“I nominate Paulo Rebelo for “The Incredibles” section for his excellent performance shown in the several projects in which he participated, which have a huge importance for the centre, namely: ScalABLE4.0, Fasten, TriHo, MANUFACTUR4.0, among others. His technical expertise, commitment and proactivity in the rapid search for solutions, as well as the way he bridges the gap between the different teams involved, make him a very important element in the Centre for Robotics and Intelligent Systems (CRIIS). On the other hand, Paulo has the ability to communicate, to work in a team and to create a good environment. He truly is in the Limelight.”
Coordination of the Centre for Robotics in Industry and Intelligent Systems (CRIIS)
– Briefly describe how was your participation in the ScalABLE4.0, Fasten, TriHo and MANUFACTUR4.0 projects
In a nutshell, my contribution for the different projects and use cases, with different application areas, is about the location and navigation of different mobile robots in different industrial environments.
This work ranges from the parameterisation of all of the robot’s hardware (lasers, drivers, Industrial PC, among others) to the last location and navigation layer of the robot, where it is necessary to develop the maps of the different ‘shop floors’, as well as the different trajectories based on the roles that each one will perform. In the end, it is always necessary to parameterise the controller of each robot so that it moves autonomously, steadily and safely, in order not to put operators or other robotic systems at risk.
– What are your career plans or other projects on the horizon?
At this moment, my career plan concerns the next four years and includes the development my PhD’s thesis at CRIIS. In parallel, I hope to continue to contribute with my know-how for the development and the completion of the new projects that are coming for this centre of excellence, which, year after year, keeps contributing to enhance INESC TEC’s name in the international scene.
– How do you comment this nomination?
First of all, I would like to leave a special word of thanks to all my friends and colleagues, who contribute to the evolution of the centre on a daily basis. Without them, all my work would be increasingly difficult and possibly less effective. So thank you all very much for your companionship and for the exchange of ideas and training. I believe that this is the right way for companies to move forward, a mutual help between all elements with a single goal: the team. Only in this way can we evolve both personally and collectively as a centre and institute.
Regarding my nomination, I can say that I was a bit surprised for two reasons. The first one, because within CRIIS there are different fields of work and I am only working in the Mobile Robotics area for six months, an area in which I had little contact but that always motivated me. Perhaps, that’s where my commitment and satisfaction for the work I have been doing comes from.
The second reason is that CRIIS has elements of enormous quality and personality. For this reason, another element could just as well have been distinguished for the excellent work that we have been developing. I must also thank the team that coordinates CRIIS for this nomination, which will bring me greater responsibility at the centre and at INESC TEC.
Erick Lima (CTM)
«Erick Lima stood out in September when he represented INESC TEC at the consortium meeting of the European project Terapod in Glasgow. Erick presented the latest results of his work in the area of “antenna arrays for THz communications”, which were praised and recognised by the partners as being of high quality. It should be noted that Erick has maintained this excellence at work throughout the whole project. Erick also stood out in September for preparing and seeing a chapter proposal being accepted for the book “Next Generation Wireless Terahertz Communication Networks”, CRC Press.»
Coordination of the Centre for Telecommunications and Multimedia (CTM)
– Briefly describe how was your participation in the European project Terapod and the work performed in the area of “antenna arrays for THz communications”.
Future generations of THz-based wireless communications require high-gain antennas in order to ensure the rate needs of tens of Gbit /s. In this context, “antenna arrays” play a very important role for mitigating this need for high gain, while allowing a rapid change of orientation of the radiation diagram. In addition to this, having full control of the orientation of the radiation diagram allows you to create alternative scenarios for re-establishing connections automatically if the line of sight connection is blocked, which is very easy to do when we speak about THz.
With TERAPOD, our contribution is essentially to design “antenna arrays” that are viable from a manufacturing standpoint while maintaining the desired operational requirements, which is a huge challenge in this frequency range. In addition to this, we are focused on designing antennas that are compatible with future THz signal sources, namely “Resonant Tunneling Diode (RTD)” and “Uni-Traveling-Carrier-Photodiodes (UTD-PC)”.
– What are your career plans or other projects on the horizon?
For the future, I want to continue to learn and gain experience in the radio frequency and antennas areas, which I’m passionate about. At INESC TEC, I find myself contributing significantly to further increase the quality and quantity of what we do.
–How do you comment this nomination?
Firstly, and because success is not achieved without support, I would like to leave a special word of thanks to the former INESC TEC researcher Mário Rui Pereira for helping me on several occasions, including in critical stages of this project. I would also like to thank my colleague Hugo Santos for the important contribution to the project, my supervisors Luís Pessoa and Henrique Salgado for their promptness and excellence in the guidance and all those, who I will not mention here, but who are always with me.
I see this nomination as the recognition of the work that the group has been doing, aiming at addressing issues of high technological challenge, namely within the scope of the THz communications. Following this work, we will make an effort to materialise our experience and knowledge gained from this project in the book chapter mentioned above. I hope this internal recognition will be the first of many that are yet to come and that together we can promote our experience and research to much higher levels.
Video Credits: Terapod
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