Twinning action for spreading excellence in Artificial Intelligence of Things

At the IEEE International Conference on Edge Computing and Communications - IEEE EDGE 2024 held in Shenzhen, China from 7 to 13 July 2024, the paper " QEdgeProxy: QoS-Aware Load Balancing for IoT Services in the Computing Continuum " by Ivan Čilić , Valentin Jukanović, Ivana Podnar Žarko , Pantelis Frangoudis , and  Schahram Dustdar was presented. The paper was accepted after an international review and presented remotely by Ivan Čilić. The work results from a collaboration between IoTLab at FER and DSG at TU Wien on orchestration and routing in Computing Continuum (CC). The paper introduces  QEdgeProxy , an adaptive and QoS-aware load-balancing framework specifically designed for routing client requests to appropriate IoT service instances in the CC. QEdgeProxy integrates naturally within Kubernetes, adapts to changes in dynamic environments, and manages to seamlessly deliver data to IoT service instances while consistently meeting QoS requirements and effectively distributing load across them. 

Following the success of the inaugural AIoTwin Summer School in Šibenik last year, we are delighted to announce the forthcoming second edition scheduled for September 16th to 20th 2024 , set to take place in the enchanting city of Dubrovnik, Croatia . The event will be organized in collaboration with the EU funded SmartEdge project . The summer school program includes invited talks, technical tutorials, hands-on sessions with advanced hardware, poster sessions showcasing the latest research by PhD students, and other insightful presentations and discussions. In addition, the program includes a technical workshop on “ Edge AI meets Swarm Intelligence “, featuring insightful presentations and discussions on cutting-edge research. The call for papers for the technical workshop on “ Edge AI meets Swarm Intelligence “ is open by June 15th, 2024. Join us to be part of a transformative learning journey shaping the future of AIoT and Edge AI. 🔶 Logistics Dates: 16th to 20th September 2024 Venue: University of Zagreb / Sveučilište u Zagrebu Centre for Advanced Academic Studies (CAAS) 🔶 Tentative agenda 🔹 16-17 September – AIoTwin Summer School: Keynote talks, Tutorials, Hands-on sessions 🔹 18 September – Joint Sessions SmartEdge & AIoTwin: Technical Workshop on “Edge AI meets Swarm Intelligence”, Poster session, SmartEdge open-door demonstration 🔹 19-20 September – SmartEdge Summer School: Keynote talks, Hands-on sessions Further details regarding the Summer School schedule, activities and sign-up procedures will be circulated soon.

RISE recently organized a highly successful hands-on training tutorial on WebAssembly (Wasm) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) for the Internet of Things (IoT) . The event welcomed participants from UNIZG-FER , TU Berlin , and TU Vienna , highlighting the widespread interest in these cutting-edge technologies. During the morning session, led by expert Fehmi Ben Abdesslem , attendees delved into the fundamentals of WebAssembly and explored its potential to enable developers to execute high-performance code across diverse platforms. Moreover, the session explored the intersection of AI and IoT, shedding light on how AI algorithms can enhance IoT applications, making them more intelligent and efficient.   In the hands-on tutorial that followed, participants gained practical experience implementing WebAssembly modules and integrating AI functionalities into IoT devices. Guided by experienced instructors and real-world examples, attendees acquired essential skills to effectively leverage these technologies. The event then transitioned into an afternoon Hackathon , providing participants with the opportunity to apply their newly acquired skills in a collaborative setting. Mentors were on hand to offer guidance and support as teams worked towards developing innovative IoT solutions. Overall, the event was a success, fostering learning, collaboration, and innovation in the exciting field of WebAssembly and AI for IoT.

The AIoTwin Consortium held the AIoTwin Plenary Meeting in Stockholm on Thursday, April 18, 2024 . The session commenced with an introductory overview of logistics, followed by comprehensive presentations detailing the status and planning of year 2 activities across various work packages. Attendees were briefed on the progress of demonstrators, test environments, and timelines, along with discussions on forthcoming calls relevant to AIoTwin. Additionally, updates were provided on reporting status, review preparation, and planning sessions for upcoming events such as the 2nd AIoTwin Summer School. Moreover, PhD students shared their research outcomes and future plans during the meeting.  

  In today's landscape of rapid innovation, obtaining funding, facilitating collaboration and maintaining reproducible research standards are critical to driving progress. The first AIoTwin Research and Innovation Management Training , organized by RISE (Research Institutes of Sweden) , brought together experts to address the various aspects of the dynamic research environment. Participants gained valuable insights and practical strategies to navigate this ever-evolving terrain. Further details of the programme can be found below.  

Dr. Pantelis Frangoudis & Dr. Ilir Murturi from TUW visited the University of Zagreb Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing as part of our AIoTwin activities. Their visit from February 26th to February 28th marked the second expert visit, demonstrating the collaboration and knowledge sharing on the AIoTwin project. Dr. Frangoudis delivered a public talk titled “ SMTaaS: Serving problem-solving workloads over the computing continuum ” on February 26th at FER, hosted by the Croatian Section of IEEE, and attended by members of our IoTLab involved in the AIoTwin project, the talk spurred insightful discussions. Following the talk, both mornings saw Dr. Frangoudis and Dr. Murturi leading interactive lectures tailored to the IoTLab members and streamed online to the rest of the AIoTwin consortium. Both lectures centered around Distributed Computing Continuum Systems , with Dr. Frangoudis focusing on the introduction, technologies, and orchestration aspects, while Dr. Murturi covered emerging approaches for intelligent, self-adaptive, and secure operation. The slides of the public talk, and more information about the visit, can be found here . 

