The global drive toward energy transition and carbon neutrality requires integrated and data-driven approaches for managing buildings and smart cities. Existing urban energy assessment frameworks remain fragmented and often lack multiscale interoperability between building-level models and territorial datasets. At the same time, shallow geothermal energy is emerging as an efficient and renewable solution for sustainable heating and cooling. To address these gaps, this study examines the potential of GeoBIM, the integration of Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS), as a unified framework for multiscale energy analysis and for supporting shallow geothermal applications. A systematic literature review was conducted based on the PRISMA framework, combining a systematic literature review using the Scopus database with the critical examination of representative case studies. The results show that GeoBIM-based modeling improves data quality, enhances thermal performance assessments, and supports the implementation of shallow geothermal systems, including energy piles and district-scale ground-coupled networks. Reported applications demonstrate energy consumption reductions exceeding 40% in certain urban contexts. Several research gaps and challenges were identified, particularly data interoperability issues, lack of standardization, computational complexity, and the need for specialized training. Overall, the review indicates that GeoBIM offers a promising pathway for optimizing resources, supporting informed decision-making, and advancing resilient and sustainable smart buildings and cities.

This study explores the implementation of Industry 4.0 technologies at Lafitte Cork Portugal (LCP), one of the world's leading manufacturers of cork stoppers. The aim is to analyse how the digitalisation of processes can improve the company's operational efficiency, sustainability, and competitiveness. Using a methodology that includes a literature review, case study and cost- benefit analysis, the work identifies the main challenges and opportunities associated with adopting technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs). The results indicate that implementing digital technologies can significantly reduce waste, optimise production, and increase product quality, while promoting sustainable practices. Based on these results, this study suggests that the digital transformation at LCP will not only contribute to the modernisation of its processes but will also strengthen its position in the competitive global cork market.

The rapid growth of global populations and the resulting increase in vehicles on the road have led to a notable rise in road accidents and fatalities, highlighting an urgent need for more advanced and proactive traffic safety measures. Traditional safety features have made vehicles safer, but they cannot fully address dynamic road conditions or the unpredictable behaviors of other drivers. In response, new vehicle communication technologies have emerged to improve real-time awareness and coordination on the roads. These technologies allow vehicles to communicate not only with each other but also with roadside infrastructure and vulnerable road users, enabling safer and more efficient transport networks. This thesis introduces a complete platform designed to support and expand upon these advancements, offering tools for researchers and stakeholders to observe and manage live communication data. The platform features a centralized hub for monitoring traffic patterns, infrastructure status, and even tolling interactions, all through user-friendly interfaces and interactive dashboards. Through the visualization of real-time messages exchanged between vehicles, infrastructure, and vulnerable road users, this platform provides essential insights into traffic dynamics and environmental conditions, contributing to a safer and more coordinated transportation ecosystem. The platform’s modular design and robust data management protocols facilitate not only the presentation of current traffic information, but also support long-term analysis. A prototype toll management system, included within the platform, illustrates how standardized message-based tolling systems can be implemented. Performance tests have also been conducted, providing insights into how the platform can scale and maintain reliability under high traffic loads. These findings outline potential enhancements, ensuring that the platform remains adaptable and resilient as future demands on intelligent transportation systems grow.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is progressively increasing and evolving every year, leading to large Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) to reach everything and everyone, from smart cities to a smart house. With the emerging of Fifth Generation (5G) the devices number increase will be even higher. However, this increase brings two crucial problems: the extensive use of batteries of the sensors and energy consumption to communicate. To overcome this problem, several techniques and technologies emerge and can be exciting solutions. In this PhD thesis, some of that techniques will be explored. The development of low power consumption communication systems based on backscatter technique combined with Wireless Power Transmission (WPT) and energy harvesters (Radio Frequency to Direct Current (RF-DC) converters) can be a solution where somehow it will be possible to use e ciently the radiation existing on the air. For that, several approaches to design highly e cient RF-DC converters will be addressed combined with an Adaptive Active Antenna Phased Array that should be capable of locating and transmit enough power to power up these devices. Several modulation orders in the backscatter front-end should also be explored to provide low-power, low complexity, and high data rate communications.

