IoTalentum - H2020 MSCA ITN European Training Network on IoT

ESR nº: ESR3

Name: Soheil Hosseini

Home Country: IR- Iran

Host Institution: UVa – Universidad de Valladolid, Spain

Main Supervisors: Dr. Ramón J. Durán Barroso & Dr. Noemí Merayo (UVa)

Phd Enrolment University: UVa – Universidad de Valladolid, Spain

Secondment: TID - TU/e - TID

Research Project:
AI-based control method for the optical backhaul of IoTalentum: To design new planning and operation methods based on AI for multicore and elastic optical backhaul networks of IoTalentum architecture. Methods for integration of optical control of access and metro segments. To exploit AI techniques to improve the overall network performance in terms of latency, throughput, cost and energy consumption. Implementation of a simple use-case with developed method in UVa GPON testbed.

Background / Brief biography:
Soheil Hosseini received his bachelor’s degree in Information Technology Engineering in 2014. He then worked for Access Endless Communication Company (AEC), Tehran, Iran where he mainly dealt with the development and establishment of optical network infrastructures. Following one year of industrial experience, he resumed his studies, and received his Master’s in Computer Engineering-Computer Networks from Sahand University of Technology, Tabriz, Iran. He is currently working toward the Ph.D. degree in Telecommunication Engineering. His research interests are mainly focused on optical networking, AI applied to optical systems, optical communications at the network edge supporting 5G/B5G.

Department: Optical Communications Group (GCO-UVa)

Research Field: IoT Infrastructures

Contact: soheil.hosseini@uva.es

ESR nº: ESR5

Name: Maryam Masoumi Estahbanati

Home Country: Iran - IR

Host Institution: UVa – Universidad de Valladolid, Spain

Main Supervisors: Dr. Ramón J. Durán Barroso & Dr. Ignacio de Miguel (UVa)

Phd Enrolment University: UVa – Universidad de Valladolid, Spain

Secondment: WIND - USAL - WIND

Research Project:
SDN for network virtualization in IoTalentum infrastructure: To develop planning and SDN control algorithms and techniques for IoTalentum networks. Integrate NFV in a distributed computing resources in MEC by means of SDN-based control mechanism.

Background / Brief biography:
I received my bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering - Communications from Shiraz University of Technology (SUTECH), Shiraz, Iran and my MSc degree in Communications Engineering from Yazd University, Yazd, Iran. My MSc thesis focused on “Optimal Network Selection in Heterogeneous Multimedia Wireless Networks”. The outcome of my thesis was published in 2 IEEE conferences papers. After graduation from Master education, I was recruited as an R&D expert in BSTC, electrical smart meter manufacturer company (branch of Hexing Electrical Co.) in Iran. I worked on developing IoT platform of smart meters and considering communication protocols and technologies such as LaRaWAN and NB-IoT.
I am is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree with Universidad de Valladolid. My current research interests include: SDN, VNF placement and resource allocation in MEC.

Department: Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros de Telecomunicación - Universidad de Valladolid Optical Communications Group (GCO-UVa)

Research Field: IoT Infrastructures

Contact: maryam.masoumi@uva.es

ESR nº: ESR7

Name: Hafiza Kanwal Janjua

Home Country: PK-Pakistan

Host Institution: UVa – Universidad de Valladolid, Spain

Main Supervisors: Dr. Ramón J. Durán Barroso & Dr. Ignacio de Miguel (UVa)

Phd Enrolment University: UVa – Universidad de Valladolid, Spain

Secondment: TID - ISEP - Chocolate cloud

Research Project:
Cognitive orchestrator of MEC and network resources: To develop cognitive control methods based on SDN to operate the IoTalentum architectures (MEC and the underlying network) with the objective of reducing the cost and the energy consumption of the infrastructure. To develop algorithms for load and VM balancing in order to provide Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Software as a Service (SaaS) to final users and objects. Integration and testing of IoTalentum distributed computing infrastructure in DREAM-GO mock-up.

