Since its inception, the IoT lab, led by Boris Bellalta at the UPF Department of Information and Communication Technologies, has focused its research on exploring new concepts, technologies and paradigms of communication applied to wireless networks. Within the IoT research field, the IoT lab concentrates on the design and evaluation of new network and link protocols, improving service quality, energy efficiency and network autoconfiguration capabilities, among other things.

It will be possible to evaluate these concepts, considered the main bases of the IoT, in the context of the two new RIS3CAT (ERDF) emerging technologies projects which involve the IoT lab. RIS3CAT (Research and Innovation Strategy for the Smart Specialization of Catalonia) is Catalonia’s response to the demands of the European Commission for states and regions of the European Union to develop research and innovation strategies for smart specialization (Research Innovation Strategies for smart specialization, RIS3) in keeping with their innovation potential.  

A network of environmental sensors to achieve reliable, real-time information on pollution levels in a defined area within a superblock in Poblenou in order to measure the impact of the new mobility policies

One of the projects is FEM IoT, coordinated by the I2CAT, which is to last 36 months. The IoT lab will be a part of the Connected Street Infrastructures sub-project to achieve an integrated, flexible, multi-technology ICT infrastructure. This project also involves the participation of Vanesa Daza, a member of the Wireless Communications research group of the (DTIC), specifically in the IoT Data Enhancement sub-project.

“Our participation in the data enhancement project is with a case of use which consists of obtaining data referring to the IoT by indexing transactions in different Blockchain networks, in order to improve the control of mobility in the city of Barcelona”, explains Vanesa Daza, an expert in cryptography and security with the WiCom research group.

As Bellalta mentions, “we will also focus on achieving low consumption IoT technologies, a fundamental concept to which our group devotes much of its research”. “Within this project, we will develop a network of environmental sensors to achieve reliable, real-time information on pollution levels in a defined area within a superblock in Poblenou in order to measure the impact of the new mobility policies.

Connected Factory aims to develop robust, low consumption wireless communication technologies for distributed detection in industrial environments

The other project involving the IoT lab is the Looming Factory, coordinated by the UPC and which will last 36 months. “Our work will focus on the Connected Factory sub-project where new communication systems will be developed”. As Bellalta explains, “the difficulties presented by the deployment of IoT networks in industrial environments provides a good opportunity to evaluate new Machine Learning techniques being developed by the group to improve their functioning”.