no. 6, pp. 780-785, Dec. 1992
- ↑ E. Carminati and A. Ferrero, A virtual instrument for the measurement of the characteristics of magnetic materials, IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement, vol. 41, no. 6, pp. 1005-1009, Dec. 1992
- ↑ A. Ferrero and A. Raciti, A digital method for the determination of the magnetic characteristic of variable reluctance motors, IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement, vol. 39, no. 4, pp. 604-608, Aug. 1990
- ↑ L. D'Alessandro and A. Ferrero, A method for the determination of the parameters of the hysteresis model of magnetic materials, IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement, vol. 43, no. 4, pp. 599-605, Aug. 1994
- ↑ A. Ferrero, M. Faifer and S. Salicone, On Testing the Electronic Revenue Energy Meters, IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement, vol. 58, no. 9, pp. 3042-3049, Sept. 2009
- ↑ L. Cristaldi, A. Ferrero and V. Piuri, Programmable instruments, virtual instruments, and distributed measurement systems: what is really useful, innovative and technically sound?, IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine, vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 20-27, Sept. 1999
- ↑ L. Cristaldi, A. Ferrero and S. Salicone, A distributed system for electric power quality measurement, IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement, vol. 51, no. 4, pp. 776-781, Aug. 2002
- ↑ A. Ferrero and G. Superti-Furga, A new approach to the definition of power components in three-phase systems under nonsinusoidal conditions, IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement, vol. 40, no. 3, pp. 568-577, June 1991
- ↑ A. Ferrero, M. Prioli and S. Salicone, Fuzzy Metrology-Sound Approach to the Identification of Sources Injecting Periodic Disturbances in Electric Networks, IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement, vol. 60, no. 9, pp. 3007-3017, Sept. 2011
- ↑ L. Cristaldi and A. Ferrero, Mathematical foundations of the instantaneous power concepts: An algebraic approach. European Transactions on Electrical Power, 6: 305-309, 1996
- ↑ 1st International workshop on power definitions and measurements under non-sinusoidal conditions, European Transactions on Electrical Power, Vol. 3, n.1, 1993
- ↑ 2nd International workshop on power definitions and measurements under non-sinusoidal conditions, European Transactions on Electrical Power, Vol. 4, n. 5, 1994
- ↑ 3rd International workshop on power definitions and measurements under non-sinusoidal conditions, European Transactions on Electrical Power, Vol. 6, n. 5, 1996 and Vol. 6, n.6, 1996
- ↑ 4th International workshop on power definitions and measurements under non-sinusoidal conditions, European Transactions on Electrical Power, Vol. 8, n. 4, 1998 and Vol. 8, n. 5, 1998
- ↑ A. Ferrero and S. Salicone, The random-fuzzy variables: a new approach to the expression of uncertainty in measurement, IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement, vol. 53, no. 5, pp. 1370-1377, Oct. 2004
- ↑ A. Ferrero and S. Salicone, Fully comprehensive mathematical approach to the expression of uncertainty in measurement, IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement, vol. 55, no. 3, pp. 706-712, June 2006
- ↑ C. Dubois, L. Leblond, J. -M. Pou and A. Ferrero, Covariance evaluation by means of uncertainty assessment, IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine, vol. 19, no. 6, pp. 12-18, December 2016
- ↑ S. Shirmohammadi, Editor-in-Chief’s Year-End Message: 70th Anniversary and the Last Printed Issue, IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement, vol. 69, no. 12, pp. 9287-9305, Dec. 2020
- ↑ IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine
- ↑ A. Ferrero, D. Petri, P. Carbone, M. Catelani, Modern Measurements: Fundamentals and Applications, Wiley-IEEE Press, 2015
- ↑ A, Ferrero, V. Scotti, Forensic Metrology - An Introduction to the Fundamentals of Metrology for Judges, Lawyers and Forensic Scientists, Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022