With an exponential evolution, technology is increasingly part of our daily lives, both at work and in everyday life, in ways that perhaps we would never have imagined possible, as we are currently living the fourth industrial revolution. This dissertation report, is framed in one of the themes underlying the fourth industrial revolution - Internet of Things (IoT). It was developed a web server hosted in a microcontroller (ESP32), whose function is to control a clock system. The project was developed in two phases. In a first instance the web server was developed, whose access can be made via Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) from any device as long as it knows the IP. After this action, the user will have to insert his/her credentials and wait for the verification, so that according to his/her user profile he/she can access the configuration parameters that are allowed. In the next phase, a User Datagram Protocol(UDP) communication system was developed, so that the data migrates between the clock system and the web server.

The industry is undergoing the fourth industrial revolution, which provides ubiquitous connectivity among industrial assets, increasing synchronization, process efficiency, and productivity. Technologies like 5G are crucial for this transformation due to their flexibility. This revolution involves deploying numerous use cases with heterogeneous and demanding requirements that the underlying communication infrastructure must consistently meet. 5G network slicing will be key in adjusting network performance based on industrial requirements. However, no existing mechanisms can deploy and configure custom network slices tailored to industrial needs across all 5G networks. Moreover, for full industrial adoption of network technology, the network must be completely controlled by simple interfaces that non-experts in the technology can use to control and adjust the entire network according to industrial requirements. Since current 5G management systems are complex and require specific expertise, this thesis work focuses on simplifying the creation and management of 5G slices. The research examined how 5G can be applied to enhance industrial operations. Then, it assesses baseline performance and network configurations, where limited support is revealed in slice creation and deployment. Subsequent work focuses on understanding 5G mechanisms and how to adapt them to adjust network performance according to network slice requirements. These mechanisms were then validated on the factory shop floor, with groundbreaking contributions to both national and European projects. The acquired knowledge about 5G mechanisms was then leveraged to map the communication attributes of a network slice to the available 5G functionalities, paving the way for a fully-fledged network slice manager system. The culmination of this research was designing a network slice manager capable of deploying and managing custom network slices tailored to the requirements of industrial use cases. Based on this design, a network slice manager prototype was developed to validate its capabilities. The prototype demonstrated its ability to deploy and manage fully customized network slices and enable dynamic slicing in a commercial 5G network. It can provide slices that preserve the technology readiness level (TRL) of the underlying 5G infrastructure, making them suitable for industrial use and showcasing the potential of a future commercial network slice manager. In addition to the main thesis work, the PhD involved the management and operation of the 5GAIner network while configuring it based on Altice, Huawei, and Portugal regulation requirements and collaborating on various national and international projects, leveraging the knowledge gained and the network slice manager prototype to design and deploy industrial use cases. Several of these use cases required network performance adjustments to be deployed, demonstrating the importance of the contributions. These projects influenced the main work by presenting industrial challenges, demands, and concerns, shaping the development of the solution to be similar to what is expected of a commercial industrial network slice manager.

IoT é um tema abordado ao longo dos anos, este tema refere-se a uma rede de objetos físicos compostos por vários sensores, softwares e diversas tecnologias, com o objetivo de interligar e trocar dados entre eles e a internet. Existem várias áreas onde este tema é aplicado, destacando-se: smart cities, setor público, indústrias, medicina, smart home, ferrovia. No ambiente ferroviário, a importância do IoT é evidente. Desde a monitorização dos taludes da via férrea, até ao acompanhamento da temperatura dos eixos dos comboios, todas as informações desempenham um papel crucial tanto na segurança e bem estar dos passageiros como na manutenção eficaz dos veículos e das linhas ferroviárias. O objetivo desta dissertação é a criação de um sistema IoT com a interligação de diversas tecnologias, de baixo consumo, curto e longo alcance, para a recolha de dados de sensores no interior das carruagens, tais como sensores de temperatura, acelerómetros, Global Positioning System (GPS), entre outros, para monitorização e manutenção dos comboios. Foi proposta a implementação de um sistema constituído por diversos End Nodes, Gateways e uma Master Gateway, onde o End Node faz a leitura de dados dos sensores, os quais são reencaminhados para a Gateway presente em cada uma das carruagens (através de duas tecnologias, WiFi ou BLE). Por fim, as diversas Gateways reencaminham os pacotes de dados para o seu destino final, a Master Gateway, através de LoRa 2.4 GHz. Outra característica do sistema é o envio de um pacote de backup para garantir a receção de dados, por LoRa standard. Por fim, foram realizados diversos testes ao sistema para recolha de métricas como o atraso de pacotes, percentagem de retransmissões, pacotes duplicados e número médio de saltos. Para a realização dos testes foram propostos sete cenários onde se foi aumentando o número de carruagens, e alterando a frequência de envio de dados recolhidos e o tamanho dos dados recolhidos, conseguindo assim obter uma comparação das várias métricas entre cenários. Os resultados mostraram que, à medida que se aumenta o número de dispositivos do sistema, este tende a aumentar o atraso médio dos pacotes desde a origem até ao destino, aumentando também o número de retransmissões efetuadas. Outra conclusão notória é o número de saltos dos diversos cenários: verificou-se que, devido ao alcance de 1km do LoRa 2.4 GHz, os pacotes transmitidos muitas das vezes deram menos saltos que o esperado, ocorrendo assim duplicações dos mesmos na Master Gateway.

