Nicola Roberto Zema

Table of Contents

1 Highlights

Me.jpg image

I was born in 1986 in Reggio Calabria, Italy. I currently am an Associate Professor (Maître des Conférences) at the Laboratoire de Recherche en Informatique in Paris (LRI) and University of Paris-Saclay (ex-Paris-11, ex-Paris-Sud), France.

I currently investigate the robotic applications of intertwined networking and control. My research revolves around the combination of exact mathematical models and robust meta-heuristics, all seen from a primarily Telecommunications perspective. From 2015 to 2017 i bridged my PhD research on autonomic and bio-inspired networking with distributed networked control, in the framework of DIVINA Team. Between 2017 and 2018 I worked at the IFSTTAR research center in Lille, in the COSYS department, where I bridged again two domains: the Transportation and Networking. In detail, I worked on co-simulation between the ERTMS simulator suite and Riverbed Modeler (ex-OPNET).

From May 2018 I work at the LRI (Laboratoire de Recherche en Informatique) at Paris-Saclay, where the objective of my research is to integrate Distributed Networked Control With Machine Learning.

From September 2019 I am an Associate Professor (Maître des Conférences) at University of Paris-Saclay.

1.1 Experience Summary

  • Sept 2019 Maître des Conférences at University of Paris-Saclay (Paris-XI)
  • 2018-2019 Postdoc at LRI (U-Psud)
  • 2017-2018 Postdoc at IFSTTAR Lille
  • 2017 ATER at Université de Technologie de Compiègne
  • 2015-2017 Postdoc at Université de Technologie de Compiègne
  • 2015 PhD in Information Engineering at Università Mediterranea di Reggio Calabria
  • 2012 MSc in Telecommunication Engineering at Università Mediterranea di Reggio Calabria
  • 2009 BSc in Telecommunication Engineering at Università Mediterranea di Reggio Calabria

1.2 Background

I graduated in Telecommunications Engineering (BSc 2009; MSc 2011) and received a PhD in Information Engineering (Feb 2012 - Jun 2015) at the University Mediterranea of Reggio Calabria, Italy.

The research on Sensors, Autonomic and Epidemic Networks, that I developed during my doctoral studies, coupled with my constant efforts to understand the fundamentals of everything I learn, has helped me gaining deeper insights into the investigated issues and, again, reinforced my interest in pursuing research in this field.

I performed an extensive theoretical research on Autonomic, Cognitive and Bio-Inspired Networking culminating in the deployment of a network framework within the PRIN (National Relevance Research Project) project STEMNet: “STEM” devices for self-organizing wireless Networks (2009).

During my thesis, I have envisioned a particular geographically-driven information flow in a wireless sensor network environment that is capable to drive mobile nodes in the field thanks to the information diffused by the network nodes themselves. This idea led to the development of a practical and scalable implementation of a robot movement protocol in a GPS-denied environment that uses “r-maps” for relative positioning and navigation. In this settings, the choices of the nodes are driven by distributed algorithms and cognitive cycles present on them.

During my first years of post-doctoral fellowship, i focused to introduce control theory in my research activities and be able to develop interesting insight on the research crest between networking, control and robotics.

From 2018 I have switched back to mathematical modeling, during my fellowship and then professorship at University Paris-Saclay (Paris 11).

The varied experience gathered from my previous research has convinced me to develop a work culture to meticulously control small steps in an experiment in order to fully understand its dynamics. Moreover, it allowed me to develop a work ethic where theoretical models and experiments must proceed together with equal importance. I like applying the knowledge I gained to real problems, working in an intellectual and stimulating environment where I can keep learning and improving.

1.3 My CV for download

UPDATE: FEB 2019 CV! (UPDATE: FEB 2019)

1.4 Coordinates

Dr. Nicola Roberto Zema  
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1.5 Disclaimer

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2 Research Topics

In my academic career, my research domain has always been Networking.

2.1 As a student

During my PhD i was more focused on pure Telecommunication aspects and, in detail, IEEE 802.11-related topics like:

  • mesh networks
  • autonomic networks
  • bio-inspired newtorking
  • controlled mobility

In detail, i worked first on the application of cognitive abilities on network nodes, like the capability to sense their neighbor's network parameters and then i switched to mobility-related issues in the same environment. Publications on the subject:

STEM‐Net: an evolutionary network architecture for smart and sustainable cities.,

COMVIVOR: an evolutionary communication framework based on survivors' devices Reuse.

