RESEARCH AGENCIES

The Science and Technology Foundation (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia): http://www.fct.mctes.pt/

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ORGANISATIONS

Portugal Telecom Inovação

Universities: Madeira, Porto (Engineering & Psychology)

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PROJECTS & INITIATIVES

Cloud Counselling for Youths

Taking advantage of Portugal’s mobile phone penetration rate of 117% this project provides a service of cloud counseling support to young members of communities facing social issues via sms communication. This initiative relies on a network of qualified volunteers that log in to a robust Web-based interface in order to manage conversations. The information collected from each interaction is automatically forwarded on a daily basis to the appropriate social institutions according to the type and urgency level assigned to each interaction. The use of mobile technology for these situations presents an innovative platform with which youths are deeply comfortable with, and compared to traditional help lines this system offers a higher level of anonymity and discretion, which are crucial requirements to be met when dealing with youths in socially susceptible situations.

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Panorama Networks

The proliferation of the Internet and wireless access technologies introduced the constant mobile paradigm, where users want to be always connected making use of the best available networks and technologies. In order to provide seamless connectivity among the new wireless access technologies, such as Wi-Fi, WiMAX and 3GPP (UMTS, HSPA and/or LTE), the IEEE 802.21 standard has defined the media independent handover framework. However, although there is a recognized importance of the IEEE 802.21 framework in the vertical handover optimization procedures, it is still necessary to improve this framework to the radio access technologies individual features. The networking part of this project aims to integrate the process of the IEEE 802.21 framework with the aforementioned wireless access technologies, enabling the complete support of all the envisioned IEEE 802.21 handover phases in the support of handovers with Quality of Service between all technologies: Ethernet, Wi-Fi, WiMAX, 3G, LTE.

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