Background / Brief biography :
I completed my MS in information Security from Comsats University of Islamabd (CUI) Pakistan, in 2020. Previously I did my BS degree in Software Engineering from National University of Modern Languages (NUML) in 2016.
The dissertation work of bachelor's and master’s thesis are related to; secure VM migration in cloud federations ,and orchestration of IoT microservices for scalable and proactive log preservation.
I performed my services as Assistant Researcher and Data Scientist for more than three years at Higher Education commission (HEC), and Cyber security Lab at CUI Islamabad, Pakistan respectively. Further, I am currently working as a Ph.D. fellow in the IoTalentum program under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MCSA) fellowship in the Department of Telecommunication Engineering at Universidad de Valladolid. My current research interests include Artificial Intelligence, cognitive Resource Orchestration in MEC, SDN & 5G.

Department: Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros de Telecomunicación - Universidad de Valladolid Optical Communications Group (GCO-UVa).

Research Field: IoT Infrastructures

Contact: hafizakanwal.janjua@uva.es

ESR nº: ESR1

Name: Catalina-Ioana Stan

Home Country: RO - Romania

Host Institution: TU/e – Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands

Main Supervisors: Prof. Idelfonso Tafur Monroy & Dr. Simon Rommel (TU/e)

Phd Enrolment University: TU/e – Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands

Secondment: UVa - NVIDIA

Research Project:
Full virtualization of 5G RAN towards white box open infrastructures: To integrate offload layers for user plane functions (UPF) in MEC nodes through hardware offload, allowing hyper-scaling of the manageable throughput while maintaining low latency and reducing the need for load balancers on GPRS Tunneling Protocol (GTP). To analyze the interdependency between throughput and load balancers in MEC hosts, thereby estimating dimensioning properties of the virtualization. To implement a fully-virtualized RAN system for MEC on a smart network interface card with offloading capability maintaining line-rate handling while ensuring processing for VNFs.

Background/Brief biography:
Catalina Stan received the B.S. in technology and telecommunications systems, and the M.S. in services and networks management with the final project focusing on machine learning for mobility in 5G in 2018 and 2020, respectively. Both degrees were received from University Politehnica of Bucharest. She also worked as a radio access engineer for the mobile network operator Orange in Bucharest, Romania. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. degree with the Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands, in the Electrical Engineering Department. Her current research interests include: edge computing, 5G and quantum-secured communications.

Department: Electrical Engineering

Research Field: IoT Infrastructures

Contact: c.i.stan@tue.nl

ESR nº: ESR2

Name: Oumayma Bouchmal

Home Country: MA - Morocco

Host Institution: TU/e – Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands

Main Supervisors: Prof. Idelfonso Tafur Monroy, Dr. Patty Stabile & Dr. Bruno Cimoli (TU/e)

Phd Enrolment University: TU/e – Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands

Secondment: NVIDIA - AAU

Research Project:
Improving the flexibility of 5G heterogeneous networks by slicing: To develop a flexible architecture for heterogeneous 5G slices able to pull resources of IoTalentum integrated heterogeneous infrastructure and compose slices allocated to applications. To develop a distributed slice controller employing technologies like Edge Computing, SDN/NFV and AI.

Background/Brief biography:
Oumayma Bouchmal completed her bachelor degree in Physics, specializing in electronics at Abdel Malek Essaàdi University of science in Morocco. She made her Master in telecommunication technologies and networks at Universidad Politécnica de Valencia in Spain, where her final project was design and implementation of a Non-Stand Alone network with OpenAir Interface, and where also she worked on developing some Quantum Machine Learning Algorithm for face recognition application. She is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree with the Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands, in the Electrical Engineering department. Her current research interests include: Machine Learning, Quantum Machine Learning, SDN and 5G.

Department: Electrical Engineering

Research Field: IoT Infrastructures

Contact: o.bouchmal@tue.nl

ESR nº: ESR10

Name: Carlos Rubio Garcia

Home Country: ES-Spanish

Host Institution: TU/e – Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands

Main Supervisors: Prof. Idelfonso Tafur Monroy & Dr. Simon Rommel (TU/e)

Phd Enrolment University: TU/e – Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands

Secondment: AAU - Cryptera

Research Project:
Quantum secured data communication for IoTalentum control plane: To conceive and experimental validate a secure data transmission link using vortex beam signaling both in wireless and optical fibre transmission ink. A novel approach based on the combination of technologies such as vortex transmission, sub-carrier multiplexing and hybrid photonic-electronic generation will be considered, in Telecom wavelength compatible with IoTalentum optical backhaul networks.