Near the end of my PhD i already transitioned to a controlled-mobility centered research, developing GPS-less, network-centered tracking systems and active node searches using flying robots. Publications on the subject:

Using location services to autonomously drive flying mobile sinks in Wireless Sensor Networks.,

A GPS-less on-demand mobile sink-assisted data collection in wireless sensor networks.

During the transition between my PhD and my postdoc i started to include elements of control engineering in my research. This tendency has then sprouted in an increased reliance of exact models and mathematical formulations, that, in turn bounded me more and more with topics of control theory. Publications on the subject:

Healing Wireless Sensor Networks from Malicious Epidemic Diffusion,

MeDrone: On the use of a medical drone to heal a sensor network infected by a malicious epidemic

2.2 DIVINA Challenge Team (2016 - mid 2017)

My research horizon broadened when i joined the DIVINA LABEX MS2T Challenge team, whose stated topic is: to efficiently explore a totally or partially unknown area using a multi-UAV system with vision sensors as the main perception modality and bio-inspired communications through distributed control.

For this project, my contributions are four-pronged:

2.3 LRI

During my postdoc at the LRI, I started to dwell more and more in the domain of Machine Learning and a new line of research has been opened on using Q-Learning for robotic formation control in challenged environment.

In this field my contribution revolves around a new approach to formation control for fleets of UAVs that uses machine learning to pilot the robots using only RSSI measurements.

Formation control of a mono-operated UAV fleet through ad-hoc communications: a Q-learning approach

Contrôle de formation d'un réseau de drones à base d'apprentissage par renforcement

I have also further followed my previous research on Controlled Mobility by refining and finalizing the previous research line in large-breadth publications.

Take the Field from your Smartphone: Leveraging UAVs for Event Filming

3 Teaching

3.1 Current Courses

  1. Teaching assistant of "Programmation système et réseau"

    Nov 2019 - Jan 2020, Université Paris Saclay - Orsay, 32 hours
    M2 - Informatique Science des Données (ISD).
    This module trains students in system and network programming in a TCP / IP environment for embedded computing. Students learn how to manipulate a GNU / Linux system to configure and use a WiFi network in Ad-hoc mode, cross-compilation for the development of applications on embedded systems, as well as putting into practice algorithms of graph theory to optimize the use of a network whose topology is known. As a result of this module, students will have acquired rare and highly sought-after skills in the professional network and embedded systems market.

  2. Teaching Assistant of "Architecture des réseaux"

    Sept 2019 - Jan 2020, Université Paris Saclay - Orsay, 36 hours
    IUT - S2, Informatique.
    Objectives: Comprendre l’organisation et le fonctionnement d’un réseau informatique

  3. Teaching Assistant of "Conception et programmation objet avancées"

    Sept 2019 - Jan 2020, Université Paris Saclay - Orsay, 36 hours
    IUT - S3, Informatique.
    Objectives: Produire une conception détaillée en appliquant des patrons de conception, la mettre en œuvre en utilisant des bonnes pratiques de programmation orientée objet

  4. Teaching Assistant of "Bases de la conception orientée objet"

    Sept 2019 - Jan 2020, Université Paris Saclay - Orsay, 36 hours
    IUT - S2, Informatique.
    Objectives: Comprendre et modéliser une conception détaillée, produire les tests unitaires associés et l’implanter avec un langage à objets

  5. Teaching Assistant of "Bases de la programmation orientée objet"

    Sept 2019 - Jan 2020, Université Paris Saclay - Orsay, 36 hours
    IUT - S2, Informatique.
    Objectives: Développer un programme dans un langage de programmation orienté objet à partir d'une conception détaillée.

4 Publication List

Journals Note: the author list of the items marked with an "*" is in fully alphabetical order.