We're excited to share a recap of our achievements in 2023, a year in which we set out to advance research and innovation in the field of Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT) through a collaboration between the University of Zagreb - Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing (FER), Technische Universität Wien (TUW), Technische Universität Berlin (TUB), and Research Institutes of Sweden (RISE).  Key Moments: A Year in Review  Kick-off Meeting in January: We launched the project with a dynamic kick-off meeting, setting the course for Y1 of the project.  Short-Term Staff Exchange: Ivan Čilić from FER took part in a short-term staff exchange at TUW, fostering knowledge exchange and collaboration.  Public Presentation: Prof. Ivana Podnar Žarko presented the project to a wider audience during the National Information Day of the Horizon Europe Programme in Croatia and presented our vision of AIoT which brings artificial intelligence into our physical environment.  Hands-on Workshop: TUB organized an intensive hands-on workshop on knowledge graphs, AI models with VisionKG, and learning on edge devices with Flower, providing participants with practical insights.  Technical Blog Post: Jicheng Yuan and Duc Manh Nguyen from TUB published their first technical blog post on training AI models with VisionKG, demonstrating our cutting-edge research.  AIoTwin Summer School: We hosted the inaugural AIoTwin Summer School in Šibenik, Croatia, bringing together renowned experts and researchers for a stimulating event with keynote talks, tutorials, hands-on training, and a poster and pitch session for PhD students.  Expert Visit: Lodovico Giaretta from RISE delivered three presentations on Graph Neural Networks and Graph Representation Learning in decentralized environments during an expert visit to FER, further deepening our collaboration.  Croatian Symposium on Artificial Intelligence: Prof. Ivana Podnar Žarko presented the project at the Symposium on AI organized by the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts (HAZU), showcasing our contributions to the field of AIoT.  Open Day Demonstration: We presented the AIoTwin project to enthusiastic visitors during the Open Day at FER, generating interest in our work.  Stay tuned for more exciting updates in 2024! 

AIoTwin project coordinator Prof. Ivana Podnar Žarko gave a presentation on " Artificial Intelligence for Internet of Things Devices " at the First Croatian Symposium on Artificial Intelligence organized by the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts (HAZU) on 21 November 2023. She highlighted the new concept of Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT) , which brings artificial intelligence into our physical environment and removes the boundaries between the physical and digital worlds. This new concept is being explored by the AIoTwin consortium to find new opportunities and solutions for device intelligence and autonomy in the physical environment. The presentation (in Croatian) is available on the symposium website: https://www.hrui.org/program .

On Saturday, November 25, 2023, the Open Doors Day of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing (FER) took place and attracted numerous visitors. This event offered the public, especially high-school students, the opportunity to explore the study programmes available at FER and learn about the ongoing research projects. Numerous departments and laboratories showcased their work, including the Internet of Things Laboratory . Ivan Kralj , Katarina Mandarić , Ivan Čilić , Dora Kreković , and Mislav Has presented the recently completed IoT-field project, which encompasses a comprehensive IoT solution from sensors through an interoperable platform to a user application for monitoring crops and meteorological conditions in the field. Attention was also drawn to the urban garden set up in the FER courtyard and the quantity of the harvest. Visitors were particularly interested in the involvement of students in projects, and it was emphasized that, over the course of more than 3.5 years of the IoT-field project, students were actively engaged, resulting in a significant number of group projects, as well as undergraduate and graduate theses. In addition to IoT-field, we presented the AIoTwin project, highlighting our collaboration with technical universities in Vienna and Berlin, as well as the RISE research center in Sweden. A new concept, the Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT) , was introduced and explained. AIoT brings artificial intelligence into our physical environment and removes the boundaries between the physical and digital worlds, opening up new possibilities for device intelligence and autonomy in the physical environment. Furthermore, assistants shared their experiences and impressions from their undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral studies with the visitors, mostly high school seniors and eighth-grade elementary school students. This Open Doors Day of FER has, traditionally, proven to be extremely informative, contributing to the promotion of studies and science. More photos from the event can be found below.

Dr. Lodovico Giaretta (RISE) was the first expert to visit UNIZG-FER from 8th to 10th November 2023 as part of the AIoTwin activities. Lodovico presented a series of three lectures with a special focus on Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) and decentralized systems and shed light on these cutting-edge technologies. On November 8th, he gave a public talk entitled " Causal Temporal GNNs as Decentralized Memory Networks ," , co-organized by the IEEE Croatian Section,  which was open to the general public to provide a broad audience with a glimpse into the evolving landscape of GNNs and decentralized systems. In contrast, the following two presentations were tailored for members of the AIoTwin project, offering a more specific exploration of these cutting-edge technologies. Decentralised Data Mining using Gossip Protocols : This lecture introduced the broad family of Gossip Protocols and presented a detailed analysis of a few key use cases and specific techniques. Graph Representation Learning with Graph Neural Networks : This lecture introduced the broad topic of Graph Representation Learning (GRL), with a particular focus on Graph Neural Network (GNN) techniques. During the lectures Lodovico explored the foundational principles of GNNs, their diverse applications, and the inherent challenges associated with decentralized systems. Attendees gained a better understanding of the dynamic nature of graphs, the implications of temporal changes on algorithms, and the intricacies of decentralized inference in GNNs.