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Editorial
2025 is expected to be a year of significant challenges, but, more importantly, a year filled with major opportunities for Instituto de Telecomunicações (it), both at the organizational and the research activity levels.
On the organizational front, 2025 will mark the beginning of the impact of recent changes in the composition of the Board of Directors, the Management Committees of the Coimbra and Lisbon sites, and the election of a new President of the Scientific Council. The fresh energy and enthusiasm these new leaders bring will undoubtedly inspire the researchers and staff, particularly the Coordinators of the Thematic Lines and Research Clusters.
Regarding the research activity, the Coordinators of our five Thematic Lines - Wireless Technologies, Optics and Photonics, Information and Data Sciences, Networks and Services, and Basic Sciences and Enabling Technologies -selected eight key application areas for the organization's near-term work: Quantum Technologies, Communication Systems and Networks, 6G and beyond 6G topics, Machine Learning, Cybersecurity, Intelligent Mobility, Sensing Technologies and Smart Society, and Space and Defense.
As with all other R&D institutions in Portugal, the FCT evaluation process will be concluded in 2025, providing feedback from the Evaluation Panel. We will encourage reflection on their insights and implications within both the Scientific Council and the Board of Directors.
Indeed, expectations for 2025 are high, as it marks the start of a new chapter in the organization’s journey. Let us all work together to channel our energy and enthusiasm into this transformation. Our Instituto de Telecomunicações deserves it!
José Carlos Pedro
(IT President)
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AMALIA: The First Portuguese-Language LLM
The Portuguese Prime Minister announced at the Web Summit the development of AMALIA – an Automatic Multimodal Language Assistant with Artificial Intelligence, the first Large-Scale Language Model (LLM) designed specifically for the Portuguese language.
With an investment of 5.5 million euros from the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR), this is a pioneering project. The team responsible for developing AMALIA includes members from the Instituto de Telecomunicações, a research center associated with Técnico, Unbabel, a spin-off company from Técnico, the NOVA University of Lisbon, and the Foundation for Science and Technology.
The Center for Responsible AI, established under the Next Gen project, will provide expert oversight, ensuring the application of best practices in LLM development, emphasizing ethical and responsible AI.
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João Pedro and André Souza won the Best Paper Award at the RNDM 2024
João Pedro, an IT researcher and Senior Principal Engineer at Infinera, and André Souza, PhD student at IST and Senior Engineer at Infinera, won the Best Paper Award at the 14th edition of RNDM 2024.
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Quantum-Inspired Machine Learning: Bridging Nature and Computation
Emmanuel Zambrini Cruzeiro, Christine De Mol, Serge Massar, and Stefano Pironio recently published an innovative study that introduces quantum-inspired algorithms for machine learning.
more >>
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André Clérigo won the IEEE Outstanding MSc Thesis Award – Portugal Section
André Clérigo won the IEEE Outstanding MSc Thesis Award, with his MSc thesis “On the Integration of Communication, Sensing, and AR Towards Road Safety”, an innovative work that addresses the safety of Vulnerable Road Users (VRUs) in smart cities.
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Pedro Teixeira and Rui Lopes Join IEEE Education Chapter Newsletter Editorial Team
Pedro Teixeira and Rui Lopes, doctoral students in Informatics at the University of Aveiro and researchers at the Instituto de Telecomunicações, were invited to the editorial team for the IEEE Education Chapter newsletter of the Portuguese Section.
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The main objective of MODAS is the use of Distributed Acoustic Sensing on a submarine cable in the Azores to monitor for one-year natural hazards (earthquakes and tsunamis) and the environment (sea state, surface currents, soundscape, and whales).
DAS is an emerging tool that uses the fibre as a sensor that measures strain and strain rate at a very high spatial resolution, typically 10 m or less. DAS is a very cost-effective tool to make long-term monitoring to several Essential Ocean Variables at distances from the coast up to 100 km.
MODAS will investigate the solid earth, the ocean, solid ocean- interactions, anthropogenic and natural noise sources, and whale vocalizations that will contribute to the mitigation of natural hazards and evaluation of the impacts of climate change on the Ocean.
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ICCT-Europe 2025
ICCT-Europe 2025 will bring together top technical professionals from the consumer electronics and technology industry and academia to exchange information and results of recent work on systems, circuits, technologies, processes, and applications.
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ICOE - International Conference on Organic Electronics
ICOE 2025 is a premier event in Portugal for researchers and professionals in the field of organic electronics, covering areas such as novel materials, devices, and emerging applications of organic electronics.
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VNC 2025 - IEEE Vehicular Networking Conference
Now in its 16th edition, the IEEE Vehicular Networking Conference (VNC) has been the primary venue for the community working and interested in cooperative and autonomous driving, as well as vehicular communication and networking at large.
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Beatriz Oliveira
Digitally-Enhanced Unamplified Coherent Optical Systems
Beatriz Oliveira concluded her Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Aveiro, in May 2024, supervised by Paulo Monteiro (IT-AV), Fernando Guiomar (IT-AV) and Maria do Carmo Medeiros (IT-CO).
Her research focused on digital signal processing (DSP) methods for high-speed short-reach coherent optical links, with her contributions to constellation shaping being awarded at ECOC 2023.
She is now a Researcher at Instituto de Telecomunicações – Aveiro.
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"IT provides cutting-edge equipment and fosters many experts in my field. I am fortunate to continue to work with such a supportive and collaborative research group here at IT."
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Mohsen Barzegar
Damage Imaging in Guided Wave-based Inspection of Adhesive Joints
In May 2024, Mohsen Barzegar completed a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, under the supervision of Helena G. Ramos (IT-IST) and Artur L. Ribeiro (IT-IST).
The thesis focused on ultrasonic guided wave techniques for non-destructive testing and structural health monitoring of adhesive joints, presenting innovative methods for damage imaging, signal processing, and baseline-free approaches using sensor arrays.
Currently, Mohsen is an integrated researcher at IT in the Instrumentation and Measurements group.
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"I found this experience in IT invaluable for skill-building and collaboration with industry experts."
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Prashanth Baskaran
Modeling of Multiparameter Probability of Detection of Flaws in Eddy Current NDE Using Boundary Element Method
Prashanth Baskaran concluded his Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, under the supervision of Helena G. Ramos (IT-IST) and Artur L. Ribeiro (IT-IST) on May 16, 2024.
His doctoral study was in the field of eddy-current NDT, where he applied theoretical (semi-analytical) models (boundary element method) to find correlations between flaw signals and use them to enhance the probability of their detection (PoD).
Now, Prashanth is a post-doc researcher at IT.
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"IT played an instrumental role in shaping my research career. The supporting environment and cutting-edge research helped me to instigate my research interest in the field of nondestructive testing (NDT). I believe the knowledge and skills that I have gained at IT will be instrumental in making significant contributions in NDT."
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As we close another remarkable year, the Communications Office of the Instituto de Telecomunicações extends heartfelt wishes for a joyous holiday season. May the New Year bring even more inspiring breakthroughs and advancements in science.
Happy Holidays and best wishes for a bright and innovative year ahead!
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