  1. * Sabato Manfredi, Enrico Natalizio, Claudio Pascariello, Nicola Roberto Zema.
    Stability and Convergence of a message-loss-tolerant rendezvous algorithm for wireless networked robot systems.
    Accepted for publication by: Transactions on Control of Network Systems. IEEE 2019 .
    [BibTeX]
  2. Enrico Natalizio, Nicola Roberto Zema, Evsen Yanmaz, Luigi Di Puglia Pugliese, Francesca Guerriero.
    Take the Field from your Smartphone: Leveraging UAVs for Event Filming.
    Transactions on Mobile Computing. IEEE 2019 .
    [BibTeX]
  3. Oscar Alvear, Carlos Tavares Calafate, Nicola Roberto Zema, Enrico Natalizio, Enrique Hernandez-Orallo, Juan Carlos Cano, Pietro Manzoni.
    A discretized approach to air pollution monitoring using UAV-based sensing.
    Mobile Networks and Applications Journal (MONET). Springer 2018
    [BibTeX]
  4. Nicola Roberto Zema, Angelo Trotta, Enrico Natalizio, Marco Di Felice, Luciano Bononi.
    The CUSCUS simulator for Distributed Networked Control Systems: Architecture and Use-cases.
    Ad Hoc Networks. Special issue: “Advances in Wireless Communication and Networking for Cooperating Autonomous Systems”. Elsevier 2018.
    [BibTeX]
  5. Oscar Patricio Alvear, Nicola Roberto Zema, Enrico Natalizio, Carlos Tavares Calafate.
    Using UAV-based systems to monitor air pollution in areas with poor accessibility.
    Journal of Advanced Transportation. Special issue: Unmanned Aircraft System and its Applications in Transportation. Wiley 2017 .
    [BibTeX]
  6. * Sabato Manfredi, Enrico Natalizio, Claudio Pascariello, Nicola Roberto Zema.
    A Packet Loss Tolerant Rendezvous Algorithm for Wireless Networked Robot Systems.
    Asian Journal of Control. Wiley 2017.
    [BibTeX]
  7. Nicola Roberto Zema, Enrico Natalizio, Giuseppe Ruggeri, Michael Poss, Antonella Molinaro.
    MeDrone: On the use of a medical drone to heal a sensor network infected by a malicious epidemic.
    Ad Hoc Networks , 50, 115-127. Elsevier 2016.
    [BibTeX]
  8. * Orazio Briante, Valeria Loscrì, Pasquale Pace, Giuseppe Ruggeri, Nicola Roberto Zema.
    COMVIVOR: an evolutionary communication framework based on survivors' devices Reuse.
    Wireless Personal Communications , 85, 4, 2021-2040. Springer 2015.
    [BibTeX]
  9. * Gianluca Aloi, Luca Bedogni, Marco Di Felice, Valeria Loscrì, Antonella Molinaro, Enrico Natalizio, Pasquale Pace, Giuseppe Ruggeri, Angelo Trotta, Nicola Roberto Zema.
    STEM‐Net: an evolutionary network architecture for smart and sustainable cities.
    Transactions on Emerging Telecommunications Technologies, 25, 1, 21-40. Wiley 2014.
    [BibTeX]

Conferences Note: the author list of the items marked with an "*" is in fully alphabetical order.

