Research Projects

• 2023

• Next generation of Passive Acoustic Monitoring systems for sustainable use of the marine environment: fiber-optic hydrophones and deep learning (NextPAM)

  - 2 Research Groups

  
  The main objective of the NextPAM is to develop Fiber Optic Hydrophone (FOH) sensor system and its specific signal processing algorithms for Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM) applications. In order to achieve the main objective, we will: (i) study and develop fibre sensors that provide enough sensitivity and bandwidth to be employed in PAM, (ii) study and develop signal processing algorithms and acquisition systems capable of dealing with and exploiting these sensors' singular characteristics: low SNR and multichannel redundancy, (iii) build prototypes of the sensors, calibrate them, and measure them in a controlled environment, (iv) test some of the prototypes in two real PAM applications: 1/3 octave SPL measurement and cetacean calls detection.

• 2022

• Design, integration, verification, launch and operations of a CubeSat for Astrophysics and Earth Observation Applications (POLITECH-1)

  - Group: Microwave Applications Group (GAM)

  
  In recent years, the popularization of access to space has experienced a boom thanks to the appearance of pico- and nanosatellites (small space platforms weighing less than 10 kg). This sector, with cheap design, manufacturing and launch costs, offers adequate performance for many applications, in exchange for tolerating a higher risk of failure and having a shorter useful life. It is known by the term “New Space”. That is why, in the context of this call and in relation to Advanced Technologies for the exploration of the universe, it is considered relevant to develop a complete space mission based on this type of satellites (CubeSats). The main objective of this project is to develop, validate and finally launch into space a CubeSat, which we will call PoliTech-1, to operate with it and its different on-board payloads (in Astrophysics and Remote Sensing applications). PoliTech-1 is the first satellite designed by the Polytechnic University of Valencia, and will be the first fully integrated satellite in the Valencian Community. The proposed mission consists of a nanosatellite that includes different payloads, developed by various university research groups: a telescopic camera for Earth observation activities (GEODEYE), which will provide remote sensing data for academic and research purposes, a communications link downlink in band C (HiDAC), which includes the transmission stage with a planar antenna, and which will be used to download the images captured by the GEODEYE payload, and a novel very compact gamma and neutron detector system (LEON) for measure cosmic radiation in orbit, characterize space weather, and assess damaging effects of ionizing cosmic radiation on satellites.

• Technological Demonstrator of New Radio Links between Small Satellites and Earth Stations for Advanced Digital Applications (CHILD-SAT)

  - Group: Microwave Applications Group (GAM)

  
  The popularization of access to space has experienced great growth in recent years, thanks to the appearance of pico- and nanosatellites (small satellites weighing less than 10 kg).  However, one of its great limitations is related to the low emission power, which is why they usually operate in low orbits (LEO) and with a high relative speed around the Earth (complicating their stable orbital position, which requires continuous corrections and adjustments). For this, omni-directional antennas are required in the VHF and UHF frequency bands that guarantee the essential communication links, associated with the telemetry, tracking and command (TT&C) subsystems. However, the limited bandwidth available at these frequencies makes them unsuitable for high-speed massive data transmissions, as required by most space applications offered from these small platforms. To solve these needs of the new space economy (also known as new space) in the field of communications, the complete technological development (including practical demonstrator) of a high-speed data downlink operating in C band and Ku band, and with enough bandwidth to serve future applications in this new space sector, will be accomplished in this project. A second major aim of this project is the practical demonstration of services and applications that (in connection with the identified Digital Transition needs) can be provided by small sats. In this sense, communications experiments with existing and active CubeSats and small sats, for testing their future use in scientific activities (on-board experiments), in the digital transformation of the agro-food and industrial sector (acting as IoT sensor network hub) and providing full-coverage of wideband Internet services (IoS fleets), will be performed.