Background/Brief biography:
Carlos Rubio Garcia attended Newman University, in Wichita, KS in the United States thanks to an athletic scholarship to play soccer. There, he completed a BS in Information Technology and a BS in Management Information Systems. After that, he came back to Spain, where he attended the Universidad de Sevilla and completed a MSc in Intelligent Systems for Energy and Transport, with a specialization in Smart Cities. His final project was the development of a open API platform for IOT systems. Fiware, integrated together with other IOT software, allows for the collection, integration, analysis and use of data generated by several Smart Parkings around the city of Sevilla, using different tool such as Orion, Quantumleap, Cygnus or Draco. His current research interests include Quantum cryptography, SDN and quantum-secured data communications.

Department: Electrical Engineering

Research Field: Cybersecurity

Contact: c.rubio.garcia@tue.nl

ESR nº: ESR9

Name: Mieszko Jan Ferens Michalek

Home Country: ES-Spain

Host Institution: AAU – Aalborg University, Denmark

Main Supervisors: Prof. Knud Erik SKOUBY

Phd Enrolment University: AAU – Aalborg University, Denmark

Secondment: TU/e - Cryptera

Research Project:
Cybersecurity for IoT at hardware level in IoTalentum infrastructure: To identify and analyse security challenges at the hardware level in IoTalentum ecosystem providing an in-depth technical analysis of different available and upcoming hardware security technologies, such as secure boot and ARM TrustZone®, relevant for IoT devices and applications. To develop a security architecture that encompasses the devices and the network infrastructure elements

Background/Brief biography:
CMIESZKO JAN FERENS MICHALEK completed his BSc and MSc degrees at the University of Valladolid (UVa) in Valladolid, Spain, in 2020 and 2022, respectively. The specialisation of these studies was on Electrical Engineering (Telecommunication Engineering), where heavy focus was placed on AI, especially Reinforcement Learning, applied to communications networks during both final proyects. During his final year at university he participated in the Vulcanus in Japan programme, with an internship at NTT Data Corporation's Technology and Innovation Headquarters. Currently, he is working as a PhD fellow in the IoTalentum programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) fellowship at the Department of Electronic Systems (ES), Communication, Media, and Information technologies (CMI), Aalborg University (AAU) Copenhagen, Denmark. His research interests are in Machine Learning, Cybersecurity, Internet of Things (IoT) and Edge Computing.

Department: Center of Communication, Media and Information Technologies

Research Field: Cybersecurity

Contact:
mjfm@es.aau.dk
mieszko.ferens@gmail.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mieszko-jan-ferens-michalek-7b4149243/
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Mieszko-Ferens-Michalek

ESR nº: ESR11

Name: Muhammad Waleed

Home Country: PK-Pakistan

Host Institution: AAU – Aalborg University, Denmark

Main Supervisors: Dr. Sokol Kosta & Prof. Knud Erik Skouby (AAU)

Phd Enrolment University: Aalborg University (AAU), Copenhagen Denmark

Secondment: TU/e - Cryptera

Research Project:
Security in thing-to-cloud IoTalentum architectures for IoT ecosystems: To identify and describe new models mapping, quantifying, forecasting and ensuring adequate levels of privacy and security within the distributed computing centers the IoTalentum cloud-to-thing continuum. To develop and testing of a hardware-free identification tool for computing centers to increase the level of security and privacy of collected data in IoT virtual environments.

Background/Brief biography:
MUHAMMAD WALEED received the B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees from the University of Engineering and Technology (UET) at Peshawar, Pakistan, in 2014 and 2017, respectively, where his master thesis was on the Quick Convergence of PSF estimation for Single Image Blind Deblurring. He then joined the Trust Data Analytics and Management Lab as a Researcher in the Department of Information and Communication Engineering, Chosun University, South Korea. Further, he is currently working as a Ph.D. fellow in the IoTalentum program under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MCSA) fellowship in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Communication, Media, and Information technologies (CMI) Aalborg University (AAU) Copenhagen, Denmark. His research interests include cyber security, the Internet of Things, machine learning, trust management, and network communication. He is also interested in future networks, particularly edge computing and mobile communication.

