Unimore and Hipert Ltd win the “Best Demo Award” at the final event of Italy’s leading public telecommunications programme
Unimore and its spin-off Hipert Ltd, in collaboration with the University of Bologna, the University of L’Aquila, and the Gran Sasso Science Institute, have won the “Best Demo Award” at the final event of the PNRR RESTART project, Italy’s most significant publicly funded Research & Development programme in the telecommunications sector, backed by €116 million from the PNRR.
The Unimore–Hipert team developed a unique demonstration within the MoVeOver – Industrial and Digital Transition Networks (CCAM) spoke: a sort of “autonomous miniature car track”, at 1:10 scale, designed to test algorithms for intelligent, traffic-light-free junctions in which vehicles communicate with each other and with the infrastructure to negotiate crossings in real time.
The platform—situated at the crossroads of automotive, smart-city solutions and telecommunications—is fully replicable, supported by open-source software, and can be used to provide a concrete illustration of how Cooperative Connected Automated Mobility (CCAM) works.
The demo, created by Unimore researchers Paolo Burgio and Carlo Augusto Grazia together with the University of Bologna team led by Prof. Alessandro Bazzi, was voted best in the “New Applications” category among more than sixty demonstrations. The award was presented at Confindustria’s national headquarters by a jury that included representatives from TIM, Siemens and Wind.
“This is a classic example of technology originally developed for teaching and research in one field being successfully adapted to applications it was not initially designed for. It shows just how essential solid fundamental research and an interdisciplinary approach truly are,” commented Dr Paolo Burgio, Computer Science Researcher at Unimore’s Department of Physics, Computer Science and Mathematics.
“With this DEMO we provide a very concrete illustration of how an intelligent junction without traffic lights can operate: vehicles communicate with one another and negotiate the crossing in real time. Even though we use 1:10-scale vehicles, the wireless technology is the same as the one we develop and deploy on full-scale vehicles,” added Dr Carlo Augusto Grazia, Telecommunications Researcher at Unimore’s ‘Enzo Ferrari’ Department of Engineering.
“We are pleased to have supported this type of innovative application—at the intersection of automotive, smart-city technologies and telecommunications—with Hipert’s solutions. We plan to apply this technological platform within the Modena Automotive Smart Area as well,” concluded Prof. Marko Bertogna, CEO of Hipert Ltd and lecturer at Unimore’s Department of Physics, Computer Science and Mathematics.
The RESTART project (Research and innovation on future telecommunications systems and networks, to make Italy more smart) aims to revitalise the telecommunications sector by investing in fixed, cellular, local and satellite networks, as well as the Internet and distributed cloud technologies. Key areas include high-capacity fixed networks, 5G/6G cellular networks, local networks and satellite systems for applications in fields such as agriculture, commerce, energy, finance, industry, media, healthcare, security and transport.
Categorie: International - english, Notizie_eng
Articolo pubblicato da: Ufficio Stampa Unimore - ufficiostampa@unimore.it il 04/03/2026