• 2021

• Campus for Pilot Tests, Development and Demonstration of 5G Mobile Technologies for the Internet of Things and Connected Machines Applied to Logistics. (VLC-CAMPUS-5G II)

  - Group: Mobile Communications Group (MCG)

  
  

  ACTUACIÓN COFINANCIADA POR LA UNIÓN EUROPEA A TRAVÉS DEL PROGRAMA OPERATIVO DEL FONDO EUROPEO DE DESARROLLO REGIONAL (FEDER) DE LA COMUNITAT VALENCIANA  2021-2022 (REF.:IDIFEDER/2021/088)

  

• Interrogación de Temperaturas Extremas con Sensores Ópticos (InTEnSO)

  - Area: Photonics - Group: Photonics Research Labs (PRL)

  
  El objetivo principal del proyecto InTEnSO es modificar sensores de fibra óptica con el fin de otorgarles mayor resistencia mecánica para su uso en condiciones de temperaturas muy altas y entornos que pueden ser agresivos. Dicho desarrollo debería ampliar grandemente el abanico de los usos posibles de los sensores de temperatura basados en fibras ópticas FBG y facilitar la democratización de dicha tecnología a nivel industrial. Para ampliar el rango de medida y la aplicabilidad industrial de los actuales sensores de fibra óptica, el proyecto InTenSO tiene por objetivo desarrollar un recubrimiento innovador que permite proporcionar una compatibilidad completa para trabajar en condiciones extremas, asegurando al mismo tiempo una resistencia química y mecánica mejorada y una flexibilidad adecuada, permitiendo también trabajar en entornos de altos niveles de intensidad de campos electromagnéticos. El proyecto InTEnSO presentado conjuntamente por parte del Instituto de Tecnología Química (UPV/CSIC), liderado por el Pr Avelino Corma, y del Iteam (UPV), liderado por el Pr Salvador sales, ha recibido financiación de la Agencia Valenciana de Innovación (AVI) en el ámbito de su programa “Valorización y transferencia de resultados de investigación a las empresas” (ayuda INNVA1/2021/64). Consulta la web del proyecto aquí.

• 2020

• Advanced Urban Delivery and Refuse Recovery (AUDERE)

  
  AUDERE aims to design and develop an intelligent and innovative system for urban refuse collection y and last-mile delivery logistics. To fulfil this objective, a fleet of autonomous vehicles (autonomous mobile robots) are equipped with 5G connectivity to carry out last-mile delivery and urban waste container recovery tasks. The AUDERE system will assess the technical, economic, social, and environmental viability in a range of use cases. Therefore, AUDERE will offer high-tech solutions to the growing forward and reverse logistics needs in our cities. Trials will be performed in two scenarios. The first one is the VLC-CAMPUS-5G of the Universitat Politècnica de València, which is equipped with the infrastructure of a private 5G mobile network that allows the validation of different use cases, such as logistics, automotive, industry, media, among others. In addition, among the main advantages of VLC-CAMPUS- 5G we can mention that it is a closed and controlled environment, which could be considered as a small city due to its infrastructure, commercial and sport places, banks, parks and where more than 20,000 people move daily. The second scenario is the La Pinada District, which is an eco-district, the first in Spain, that will integrate the principles of sustainable urban development, creating an attractive environment for family living, work, and enjoyment of nature. The results of this project will define new technological products that can be deployed in Smart Cities or Smart Quarters.

• Piloto de Tecnología 5G Comunidad Valenciana (Red.es)

  
  This is a project to validate the capabilities of 5G technology in Valencia, Spain by testing 15 use cases that involve sectors of health, industry, energy, gaming, and tourism. Valencia 5G has a budget of 10,145,234 euros and involves Orange, Huawei, Arborea Intellbird, CFZ Cobots, Global Omnium Idrica, Etra Research, and Development, Red Eléctrica y de Telecomunicaciones Innovación y Tecnología and Robotnik. The project aims to contribute from three approaches: support the deployment of the first 5G networks in Spain; experiment with the network management techniques; and testing the main capabilities of the technology: ultra-reliable and low-latency communications; massive machine-to-machine communications; and extremely high speed and capacity mobile broadband. The MCG of the iTEAM will be involved in 5 out of 15 uses cases, being these: (1) Robotic Remote diagnostic. (2) Fleet management: Robotics Remote control of AGVs. (3) Robotics-Remote inspection and maintenance. (4) 5G Digital Contents. (5) Massive IoT for smart meters in supplies. The use case of robotic remote diagnostic for the skin cancer diagnostic using the 5G mobile communications network, consisting of a specialist will scan the patient remotely using robotic arms that have built-in biometric sensors that capture and process the information. On the other hand, the VLCCAMPUS-5G of the Universitat Politècnica de València, has been chosen as one of the testing scenarios.

