Periodic Reporting for period 1 - IoTalentum (Internet of Things: Advance Learning in Networked Training)
Période du rapport: 2020-10-01 au 2022-09-30
The Internet of Things (IoT) consists of a vast number of interconnected devices with heterogeneous characteristics. The market value of IoT is expected to exceed trillions of euros by 2020 and, with so much at stake, Europe has to pursue leadership in this area. Although several aspects of research and deployment of separate IoT pieces have been addressed by some EU project initiatives, integral training and research across diverse sectors, i.e. providing a global view of IoT technologies and applications for the professionals of tomorrow has not been yet addressed.
IoTalentum is an EU Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie European Training Network on Internet of Things. The driving force for IoTalentum is to provide interdisciplinary and integral training and research in IoT: infrastructures, cybersecurity and applications. IoTalentum establishes a well-balanced and innovative training network of 9 beneficiaries (six leading European research groups from universities and there important companies) from five member states, with leading and complementary experience. IoTalentum will train 15 Early-Stage Researchers (ESRs), to be recruited during the running of the project, through an outstanding training program that includes coordinated research in different IoT fields.
The overarching objective of IoTalentum is to provide high-level training in the field of IoT to a new generation of ESRs to provide them with the transferable skills necessary for thriving careers in a burgeoning area that underpins innovative technological development across a range of diverse disciplines. This goal will be achieved by a unique combination of “hands-on” research training, non-academic placements, courses and workshops on scientific and complementary soft skills facilitated by the academic/non-academic composition of the consortium.
The global research objective of IoTalentum is to develop the next generation of IoT producing coordinated advantages in the area of infrastructures and cybersecurity and use it for the development of any application of next generation of IoT, and, in particular, those of smart grids. That global research objective is divided into three subobjectives, each one being the objective of the three research workpackages of IoTalentum.
• WP1 - Infrastructure: To develop an integral, autonomous and flexible control for heterogeneous 5G networks equipped with multi-access edge computing resources assisted by AI techniques.
• WP2 - Cybersecurity: To increase the security of IoTalentum infrastructure in order to make successful the next generation IoT applications.
• WP3 - Application - Smart-Grids: To develop smart grids with the next generation of IoT services demonstrating the breakthroughs of WP1 and WP2 in that sector, and its potential for the development of future applications, even in other sectors
IoTalentum is an EU Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie European Training Network on Internet of Things. The driving force for IoTalentum is to provide interdisciplinary and integral training and research in IoT: infrastructures, cybersecurity and applications. IoTalentum establishes a well-balanced and innovative training network of 9 beneficiaries (six leading European research groups from universities and there important companies) from five member states, with leading and complementary experience. IoTalentum will train 15 Early-Stage Researchers (ESRs), to be recruited during the running of the project, through an outstanding training program that includes coordinated research in different IoT fields.
The overarching objective of IoTalentum is to provide high-level training in the field of IoT to a new generation of ESRs to provide them with the transferable skills necessary for thriving careers in a burgeoning area that underpins innovative technological development across a range of diverse disciplines. This goal will be achieved by a unique combination of “hands-on” research training, non-academic placements, courses and workshops on scientific and complementary soft skills facilitated by the academic/non-academic composition of the consortium.
The global research objective of IoTalentum is to develop the next generation of IoT producing coordinated advantages in the area of infrastructures and cybersecurity and use it for the development of any application of next generation of IoT, and, in particular, those of smart grids. That global research objective is divided into three subobjectives, each one being the objective of the three research workpackages of IoTalentum.
• WP1 - Infrastructure: To develop an integral, autonomous and flexible control for heterogeneous 5G networks equipped with multi-access edge computing resources assisted by AI techniques.
• WP2 - Cybersecurity: To increase the security of IoTalentum infrastructure in order to make successful the next generation IoT applications.
• WP3 - Application - Smart-Grids: To develop smart grids with the next generation of IoT services demonstrating the breakthroughs of WP1 and WP2 in that sector, and its potential for the development of future applications, even in other sectors
The research objectives of the IoTalentum project are being realized through the implementation of the work developed in the three technical work packages (WP1- WP3). The global research objective of IoTalentum is to develop the next generation of Internet of Things (IoT). To achieve this goal, the research program has been divided into three main areas (mapped in three technical work-packages):
• WP1 - Infrastructure: focus on developing an autonomous and flexible control system for heterogeneous 5G networks. 8 ESRs (from ESR1 to ESR8) are contributing to this area. Different aspects are being addressed such as the study and the optimization of the employment of Multi-access Edge computing (MEC) in 5G and beyond, improving the performance of large scale heterogeneous software-defined networks (SDN) by applying new techniques such as Machine Learning (ML) and Quantum Machine Learning (QML) and the use of the high transmission capacity provided by the spatial division multiplexing elastic optical networks with multi-core fibers.
• WP2 - Cybersecurity: Address the security of the distributed infrastructure at all levels. Four ESRs (ESR 9, 10, 11 and 12) are contributing to this area by proposing new cybersecurity solutions such as Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) to keep the integrity of the highly-distributed infrastructure of IoTalentum by acting on different layers.
