Projects

Summary: GENIUS will integrate logistics, multimodal transport and automation within the 6G ecosystem to deliver transformative benefits across efficiency, sustainability, and resilience of supply chains. Ultra-reliable low-latency communications will enable continuous monitoring and synchronization of goods across heterogeneous transport modes, supporting seamless coordination at hubs such as in a crowded city, ports and airports.

Grant: 101293076

Programme: IFIC application submitted at the end of 2025 (lead entity: NOS)

Summary: The PIONEER-PON project, part of the Mobilizing Agenda for Microelectronics, aims to develop, industrialize, and commercialize a fully integrated “pluggable” OLT module based on a Photonic Integrated Circuit (PIC) and a high-performance CMOS (Complementary Metal-Oxide–Semiconductor) ASIC. This device will be compatible with GPON and XGS-PON standards, supporting multiple interfaces and enabling vertical scalability (port densification) and horizontal scalability (network function disaggregation). Pedro Rito will lead the design of advanced analog blocks for the ASIC, and contribute to the high-speed functional characterization and verification of the optical and electrical performance of prototypes.

Summary: POEMS is the Portuguese Competence Centre in Semiconductors, an action under the Chips for Europe Initiative that directly addresses critical needs outlined in the National Semiconductors Strategy. Focusing on chip design, advanced packaging and emerging semiconductor technologies, it offers advanced training in these areas, supports industrial stakeholders in developing semiconductor solutions, facilitates access to the European Network of Chips Competence Centres, the EU Chips Design Platform and the Pilot Lines, and supports access to the EU Chips Fund and private investment, including venture capital.

Programme: Chips for Europe Initiative

Grant: 101217646

Summary: PIXEurope will create the world’s first fully integrated Open Access PIC Pilot Line, grouping Europe’s top research organisations across all areas of advanced PIC technologies. Combined, they will establish a uniquely unified and standardised PIC ecosystem, placing Europe in a global leadership position and giving Europe sovereignty and a competitive advantage in this critically important future technology. Investments in state-of-the-art equipment will establish critical European infrastructure to develop breakthrough PIC technologies.

My contribution: Leveraging Dr. Pedro Rito’s technical and research expertise in electrical and photonic integrated circuits, he is coordinating the establishment of the pilot line at the Instituto de Telecomunicações, which will be the sole site in Portugal with such facilities. This pilot line will drive the projects and research activities of IT researchers and a cluster of entities and companies, strengthening collaboration between academia and industry in integrated circuits (ICs) and photonic integrated circuits (PICs) for telecommunications.

Summary: The ALBATROZ project – Altice Labs Advanced Technology on Radio, Optics, and Virtualization – aims to support the evolution of Altice Labs’ current network solutions in line with advancements in telecommunications network technologies (e.g., Very High Speed Passive Optical Network (VHS-PON), Higher Speed PON (HS-PON), Wi-Fi 7, 5G & Beyond).

My contribution: Pedro Rito participates in the project supervising activities in the deployment of a real RAN 5G infrastructure, and in the development of intelligent mechanisms with passive and active network metrics in PON networks, and ML model training.

Grant: COMPETE2030-FEDER-01335900

Summary: This project focuses on developing a new framework for enhanced management of next generation mobile networks towards 6G and the over-the-top services and contents. This solution embraces new Assurance technologies as responsible for running operations -along with monitoring, fault management, measuring impact analysis and correcting to ensure best performance, including Quality of Service (QoS) and Quality of Experience (QoE)- and integrates the information from the underlying 5G+/6G networks, the platforms and the applications.

My contribution: Pedro Rito participates in the project supervising activities in the deployment of a real RAN 5G infrastructure, and in the development of intelligent mechanisms with passive and active network metrics in PON networks, and ML model training.

Grant: CENTRO2030-FEDER-01672300

Summary: 6G-PATH goal is to help foster the further development and integration of new and improved tools and products from EU companies with 5G/6G, while also measuring relevant KPIs and KVIs. To achieve this, 7 testbeds will be part of the project consortium, which will be used by 10 use cases spread across four key verticals: Health, Education, Smart Cities and Farming.

My contribution: Pedro Rito coordinates project tasks to develop AI integration to networks, with the development of a cellular network platform and a city mobility network, which allows 6G network resources to be allocated dynamically and in advance according to the users mobility prediction and their needs.

Grant: 101139172

Summary: NextGen Mobility: Next generation of connected mobility and infrastructures arises from a consortium made up of Brisa, A-TO-BE, Altice Labs, IT and FI Group with a view to creating a testbed with the aim of supporting SMEs and Start-ups that intend to develop and test new products and/or digital services focused on Mobility.

My contribution: Pedro Rito participates in the project supervising activities to integrate ATCLL within this testbed.

Summary: AM2R envisions the development of new solutions for last mile / 15 minute-city. An example is the communication systems between vehicles and the traffic light system in order to receive traffic status and information of relevant interest, and also to help with the safety of bicycles (not only for sending information on their status, but also for receiving danger alerts).