• BROADBAND HYBRID SILICON NITRIDE PHOTONIC INTEGRATED CIRCUITS (BHYSINPICS)

  
  Co-IPs: Pascual Muñoz Muñoz / Daniel Pastor Abellán: Integrated photonics has experienced exponential growth in the last 10 years, thanks to the research, development and commercial exploitation of generic technologies, which allow complex photonic systems into a single micro-chip. These technologies cover different parts of the spectrum, depending on the properties of the materials used in manufacturing, for different applications, in the visible (VIS), near (NIR) and mid infrared (MIR) wavelength ranges. However, there is no broadband technology platform, that allows light guiding over VIS, NIR and MIR. Even if it existed, the problem of hybridization with other active technologies, to enable the incorporation of sources and light detectors, would not be solved either. Together with the two previous aspects, the increasing complexity of photonic integrated circuits (PICs) requires advanced characterization methods, beyond those traditionally used. This proposal aims at researching and developing technologies, manufacturing and design processes, alongside the associated characterization methods, to address these three challenges: i) a passive photonic integration platform covering VIS, NIR and MIR, ii) advanced characterization methods and iii) micro-fabrication processes for hybridization with active technologies. The proposal is built upon the group’s track on research, development and technology transfer in the field, and is supported by related public and private sector agents, which are interested in the results of the project. The group holds also a track on training of highly specialized human resources and transfer to the photonics industry in general, and integrated photonics in particular  

• POLO TECNOLÓGICO UPVFAB

  
  IP: Pascual Muñoz Muñoz: The new action continues the previous infrastructure project (“Micro-manufacturing for photonics, electronics and chemistry” GVA / IDIFEDER / 2018/042 (2018-2020). The infrastructure is at the class 100/10000 (ISO 5 / 7) 500 m2 micro-fabrication pilot line / clean room www.fab.upv.es). More specifically, it is intended to complement the installation with the following equipment: 1) (Deposition) Sputter for cylindrical samples, 2) (Attack) Wet banks and attack tanks for samples and wafers up to 6 inches, 3 ) (Attack) Extraction and neutralization systems for wet banks and attack tanks, 4) (Metrology) FTIR equipment with microscope for sample analysis. 5) (Post-process) Microscopic transfer equipment by priming chips from 2-4 inches wafers to 6 inches wafers. The general objective is to develop new technological processes in the work areas of the proposing groups (ITEAM, ITQ, CI2B), specifically: I) integrated photonics, II) integrated catalytic membranes and III) electro-chemical devices.

  

  

• ADVANCED DESIGN OF NEW HIGH FREQUENCY COMPONENTS IN COMPACT WAVEGUIDE TECHNOLOGIES FOR FUTURE TELECOMMUNICATIONS SATELLITES (GUIDESAT)

  - Area: Antennas, Microwaves and Propagation - Group: Microwave Applications Group (GAM)