• WP3 - Applications-Smart Grids: Develop smart grids with the next generation of IoT services demonstrating the breakthroughs of WP1 and WP2 in that sector, and its potential for the development of future applications. It is being addressed by three ESRs (ESR 13, 14 and 15).
In addition, there exist three work packages that are considered transversal to the entire project:
• WP4 - Training: Coordination on the Training activities of IoTalentum: preparation of the Personal Career Development Plan (PCDP) of each researcher, the design and implementation of a comprehensive training program comprised of 33 courses, and ongoing monitoring of the progress of PhD students.
• WP4 - Communications, Dissemination, Exploitation and Data Management: Coordination of IoTalentum's actions to showcase the project's outcomes and contributions.
• WP6 - Coordination: Coordination of the project.
• WP1 - Infrastructure: focus on developing an autonomous and flexible control system for heterogeneous 5G networks. 8 ESRs (from ESR1 to ESR8) are contributing to this area. Different aspects are being addressed such as the study and the optimization of the employment of Multi-access Edge computing (MEC) in 5G and beyond, improving the performance of large scale heterogeneous software-defined networks (SDN) by applying new techniques such as Machine Learning (ML) and Quantum Machine Learning (QML) and the use of the high transmission capacity provided by the spatial division multiplexing elastic optical networks with multi-core fibers.
• WP2 - Cybersecurity: Address the security of the distributed infrastructure at all levels. Four ESRs (ESR 9, 10, 11 and 12) are contributing to this area by proposing new cybersecurity solutions such as Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) to keep the integrity of the highly-distributed infrastructure of IoTalentum by acting on different layers.
• WP3 - Applications-Smart Grids: Develop smart grids with the next generation of IoT services demonstrating the breakthroughs of WP1 and WP2 in that sector, and its potential for the development of future applications. It is being addressed by three ESRs (ESR 13, 14 and 15).
In addition, there exist three work packages that are considered transversal to the entire project:
• WP4 - Training: Coordination on the Training activities of IoTalentum: preparation of the Personal Career Development Plan (PCDP) of each researcher, the design and implementation of a comprehensive training program comprised of 33 courses, and ongoing monitoring of the progress of PhD students.
• WP4 - Communications, Dissemination, Exploitation and Data Management: Coordination of IoTalentum's actions to showcase the project's outcomes and contributions.
• WP6 - Coordination: Coordination of the project.
The ESRs in the infrastructure domain are generating results that will aid in the development of an infrastructure required to facilitate the next generation of IoT. This infrastructure will comprise distributed computing and storage at the edge (MEC) and a network based on 5G, which will be linked to an optical backbone through an optical backhaul. The ESRs involved in WP1 are responsible for devising new techniques and algorithms to manage and control IoTalentum. To accomplish this objective, WP1 has implemented several network and AI methodologies, including Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC), Software Defined Networking (SDN), Network Function Virtualization (NFV), survivability, slicing, Artificial Intelligence (AI) such as Machine Learning (ML), Quantum Machine Learning (QML), and Quantum Key Distribution (QKD).
The ESRs working in the cybersecurity domain (WP2) are utilizing various technologies and approaches to address the associated challenges and accomplish the set goals. These include performing a detailed analysis of the contribution of hardware-level security to the overall security in an IoT ecosystem, enhancing data transmission security in IoT systems through subcarrier wave quantum cryptography systems, boosting inter-computing center security via the development of a hardware-free identification tool, and optimizing the trade-off between the complexity of the proof of work in blockchain technology and its cost using the distributed infrastructure of IoTalentum.
The ESRs working in WP3 (Applications: Smart Grids) are focused on the development of smart grids in the next generation of IoT ecosystems, utilizing the distributed nature of data centers and incorporating cybersecurity techniques to safeguard the critical infrastructure of smart grids. This includes analyzing the use of IoT in smart homes within the context of smart grids, secure management of energy resources in smart neighborhoods through IoT devices, and the design of new aggregation models for smart grids.
The ESRs working in the cybersecurity domain (WP2) are utilizing various technologies and approaches to address the associated challenges and accomplish the set goals. These include performing a detailed analysis of the contribution of hardware-level security to the overall security in an IoT ecosystem, enhancing data transmission security in IoT systems through subcarrier wave quantum cryptography systems, boosting inter-computing center security via the development of a hardware-free identification tool, and optimizing the trade-off between the complexity of the proof of work in blockchain technology and its cost using the distributed infrastructure of IoTalentum.
The ESRs working in WP3 (Applications: Smart Grids) are focused on the development of smart grids in the next generation of IoT ecosystems, utilizing the distributed nature of data centers and incorporating cybersecurity techniques to safeguard the critical infrastructure of smart grids. This includes analyzing the use of IoT in smart homes within the context of smart grids, secure management of energy resources in smart neighborhoods through IoT devices, and the design of new aggregation models for smart grids.