  1. Enrico Natalizio, Nicola Roberto Zema, Luigi Di Puglia Pugliese, Francesca Guerriero.
    Download and Fly: An Online Solution for the UAV 3D Trajectory Planning Problem in Smart Cities
    MSWiM 2019. ACM .
    [BibTeX]
  2. Nicola Roberto Zema, Dominique Quadri, Steven Martin, Omar Shrit.
    Formation control of a mono-operated UAV fleet through ad-hoc communications: a Q-learning approach
    1st International Workshop on Internet of Autonomous Unmanned Vehicles. In conjunction with IEEE SECON 2019. IAUV SECON 2019.
    [BibTeX]
  3. Nicola Roberto Zema, Mirwaisse Djanbaz, Dominique Quadri, Steven Martin, Enrico Natalizio and Omar Shrit.
    Orchestration d'une flotte de drones communicants à base d'apprentissage par renforcement
    Les 4èmes Rencontres Francophones sur la Conception de Protocoles, l’Évaluation de Performance et l’Expérimentation des Réseaux de Communication . CORES 2019
    [BibTeX]
  4. Luigi Di Puglia Pugliese, Francesca Guerriero, Nicola Roberto Zema.
    A mathematical formulation to optimize UAV trajectories for WSN data collection
    Invited Paper at the Second International Balkan Conference on Communications and Networking. Podgorica, Montenegro, June 6-8,2018. . BALKANCOM 2018.
    [BibTeX]
  5. Oscar Patricio Alvear, Carlos Tavares Calafate, Nicola Roberto Zema, Enrico Natalizio, Enrique Hernandez-Orallo, Juan-Carlos Cano, Pietro Manzoni.
    PDUC-D: A discretized UAV guidance system for air pollution monitoring tasks.
    EAI GOODTECHS 2017
    [BibTeX]
  6. Luigi Di Puglia Pugliese, Francesca Guerriero, Enrico Natalizio, Nicola Roberto Zema .
    A biobjective formulation for filming sport events problem using drones.
    The 9th IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Data Acquisition and Advanced Computing Systems: Technology and Applications. IEEE IDAACS’2017.
    [BibTeX]
  7. Nicola Roberto Zema, Enrico Natalizio, Evsen Yanmaz.
    An Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Network for Sport Event Filming with Communication Constraints.
    First International Balkan Conference on Communications and Networking 2017. Tirana, Albania . BALKANCOM 2017.
    [BibTeX]
  8. Nicola Roberto Zema, Enrico Natalizio, Evsen Yanmaz.
    Enregistrement d’événements sportifs par un réseau de drones avec des contraintes de communication.
    9ème Rencontres Francophones sur les Aspects Algorithmiques des Télécommunications. Quiberon (France). AlgoTel 2017.
    [BibTeX]
  9. Oscar Patricio Alvear, Nicola Roberto Zema, Enrico Natalizio , Carlos Tavares Calafate.
    A chemotactic pollution-homing UAV guidance system.
    IEEE Wireless Communications and Mobile Computing IWCMC 2017 : Adv. Indust. Nets & Intelligent Systems-AINIS Symposium . IEEE IWCMC AINIS 2017.
    [BibTeX]
  10. Nicola Roberto Zema, Angelo Trotta, Guillaume Sanahuja, Enrico Natalizio, Marco Di Felice, Luciano Bononi.
    CUSCUS: CommUnicationS-Control distribUted Simulator.
    14th Annual IEEE Consumer Communications & Networking Conference DEMO SESSION , Las Vegas (United States). IEEE CCNC 2017.
    [BibTeX]
  11. Michal Krol, Enrico Natalizio, Nicola Roberto Zema.
    Tag-based Data Exchange in Disaster Relief Scenarios.
    IEEE 2017 International Conference on Computing, Networking and Communications (ICNC): Workshop WISARN , Silicon Valley (United States). IEEE ICNC 2017.
    [BibTeX]
  12. Nicola Roberto Zema, Angelo Trotta, Guillaume Sanahuja, Enrico Natalizio, Marco Di Felice, Luciano Bononi.
    CUSCUS: An integrated simulation architecture for Distributed Networked Control Systems.
    14th Annual IEEE Consumer Communications & Networking Conference , Las Vegas (United States). IEEE CCNC 2017.
    [BibTeX]
  13. Sabato Manfredi, Claudio Pascariello, Nicola Roberto Zema, Isabelle Fantoni.
    A cooperative packet loss-tolerant algorithm for wireless networked robots rendezvous.
    IEEE 2017 International Conference on Computing, Networking and Communications (ICNC): Workshop (ICNC'17 WS) , Silicon Valley (United States). IEEE ICNC 2017.
    [BibTeX]
  14. Nicola Roberto Zema. Nathalie Mitton, Giuseppe Ruggeri.
    A GPS-less on-demand mobile sink-assisted data collection in wireless sensor networks.
    2014 IFIP Wireless Days (WD) Rio De Janeiro (Br/azil). IFIP WD 2014.
    [BibTeX]
  15. Nicola Roberto Zema , Enrico Natalizio, Giuseppe Ruggeri, Michael Poss, Antonella Molinaro.
    Healing wireless sensor networks from malicious epidemic diffusion.
    2014 IEEE International Conference on Distributed Computing in Sensor Systems (DCOSS), 171-178, 2014 Marina Del Rey (United States). IEEE DCOSS 2014.
    [BibTeX]
  16. Nicola Roberto Zema, Nathalie Mitton, Giuseppe Ruggeri.
    Using location services to autonomously drive flying mobile sinks in Wireless Sensor Networks.
    International Conference on Ad Hoc Networks Rhodes (Greece). EAI Ad Hoc Networks 2014 .
    [BibTeX]