  
  The most relevant European satellite communication systems and applications are currently supporting a huge number of services of modern Digital Society. Among them, we highlight the global navigation system GALILEO, meteorological and Earth Observation programs like COPERNICUS, nanosatellites for scientific missions and big constellations of small satellites for implementing the upcoming “Internet of Satellites”, as well as large Telecommunication satellites in geostationary orbit. Thanks to these satellite payloads, many civil and military applications and a wide variety of sectors are being benefitted globally. With the aim of keeping the growing rate of such applications, all cited space programs are already deploying their future evolutions. Among them, one can find the Galileo second generation project, the next generations of meteorological (METEOSAT and METOP) satellites, the near future SENTINEL missions, the coming breed of small platforms for Starlink and OneWeb constellations, and the new large multi-beam space platforms operating in the millimetre wave (and sub-millimetre wave) frequency ranges (up to some terahertz). All these next-generation satellites will need more advanced communication payloads based on novel equipment with more stringent requirements. The main aim of this coordinated project is to address all identified challenges by designing novel passive components and antennas for next-generation satellite communication systems, including their prototyping and experimental validation. For that purpose, the four sub-projects will closely work on all available high-frequency technologies: i.e. more classical ones based on planar circuits and waveguides, more recent integrated planar waveguides with/without dielectric substrate, and the promising concept of gap waveguides. Advanced materials (such as bioplastics, artificial materials, liquid crystals, and also gallium nitride and graphene for terahertz frequencies), as well as manufacturing techniques (classical milling, 3-D fabrication methods, LTCC and micromachining processes), will be also investigated.   Participating entities: U.R.I. of Telecommunications and Multimedia Applications (ITEAM) of the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV), Department of Information and Communication Technologies of the Polytechnic University of Cartagena (UPCT), Department of Physics, Systems Engineering and Theory of Sign of the University of Alicante (UA) and the U.R.I. of Technologies, Construction and Telecommunications (ITCT) of the University of Castilla la Mancha (UCM).

• CLOUD ROBOTICS AND FACTORIES OF THE FUTURE – CROFT (PROMETEO/2020/040)

  - Group: Mobile Communications Group (MCG)

  
  This project addresses the research required for the development of mobile robotics in the cloud based on 5th generation mobile networks for the future IoT revolution. Low latency, high capacity demands, and a large number of mobile wireless entities connected to the Internet will require a continuous Ultra Dense Network (UDN) that is likely to use mmW bands to support future factory wireless connectivity. The connection network must be multi-hop, with connectivity nodes moving throughout the factory, even with drones, to ensure line of sight conditions for successful mmW communication. The nodes can cooperate in the transmission/ reception of data in a centralized or distributed way. In addition, the design of the protocol, mainly speaking of the PHY and MAC procedures, will guarantee the minimum battery consumption of the communicating machines. The objective of the project is to research and optimize the operation of RAN architectures for 5G standards beyond NR phase 2, and to design reliable and realistic PHY and MAC procedures adapted to this new communication model composed of mesh networks and mobile nodes. The ultimate goal is to achieve an improvement in the latency, reliability, and capacity of the large number of robots, drones, droids and humans that will work together in the factory of the future. In this context, the new communication paradigm of mmW and continuous UDNs together with the use of multihop cellular communications play a transversal role. During the project, the performance of the systems will be evaluated, simulations, RF measurements, and experiments with a large number of devices will be performed to validate the design principles used. For this purpose, the VLC-CAMPUS-5G will be exploited. In addition, this project aims to attract the talent of women to the new job opportunities that 5G will generate. This project has been funded by the Prometeo 2020 grant from the Generalitat Valenciana to carry out R & D & I projects for research groups of excellence. consumption of the communicating machines.

• 5G KEY TECHNOLOGY ENABLERS FOR EMERGING MEDIA CONTENT PRODUCTION SERVICES (5G-RECORDS)

  - Group: Mobile Communications Group (MCG)

  
  5G-RECORDS aims to explore the opportunities which new 5G technology components - these include the core network (5GC), radio access network (RAN) and end devices - bring to the professional production of audiovisual content. The project targets the development, integration, validation and demonstration of 5G components for professional content production, as part of an overall ecosystem integrating a subset of 5G network functions. The project aims to use of 5G non-public networks (NPNs) as a way to bring these new 5G components to emerging markets and new market actors, while also addressing recent emerging remote and distributed production workflows where cloud technologies cooperate with 5G. 5G-RECORDS has considered 3 use cases to embrace some of the most challenging scenarios in the framework of professional content production: live audio production, a multi-camera wireless studio and live immersive media production. iTEAM is the coordinator of the project. This project has been H2020.