SmartCities | Dr. Evangelos Vlachos

2nd Transnational Plenary Meeting of the EUSOME Project in Patras

Wed, 05 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The 2nd Transnational Plenary Meeting of the EUSOME Project successfully concluded in Patras on October 8, hosted by our partners at the ATHENA Research Center - Institute of Industrial Systems at the University of Patras. On our first day, the technical partners presented their work so far on the EUSOME vehicle prototypes, the types of sensors to be integrated on them, and the algorithms enabling our progress into autonomy! On the second day, discussions focused on the regulatory aspects for the adoption of U-space in the Southeast Mediterranean region, as well as the communication and dissemination activities completed so far and those planned for the upcoming period. Joining us from a distance, Dr. Constantinos Dovrolis presented the newly established AI Ethics Board - ensuring that the autonomous aspects of the project remain informed by human-centric and interpretable amongst others. The meeting concluded with final remarks from Prof. George Ellinas, project coordinator from KIOS Research and Innovation Center of Excellence of the University of Cyprus, who summarized key outcomes and next steps. Over these two productive days, partners had the opportunity to review progress, exchange insights, and plan the next phase of activities. The discussions were highly engaging, the collaboration inspiring, and the atmosphere truly motivating for everyone involved. Of course, the social dinner was another highlight - a perfect way to celebrate teamwork and strengthen our connections beyond the meeting room with traditional Greek food, music, and dancing! Looking forward to our next gathering and the exciting milestones ahead for EUSOME!!EUSOME Project partners: KIOS Research and Innovation Center of Excellence, Hellenic U-space Institute, ATHENA Research Center, Hellenic Ministry of Digital Governance, Cyprus Ministry of Transport, Communications and Works, Hellenic Drones S.A., Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority, Aviomania Aircraft, GRNET - Greek Research & Technology Network, Cyprus Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Adrestia R&D, Centrum Badań Kosmicznych Polskiej Akademii Nauk, SocialTech Lab, Institute Mihajlo Pupin, EPIRUS - Perifereia Ipeirou, and Mediterranean Adventure Ltd.

Source: EUSOME Project on LinkedIn

By the time the project is finished we will have our products ready to hit the market

Wed, 05 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

‘By the time the project is finished we will have our products ready to hit the market!’Kicking off the second EUSOME transnational partner meeting this rainy morning in the University of Patras and after a warm welcome from our own Evangelos Vlachos and the Director of the ATHENA Research Center Institute of Industrial Systems Chrysostomos Stylios, we are starting off strong with a presentation from project partner Aviomania Aircraft – our design and construction partners – and Nikos Ioannou explaining the progress on the two EUSOME vehicle designs and production. Stay tuned on our socials today for more key messages from our partners!EUSOME Project partners: KIOS Research and Innovation Center of Excellence, Hellenic U-space Institute, ATHENA Research Center, Hellenic Ministry of Digital Governance, Cyprus Ministry of Transport, Communications and Works, Hellenic Drones S.A., Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority, Aviomania Aircraft, GRNET - Greek Research & Technology Network, Cyprus Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Adrestia R&D, Centrum Badań Kosmicznych Polskiej Akademii Nauk, SocialTech Lab, Institute Mihajlo Pupin, EPIRUS - Perifereia Ipeirou, and Mediterranean Adventure Ltd.

Source: EUSOME Project on LinkedIn

EUSOME partners at the SkySense 2025 Workshop

Wed, 05 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

On October 6th, EUSOME Project partners joined the Skysense 2025 Workshop, organized within the 11th IEEE Smart Cities Conference (October 6–9, 2025) in Patras. Organized by ATHENA Research Center and the Computer Technology Institute and Press “DIOPHANTUS” (CTI), the workshop featured insightful presentations and discussions from experts of the EUSOME and REFINE projects, exploring how Autonomous Aerial Systems and AI-driven Environmental Monitoring are shaping smart cities and driving urban resilience. Among the speakers were:Afroditi Sakellaropoulou (Hellenic U-space Institute), Christian Vitale and Nicolas Souli (KIOS Research and Innovation Center of Excellence), Christos Skliros (Hellenic Drones S.A.), and Evangelos Vlachos (ATHENA Research Center).A big thank you to all the speakers and organizers for their inspiring contributions and valuable insights! EUSOME Project partners: KIOS Research and Innovation Center of Excellence, Hellenic U-space Institute, ATHENA Research Center, Hellenic Ministry of Digital Governance, Cyprus Ministry of Transport, Communications and Works, Hellenic Drones S.A., Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority, Aviomania Aircraft, GRNET - Greek Research & Technology Network, Cyprus Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Adrestia R&D, Centrum Badań Kosmicznych Polskiej Akademii Nauk, SocialTech Lab, Institute Mihajlo Pupin, EPIRUS - Perifereia Ipeirou, and Mediterranean Adventure Ltd.

Evangelos Vlachos at the SkySense 2025 workshop, University of Patras, 6 October 2025.

Source: EUSOME Project on LinkedIn

Imagine losing your video link during a BVLOS flight

Wed, 05 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Imagine losing your video link during a BVLOS flight.‘One of the holy grails of AAM’ Christos Skliros explains, continuing the updates of the EUSOME vehicles in today’s plenary meeting, ‘is the BVLOS flight, the safety assessment of which relies largely on the robustness of the onboard technology.’ Presenting the major considerations in integrating computing and sensors onto the Aviomania Aircraft prototypes, project partner Hellenic Drones S.A. talked to us about selecting sensor types based on environmental conditions, and demonstrated how the flow of the data – sourced from both radar and cameras – is practically processed and displayed as detection instances, in the EUSOME user interface.‘In order to maintain situational awareness, the pilot should have a consistent video link. Imagine that link is lost – you are basically blind in terms of non-cooperative traffic. What we are working on here can be used as a redundancy system that still detects and displays other airspace users – this would allow you to land as soon and as safely as possible.’ Our partners ATHENA Research Center further discussed how this information is brought together in the EUSOME Excellence Hub Infrastructure, focusing on the work required in order to calibrate both sensors in order to be able to project 3D points (radar data), onto the 2D plane (camera data).‘It’s not easy to understand what the radar sees,’ Dimitrios Tsourounis explains, when outlining the challenges of trying to align the manner in which these two different types of information can be used together to paint a clearer picture, ‘we are designing this step-by-step’. Stay tuned on our LinkedIn today and tomorrow for more technical insights as we dive deeper into the technical work of the project!EUSOME Project partners: KIOS Research and Innovation Center of Excellence, Hellenic U-space Institute, ATHENA Research Center, Hellenic Ministry of Digital Governance, Cyprus Ministry of Transport, Communications and Works, Hellenic Drones S.A., Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority, Aviomania Aircraft, GRNET - Greek Research & Technology Network, Cyprus Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Adrestia R&D, Centrum Badań Kosmicznych Polskiej Akademii Nauk, SocialTech Lab, Institute Mihajlo Pupin, EPIRUS - Perifereia Ipeirou, and Mediterranean Adventure Ltd.

Source: EUSOME Project on LinkedIn