Research Projects

2025

Mobile System for Drone Identification and Localization — EUREKA Project

Funding Amount: 298,900 EUR (allocated to Romanian entities)
Funding Source: EUREKA NETWORK program with national funding contract UEFISCDI no. 14/09.07.2025
Role: project member (software development and implementation)
Description: International R&D project in partnership with XTRATECRO SRL (National Coordinator), Slovak partners MRAZ ROBOTICS, and ALITER TECHNOLOGIES. Responsible for the software development aspects of the drone identification and localization system.

2024

Sisteme și echipamente inovative pentru punerea în aplicare a măsurilor autorizate din mandatele de securitate națională — PN-IV-P6-6.3-SOL-2024-2-0265

Funding Amount: ~370000 EUR
Funding Source: Finanțarea activităților de cercetare, dezvoltare și inovare cu caracter economic din cadrul Planului Național de Cercetare, Dezvoltare și Inovare 2022-2027 (PNCDI IV) al Ministerului Cercetării, Inovării și Digitalizării
Role: project director

Description

The project will ensure, through an innovative and complex approach, the transmission of audio/video content generated by small-sized devices—so that they can be easily concealed (for example, in clothing)—with the capability of autonomous power supply (energy management) and remote communication via wireless technologies (4G, 5G, WiFi, or similar), to a dedicated server for storage, advanced indexing, and retransmission.

SMART GENERAL OBJECTIVE DEFINITION (in accordance with the terms of reference) – the development and validation within 24 months (“T”), with a multi-skilled technical team (“A”), of one (“M”) innovative functional audio-video technical solution HW&SW – TRL8 (“R”), with concealed use in the operational environment, necessary for collecting, monitoring, securely transmitting real-time data and managing it, for implementing the measures authorized by authorities to strengthen national security (“S”).

Our concept includes a mix of state-of-the-art technologies, innovatively combined with enhancements in energy efficiency, search and identification of audio/video sequences, including facial recognition and noise filtering, audio transcription into text format, secure transmission with error correction, secure retransmission of data streams, user hierarchy and access authorization to sensitive data according to Bell-LaPadula rules, non-repudiation, encrypted data storage and certified timestamp, etc. The proposed system architecture will include (but is not limited to): content generators, secure communication, reception and storage of data streams, information processing, remote control, use of advanced software and hardware technologies. The solution will allow future extensions to thermal footprint, RF emission detection, geospatial localization, automatic vehicle and person detection (ALPR / face recognition). The results will be transferred for use, free of charge, to the beneficiary.

Estimated project results:

2024 Achievements: Completed the foundational phase including a comprehensive study of suitable technologies, definition of the system concept, and establishment of the hardware/software architecture for the modular audio-video capture and transmission system (CTAS). Designed the data capture interfaces, secure communication protocols using SRT (Secure Reliable Transport), encrypted storage solutions, and remote control mechanisms. Finalized the preliminary hardware design including PCB schematics and a complete testing program.

Dissemination: Workshop UPT - Innovative audio-video technical solution, functional HW&SW, with covert use in operational environments, required for the collection, monitoring, secure transmission of real-time data, and their management - Dec 20th, 2024 - 09:00 to 10:00, Nokia Room (B221), UPT, 2, V. Parvan Bvd.
Link: Workshop

2025 Achievements: Developed and validated six distinct hardware platforms (Raspberry Pi 4B, Pi 5, Pi Zero 2W, Orange Pi 3B, RockChip RV1126, RV1106) with 168+ hours of continuous testing each. Implemented a complete software stack including SRT with Forward Error Correction, MediaMTX server, FFmpeg pipelines, adaptive bitrate streaming (240p-1080p), DVR system, and a C# .NET management agent. Evaluated six 4G/LTE modems for optimal transmission. Key findings include the exceptional energy efficiency of RV1106 (1.6W streaming) and the superiority of SRT protocol over RTSP/RTMP in unstable network conditions. Results disseminated at ISPEC 2025 (Cyprus) and BILTEK 2025 (Paris) international conferences.

Dissemination:

ISPEC 2025 Conference - Kyrenia, Cyprus
Paper Title: Development of a Modular Covert Audio-Video Surveillance System for National Security Applications Using 4G/5G Transmission
Conference: 18th International Conference on Engineering & Natural Sciences (ISPEC 2025), Kyrenia, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, November 27-29, 2025 Presentation: Abstract and oral presentation
Website: ISPEC 2025

BILTEK 2025 Conference - Paris, France
Paper Title: Performance Evaluation of Selected Raspberry Pi Platforms for Real-Time Video Streaming Applications
Conference: 13th International BILTEK Congress on Current Developments in Science, Technology and Social Sciences (BILTEK 2025), Paris, France, December 18-21, 2025
Presentation: Full paper and oral presentation
Website: BILTEK 2025

MDPI Electronics Journal
Paper Title: Mobile Video Surveillance Solution – Video Compression Efficiency and Power Consumption Analysis for Mobile Surveillance Applications
Journal: MDPI Electronics, ISSN: 2079-9292
Status: In progress

Workshop: Innovative audio-video technical solution, functional HW&SW, with covert use in operational environments, required for the collection, monitoring, secure transmission of real-time data, and their management - Stage 2025 - Dec 11th, 2025 - 13:00 to 14:00, Nokia Room (B221), UPT, 2, Bvd. V. Parvan
Link: Workshop

Procesoare cu consum redus de energie și cipuri semiconductoare — Proiecte transfrontaliere și multinaționale

Funding Source: Planul național de redresare și reziliență
Funding Tier: Creștere inteligentă, sustenabilă și favorabilă incluziunii, inclusiv coeziune economică, locuri de muncă, productivitate, competitivitate, cercetare, dezvoltare și inovare, precum și o piață internă funcțională, cu întreprinderi mici și mijlocii puternice
Role: project member

2023

COST CA22168 - Physical layer security for trustworthy and resilient 6G systems (6G-PHYSEC)

Funding Source: European Cooperation in Science and Technology
Role: Member in the National Management Committee - CA22168 Management Committee