Connected Intelligence for the Physical World

IoTLab is an interdepartmental research laboratory of Politecnico di Milano, bringing together expertise from the Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering (DEIB) and the Department of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering (DIG).

We research and develop technologies that enable machines, vehicles, industrial systems and physical infrastructures to connect, sense, understand and act.

Our activities lie at the intersection of wireless communications, sensing and localization, artificial intelligence, and autonomous systems, combining scientific research with experimental validation and technology development.

Our goal is to turn emerging technologies into solutions that can operate in real-world environments, bridging the gap between academic research and industrial innovation.

What We Do

IoTLab develops and experimentally validates advanced technologies for intelligent and connected systems, with particular focus on:

• Next-Generation Wireless Communications
  5G/6G networks, private networks, V2X communications, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth Low Energy and industrial wireless technologies.

• Wireless Sensing and Localization
  Radio-based positioning and tracking, Integrated Sensing and Communications (ISAC), RF sensing, cooperative localization and sensor fusion.

• Connected and Autonomous Systems
  Connected and automated vehicles, smart roads, V2X-enabled services, AGVs and AMRs, robotics and cooperative perception.

• Edge and Distributed Artificial Intelligence
  Edge AI, federated and distributed learning, collaborative intelligence and TinyML for networked cyber-physical systems.

• Industrial Cyber-Physical Systems
  Industrial IoT, Industry 5.0, digital twins, intelligent manufacturing and human-machine interaction.

These technologies are investigated both individually and as components of integrated systems in which communication, perception and intelligence operate jointly.

From Research to Real-World Systems

A distinctive feature of IoTLab is its strong experimental and application-oriented approach.

Our activities span the complete innovation cycle: from the investigation of emerging technologies and the development of new algorithms and architectures to prototyping, system integration, experimental campaigns and validation in realistic operational environments.

We work on both fundamental and applied research, with the objective of advancing the scientific state of the art while demonstrating the feasibility, performance and potential impact of new technologies.

This approach enables us to collaborate with companies, public institutions and research organizations on activities ranging from exploratory research and feasibility studies to the development and validation of advanced prototypes and proof-of-concept systems.

History

The IoTLab was born in 2006 as RFID Solution Center, a joint initiative of Politecnico di Milano School of Management and Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering, with original focus on RFID technologies and applications. Over the time, the acquired know-how led to expand the scopes of the laboratory, resulting in a broader vision over the new paradigm of Internet of Things (IoT).

The RFID Solution Center has been converted into IoTLab in 2013, with targets on applied and basic research on IoT-related topics. The mission was to assist companies in the development of new products, services and processes by exploiting the IoT. The activity of the IoTLab starts from the technological scouting until the development of ad-hoc vertical solutions, integrating IoT technologies into business processes, also assisting the companies in the development of new business models that leverage on the IoT transformation. The competences of the IoTLab allow to independently provide feasibility studies and the development of prototypes that meet the specific needs of the company, aiming at demonstrating the technological feasibility and economic value of the conceived innovative idea. The IoTLab was an example of a complete center in Italy: the combination of management and technical skills, university research and business consulting, enables the application of IoT in the various application areas and sectors. The IoTLab expertise focus its efforts on four strategical verticals: Smart Home, Smart Connected Product, Industrial IoT and Smart Retail. Dozens of projects have been carried out for different industries such as food, automotive, oil&gas, pharmaceuticals, logistics, and healthcare. 

From 2020, the IoTLab has extended its scopes to meet the increasing demand of smart and connected IoT solutions in key sectors such as Industry 4.0 and Smart & Connected Mobility. To keep up with technology innovation and digital transformation, the IoTLab has begun to participate in consortium projects as well as to be proactive for international fundings. It emerges a new vision on IoTLab interests and goals, with a twofold interest in combining practical solutions (close to products) with innovation (close to scientific research). These two trends represent the current ongoing activities in the IoTLab, where people from different background and expertise fruitfully interact in a dynamic fresh environment willing to share knowledge and realize competitive solutions.