“Real-Time Urban Mobility Management via Intelligent UAV-based Sensing” (URANUS) is a 5-year, 2-million-euro European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grant (ERC-2022-COG) / PE7 (Systems and Communications Engineering) awarded to Associate Professor Stelios Timotheou. URANUS focuses on real-time, dynamic, and intelligent sensing of vehicular and pedestrian traffic via Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), and the use of the collected information for urban mobility management In this context, a holistic framework for real-time urban mobility monitoring and control, as well as UAV operational planning, will be developed. URANUS is expected to transform our understanding of joint optimization of sensing, monitoring, and control, and lead to step-change improvements in urban traffic mobility with prominent environmental and socioeconomic benefits.
The ERC Consolidator Grants are highly competitive and are given to excellent scientists, who have 7 to 12 years of research experience, to pursue their most promising ideas. According to the President of the ERC, Prof. Maria Leptin, “ERC Consolidator grants support researchers at a crucial time of their careers, strengthening their independence, reinforcing their teams and helping them establish themselves as leaders in their fields. And this backing above all gives them a chance to pursue their scientific dreams”. In total, 2222 research proposals were submitted under the 2022 ERC Consolidator Grant call for proposals, under the categories of life sciences, physical sciences and engineering, and social sciences and humanities, and 321 were selected for funding.