5 Services

5.1 Editorship

  • Guest Editor of the Digital Communications and Networks Journal's Special Issue on: “Theory and Applications of UAV Networks”

5.2 Chairing

  • Web Chair of 1st International Workshop on Internet of Autonomous Unmanned Vehicles (IAUV 2019). In conjunction with the IEEE SECON 2019.
  • General Chair of the 2018 IEEE PIMRC Workshop: "Railway RoSe: Wireless Robots and Sensors Networks for Railway Systems"
  • Publicity Chair of the International Workshop on Wireless Sensor, Actuator and Robot Networks (WiSARN) 2018
  • Publicity Chair of the International Workshop on Wireless Sensor, Actuator and Robot Networks (WiSARN) 2017
  • Session Chair at the 14th IEEE Consumer Communications and Networking Conference (IEEE CCNC) 2017: Special Session: Ubiquitous UAVs on the Way: Communications & Networking Challenges
  • Session Chair of the International Workshop on Wireless Sensor, Actuator and Robot Networks (WISARN - IEEE ICNC) 2017

5.3 Technical program committee membership

  • The 1th Mission-Oriented Wireless Sensor, UAV and Robot Networking (MiSARN 2019). In conjunction with the IEEE INFOCOM 2019
  • IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC): Ad Hoc and Sensor Networks Symposium 2019
  • Balkancom'19
  • IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC): Next-Generation Networking and Internet Symposium 2019
  • ACM MobiHoc Workshop on Pervasive Systems in the IoT Era (PERSIST-IoT) 2019
  • The 28th International Conference on Computer Communications and Networks (ICCCN 2019).
  • 1st International Workshop on Wireless sensors and Drones in Internet of Things (Wi-DroIT) 2019. In conjunction with the IEEE DCOSS 2019.
  • Wireless Days 2019
  • IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking Conference (IEEE WCNC 2018)
  • The 16th IEEE Consumer Communications and Networking Conference (IEEE CCNC) 2019
  • The seventh IEEE/CIC International Conference on Communications in China (ICCC 2018)
  • The 5th International Workshop on Mobile Applications (MobiApps - IEEE FiCloud 2018)
  • The 15th IEEE Consumer Communications and Networking Conference (IEEE CCNC) 2018
  • The 10th International Workshop on Wireless Sensor, Actuator and Robot Networks (WISARN - IEEE 2017)
  • The 14th IEEE Consumer Communications and Networking Conference (IEEE CCNC) 2017
  • The 13th IEEE Consumer Communications and Networking Conference (IEEE CCNC) 2016
  • The 9th International Workshop on Wireless Sensor, Actuator and Robot Networks (WiSARN 2016)
  • The CoWPER'16 workshop on the 13th annual IEEE International Conference on Sensing, Communication and Networking (SECON) 2016.
  • The 2nd International Conference on Computing for Sustainable Global Development, INDIACOM 2015
  • The 2015 IEEE 82nd Vehicular Technology Conference (VTC2015-Fall)

5.4 Journal Reviewer

  • MDPI Sensors 2019;
  • Annals of Telecommunications 2019;
  • Springer Journal of Internet Services and Applications 2019;
  • Elsevier Ad Hoc Networks 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015;
  • Elsevier Computers and Electrical Engineering, 2019;
  • Elsevier International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 2019;
  • Wiley Transaction on Emerging Communication Technologies, 2018;
  • IEEE Transaction on Mobile Computing 2017;
  • Elsevier Journal of Information Security and Applications 2018, 2017;
  • Wiley Asian Journal of Control 2017, 2016, 2015;
  • Elsevier Digital Communications and Networks 2017, 2015;
  • Elsevier Computer Communications 2017, 2016;

Author: Nicola Roberto Zema

Created: 2020-05-01 Fri 11:30

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