My contribution: Pedro Rito coordinates activities in this project to research and develop data gathering and processing solutions with AI for two-wheeler use cases. IoT solutions will also be developed that can be integrated into bicycles and that allow the sending of data with great frequency and low communication costs.

Grant: C644866475-00000012

Summary: This project is an Agenda centered on logistics and transportation networks, focused on innovating, developing, demonstrating, and initiating the valorization and exploitation of products and services with strong export potential, addressing the main challenges and gaps identified in logistics in Portugal.

My contribution: Pedro Rito coordinates activities in this project to research and develop IoT solutions for integrating sensing and communication systems within train wagons and between trains and ports.

Grant: C645112083-00000059

Summary: This agenda aims to develop and implement an advanced and innovative “Customer Journey” concept, involving the deployment of disruptive and innovative solutions at selected points throughout the entire tourist experience.

My contribution: Pedro Rito coordinates the effort of the development of a platform that leverages AI-based recommendation engines, integrates IoT mobility sensors, bike-sharing stations and vehicles’ parking platforms, and external applications. The platform aims to integrate a tourist recommendation system with a city platform, working specifically with Aveiro and Porto cities and data.

Grant: C645192610-00000060

Summary: Recovery and Resilience Plan Route 25 will revolve around the following areas: the development of network software and networking Artificial Intelligence (AI), an enabler for vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication (V2X); and connected infrastructures for resilient and inclusive cities, focused on the adaptation of urban furniture to include V2X hardware, equipment for autonomous Electric Vehicle (EV) charging, distributed weather sensors and smart parking.

My contribution: Pedro Rito participates in this project supervising research activities in the area of autonomous mobility and communications among vehicles and infrastructure for an enhanced cooperative perception. In particular, the tasks involve the usage of data collection and AI models (for sensing and perception) and mobility prediction of the road safety scenarios.

Grant: 02/C05-i01.01/2022.PC645463824-00000063

Summary: Recovery and Resilience Plan New Space Portugal aims to transform the specialization profile of the Portuguese Space sector, with new innovative, exportable products and services of greater technological complexity, leveraging the entire value chain. The Agenda is based on 5 vertical projects led by companies, which intend to leverage R&D+I activity and industrial development in space and earth observation systems.

My contribution: Pedro Rito coordinates activities in this project to develop a communications gateway and sensor data gathering using space-based links. The data platform is highly heterogeneous to accept various types of ingress data, processing of data streams, and the training of models.

Grant: 02/C05-i01.01/2022.PC644936537-00000046

My contribution: Under the scope of the Digital Innovation Hubs, Pedro Rito is a member of the selected team at the Instituto de Telecomunicações for the consortium CONNECT5 comprising 12 partners, which includes IT. The set of actors will allow deepening and transmitting know-how in terms of the digital transformation of SMEs and public administration, leveraged on digital technologies, namely in 5G, Cloud, IoT, BigData/analytics, and cyber-physical systems and supported in areas of knowledge such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), High-Performance Computing and Cybersecurity.

Summary: The Microelectronics Agenda was established under the mobilizing agendas of the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR). It aims to strengthen the production and innovation capacity of the national semiconductor and microelectronics industry. Involving a consortium of 17 partners, it seeks to position Portugal at the forefront of the semiconductor market in terms of management, production, distribution, and recycling, enabling it to effectively supply Europe and other countries on a global scale.

My contribution: Dr. Pedro Rito began participating in this project when he became an Assistant Professor at the UA, supervising work through scholarships to explore the feasibility of using OpenPDKs for designing integrated circuits for pedagogical and research purposes. His involvement also included organizing events, such as workshops and invited talks, and establishing close collaboration with Synopsys, a fellow consortium partner.

Summary: The Aveiro Smart Connected Spaces initiative aims to provide SMEs and startups with the necessary conditions for developing and testing new products and services in the communications, sensing, and actuation/automation sectors, thereby accelerating their transformation process.

My contribution: Pedro Rito participates in the project by supervising activities to integrate the ATCLL within this testbed and to scout startups seeking infrastructure to test and develop their products. He is undertaking these efforts through IT and UA.

Grant: S-0006-AV-24

My contribution: This work, led by Pedro Rito, was part of the initiative Fed4FIRE+ Competitive Call – Innovative Testbeds. The group of researchers supervised by Pedro Rito have performed the technical effort to expose the ATCLL testbed under the guidelines of the federation. With this initiative, the promotion and exposure of ATCLL was enhanced, in order to better publicize the work developed with the utilization of the testbed and to attract new partners.

Summary: With Altice Labs as the lead promoter, this project aims to create an innovative portfolio of products and services, mostly based on cloud and cognitive technologies. IT participates in the development of intelligent mechanisms for self-organizing WiFi mesh networks for domestic and industrial applications.