Department: Center of Communication, Media and Information Technologies

Research Field: Cybersecurity

Contact:
muhammadw@es.aau.dk
mwkhanscorp@gmail.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/muhammad-waleed-khan-7a953397
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Muhammad-Waleed-5

ESR nº: ESR4

Host Institution: WINDTRE – Wind Tre S.p.A, Italy

Main Supervisors: Gianluca Rizzi (WINDTRE)

Phd Enrolment University: UVa – Universidad de Valladolid, Spain

Secondment: UVa - USAL - UVa

Research Project:
Fast instantiation of VNFs in a real 5G deployment: To study the enhancements to support the fast instantiation of VNFs for 5G networks and its relations with the distributed processing infrastructure of IoTalentum to reduce the latency and improve the quality of the experience. To evaluate how an end-to-end orchestration of infrastructure and services (supported by big data from monitoring) should assure a reliable deployment and execution of new 5G services in a few vertical contexts like media and energy and how to manage the lifecycle of those services.

Department: Technology Architecture & Governance

Research Field: IoT Infrastructures

ESR nº: ESR6

Name: Liesbeth Roelens

Host Institution: TID – Telefonica I+D, Spain

Main Supervisors: Dr. Óscar González de Dios (TID)

Phd Enrolment University: UVa – Universidad de Valladolid, Spain

Secondment: UVa - ISEP - UVa

Research Project:
Resilient self-Learning software-defined 5G-ready transport network: To design novel data models and AI/ML techniques for end-to-end IP/MPLS 5G ready transport network of the backhaul of IoTalentum architecture. To prototype and evaluate telemetry collection and novel control methods that auto-adjust the behaviour.

Background/Brief biography:
Liesbeth Roelens received the B.S. degree in Electromechanical Engineering and the B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering respectively in 2018 and 2019. She received the M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering, with specialization in Communication & Information Technology, in 2021. The degrees were obtained at the University of Ghent in Belgium. Currently, she is working as an industrial Ph.D. fellow under the IoTalentum program. The position is based at Telefónica I+D in Madrid. She is enrolled at the University of Valladolid to obtain the Ph.D. degree. Her research interests include network communication, SDN, 5G and machine learning.

Department: Transport Technology and Optimization; Laboratory

Research Field: IoT Infrastructures

Contact: liesbeth.roelens@telefonica.com

ESR nº: ESR8

Name: Axel Johansson

Home Country: FI -Finland

Host Institution: AU – Aarhus Universitet, Denmark

Main Supervisors: Prof. Daniel E. Lucani Rötter (AU)

Phd Enrolment University: AU – Aarhus Universitet, Denmark

Secondment: Chocolate cloud - UVa - Chocolate cloud

Research Project:
Privacy-by-design compression, sharing, and processing of IoT data in IoTalentum architecture: To design, implement and evaluate secure data sharing and controlled, privacy-preserving processing of IoT data using the cloud-to-thing IoTalentum infrastructure, trusted execution environments (e.g., Intel SGX), local computing resources, and judicious allocation of data. To investigate compression techniques that allow for processing directly on compressed data as a way to reduce data traffic and memory usage, both in local, MEC, and cloud devices in order to address the explosion in generated data worldwide.

Department: Department of Engineering - Aarhus University

Research Field: IoT Infrastructures

ESR nº: ESR12

Name: Mahmoud Abbasi

Home Country: Iran

Host Institution: USAL – Universidad de Salamanca, Spain

Main Supervisors: Prof. Juan Manuel Corchado & Dr. Javier Prieto (USAL)

Phd Enrolment University: USAL – Universidad de Salamanca, Spain

Secondment: Digitel TS - ISEP - PH Energia

Research Project:
Blockchain applications in the IoTalentum infrastructure: To develop a benchmarking platform and testbed to test trusted communications in IoT using the distributed ledger. To optimize the trade-off between the intricateness of the proof of work in blockchain technology and the cost (both computation and monetary) of the transaction. Integration and testing of the security technique in DREAM-GO mock-up.