Wheelchairs are an important aid that enhances the mobility of people with several types of disabilities. Therefore, there has been considerable research and development on wheelchairs to meet the needs of the disabled. Since the early manual wheelchairs to their more recent electric powered counterparts, advancements have focused on improving autonomy in mobility. Other developments, such as Internet advancements, have developed the concept of the Internet of Things (IoT). This is a promising area that has been studied to enhance the independent operation of the electrical wheelchairs by enabling autonomous navigation and obstacle avoidance. This dissertation describes shortly the design of an autonomous wheelchair of the IPL/IT (Instituto Politécnico de Leiria/Instituto de Telecomunicações) with smart driving features for persons with visual impairments. The objective is to improve the prototype of an intelligent wheelchair. The first prototype of the wheelchair was built to control it by voice, ocular movements, and GPS (Global Positioning System). Furthermore, the IPL/IT wheelchair acquired a remote control feature which could prove useful for persons with low levels of visual impairment. This tele-assistance mode will be helpful to the family of the wheelchair user or, simply, to a health care assistant. Indoor and outdoor positioning systems, with printed directional Wi-Fi antennas, have been deployed to enable a precise location of our wheelchair. The underlying framework for the wheelchair system is the IPL/IT low cost autonomous wheelchair prototype that is based on IoT technology for improved affordability.

The emergence of Tourism 5.0 has accelerated the demand for immersive, personalized, and context-aware visitor experiences capable of integrating digital storytelling within cultural and urban environments. Yet, existing systems remain technologically fragmented, typically coupling individual devices to isolated applications rather than enabling coherent, multi-device orchestrations. This dissertation addresses this limitation by introducing Anansi, an IXMS designed to unify heterogeneous devices, edge controllers, and cloud services within an integrated, offline-first orchestration framework. Anansi proposes a distributed architecture that spans the cloud, controller, and device layers, enabling deterministic, low-latency coordination of interactive content, sensors, and actuators. Central to this architecture is Lexicomm, a custom protocol compiler capable of generating crossplatform serialization libraries from a single schema. Lexicomm guarantees strict interoperability and reproducible message semantics across embedded microcontrollers, digital-signage nodes, and mixed-reality clients. Complementing this foundation, a device-agnostic SDK, a modular on-site Controller, and an IPFS-based content distribution layer collectively provide runtime orchestration, offline resilience, and automated synchronization of assets and telemetry. The research follows a design-science methodology combining requirements analysis, architectural modelling, prototype implementation, and empirical validation. The implemented system was deployed as an edge installation and validated through a multi-sensory experience inspired by Aveiro’s Art Nouveau heritage, integrating LED lighting, audiovisual devices, and digital signage. Experimental results demonstrate stable end-to-end cue latency, deterministic execution under network isolation, and scalable device orchestration, confirming the feasibility of the proposed IXMS model. By bridging immersive media, IoT infrastructure, and distributed systems, Anansi advances the Tourism 5.0 vision of participatory and sustainable cultural engagement. The framework establishes a foundation for future research in semantic orchestration, adaptive storytelling, and AI-enhanced multimodal experiences, positioning immersive tourism as an active layer within the broader smart-city ecosystem.