My contribution: Pedro Rito was involved in the research tasks to develop new ways for predicting the WiFi mesh networks backhaul needs, leading to a higher efficient and resilient network. This is being achieved using strong proactive ML techniques and SDN-based solutions.

Grant: POCI-01-0247-FEDER-070365

Summary: This project proposes the implementation of an SDN-based architecture to enable rapid network innovation for multihoming 5G vehicular communications. The SDN-based architecture includes the support to optimize the placement and migration of services/functions between OBUs, RSUs and Cloud elements.

My contribution: Pedro Rito participated in this project in the guidance of work to implement an SDN-based architecture for vehicular environments with multiple technologies being used simultaneously, with special emphasis on the management of the control plane, and to improve existing SDN solutions, adding elements already present in the ITS universe.

Grant: PTDC/EEI-COM/5284/2020

Summary: The aim of the project is to develop intelligent network management and control functions techniques, such as self-configuring networks, application aware networks, Artificial Intelligence (AI) mechanisms for autonomous and adaptive management of the future mobile networks as well as intelligent business analytics capabilities.

My contribution: Pedro Rito participated in the project supervising activities in the deployment of a real RAN 5G infrastructure, and in the development of intelligent mechanisms with passive and active network metrics, ML model training and SDN-based network control.

Grant: POCI-01-0247-FEDER-112314

Summary: This project aims to explore how technologies, in particular urban platforms, can contribute to improving people's quality of life in urban areas and making cities smarter and more sustainable. It is, therefore, the objective of promoting an integrated, more efficient and effective urban management and a catalyst for innovation and competitiveness.

My contribution: Pedro Rito participated in this project in charge of the integration of the ATCLL platform to be used as experimenting infrastructure and to produce the required data from communication metrics and sensing for AI/ML training and prediction.

Grant: POCI-01-0247-FEDER-046119

Summary: This project aims to solve the need for efficient, scalable and cost-effective network backhauling, targeting 5G networks and beyond, in a dense and urban environment like cities.

My contribution: Pedro Rito participates in the coordination of research activities regarding the development of self-optimized mmWave-based backhaul mesh networking and its integration into the real environment, using the ATCLL testbed. The work is done in a strong collaboration with the group of Muriel Médard from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Grant: CENTRO-01-0247-FEDER-045929

Summary: The PAC project is a mobilizing R&D project for the development, testing and demonstration of a generation of technologies, processes and products that allow a new positioning of the national automotive cluster in the global value chains of the car of the future.

My contribution: Pedro Rito was responsible for the activities regarding the mobility data gathering (leveraging datasets from ATCLL) and the guidance of the integration efforts of vehicle sensors with the V2X ITS-G5 and 5G infrastructures. The activities were done in a strong partnership with the Department of Mechanics of University of Aveiro and CEiiA.

Grant: POCI-01-0247-FEDER-046095

Summary: This EU-funded project demonstrated autonomous shuttles’ integration into the transport system in ten EU cities, analyzing the system performance in view of safety and environmental impact, as well as its multimodal integration with the transport network.

My contribution: Pedro Rito was involved in the planning of the pilot demonstration in the city of Aveiro, in particular guiding the development of the use case which will demonstrate the ride of an autonomous shuttle leveraging the communication and sensing capabilities (with computer vision ML) of ATCLL.

Grant: EU DG Connect/2020/3205093

Summary: This project funded the implementation of an open laboratory in the city of Aveiro. This laboratory consists of stations with various communication technologies in 44 locations in the city of Aveiro (4G / 5G, ITS-G5, C-V2X, long-range communication LoRa and LoRaWAN and Wi-Fi). These stations, installed in Smart Lamp stations and in city buildings, also contain environmental sensors, traffic radars, LIDARs, video cameras and computing units. There are public buses and garbage trucks with communication systems which send their data in real time to IT.

My contribution: Pedro Rito was the Innovation Officer with responsibilities in developing use-cases and deploying the infrastructure of the ATCLL.

Grant: UIA03-084

Summary: This project explored the benefits of the mobility prediction in the design and implementation of an Information Centric Networking architecture for Internet of Things (IoT) platforms.

My contribution: Pedro Rito was responsible for guiding the progress of incorporating the development of the Named Data Networking (NDN) into the ATCLL testbed.

Grant: POCI-01-0145-FEDER-030433

Summary: This project, funded by the German Federal Government, aimed to research new advancements in the development of Silicon Photonics for next-generation interconnects in data networks.

My contribution: The research activities performed by Pedro Rito during his PhD contributed to accomplish the goals of the project, more specifically, demonstrating unique electro-optical transceivers with high-speed and efficient performance.

Summary: This European-funded project aimed to research new advancements in the development of InP and Silicon Photonics for next-generation interconnects in data networks.

My contribution: The research activities performed by Pedro Rito during his PhD contributed to accomplish the goals of the project, more specifically, demonstrating unique electro-optical transceivers in partnership with Fraunhofer Heinrich-Hertz-Institut (HHI).