Background/Brief biography:
I have a master's degree from Islamic Azad University of Mashhad, Iran (Department of Computer Engineering). I received my B.Eng from Department of Computer Engineering, Islamic Azad University of Birjand, Iran. My MSc thesis focused on electricity load forecasting in residential sector. My research interests are in the general area of communication systems and networks, Machine Learning (ML), Deep Learning (DL), Blockchain (BC). I've published over 10 papers on peer reviewed journals and international conferences. I am currently pursuing a Ph.D. degree at Universidad de Salamanca. I am working on BC technology for IoT security.

Department: Bioinformatic, Intelligent Systems and Educational Technology

Research Field: Cybersecurity

Contact: mahmoudabbasi@usal.es

ESR nº: ESR14

Host Institution: USAL – Universidad de Salamanca, Spain

Main Supervisors: Prof. Juan Manuel Corchado & Dr. Javier Prieto (USAL)

Phd Enrolment University: USAL – Universidad de Salamanca, Spain

Secondment: Digitel TS - ISEP - PH Energia

Research Project:
Smart Grids: Secured management of energy resources in smart neighbourhoods by mean of IoT devices: To design a collaborative environment able to monitor and measure the energy produced and consumed by different users and create an automated system for the “invoicing” of a balance, resulting from the interaction of the user with this pool of energy. To demonstrate the application of blockchain and IoT for handling an energy hub (microgrid). Integration and testing of IoTalentum infrastructure in DREAM-GO mock-up.

Department: Bioinformatic, Intelligent Systems and Educational Technology

Research Field: Applications – Smart Grids

ESR nº: ESR13

Name: Ubaid ur Rehman

Home Country: PK - Pakistan

Host Institution: ISEP – Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto, Portugal

Main Supervisors: Zita Vale (ISEP)

Phd Enrolment University: USAL – Universidad de Salamanca, Spain

Research Project:
Smart Grids: IoT for smart homes in the context of smart grids: To develop an architecture for IoT devices in smart homes compliant with IoTalentum access network for efficient communications in smart grids paradigm. To test different IoT devices for energy consumption monitoring and control to support the activation of demand response events, compliant with IoTalentum infrastructure. Integration and testing of IoTalentum infrastructure (particularly the smart-home architecture designed) in DREAM-GO mock-up.

Background/Brief biography:
Ubaid ur Rehman has received his Bachelor and Master Degrees in Electronics and Electrical System Engineering with Academic Excellence, form the Department of Engineering and Information Technology, University of Lahore, Pakistan, in 2016 and 2019 respectively. He has been working as the smart energy systems researcher at the National University of Science and Technology and University of Lahore, Pakistan. During his professional career he has contributed as a leading researcher in several research projects related to smart grid optimization and published over 20 research articles as first author in well reputed ISI indexed Journals and IEEE Conferences. He is currently pursuing for PHD degree at the University of Salamanca, Spain.

Department: GECAD - Research Group on Intelligent Engineering and Computing for Advanced Innovation and Development

Research Field: GECAD - Research Group on Intelligent Engineering and Computing for Advanced Innovation and Development, Smart Grid Applications

Contact: ubaid@isep.ipp.pt

ESR nº: ESR15

Host Institution: Simples Energia – PH Energia, Portugal

Main Supervisors: Manuel Acevedo (PH Energia)

Phd Enrolment University: USAL – Universidad de Salamanca, Spain

Research Project:
Smart Grids: Designing new aggregation models for Smart Grids: To develop aggregation models and algorithms with different objectives according to the consumers characteristics. To identify synergies and opportunities of cooperation between buildings and between consumers in the same or in different buildings. To analyze the aggregation small energy consumers in the participating in Regulating Reserve. To define business models considering the interactions between different consumers and/or buildings for the participation in DR programs. Integration of aggregation models in DREAM-GO mock-up

Department: Department of R&D

Research Field: Applications – Smart Grids