aerOS wraps up: a European platform bridging IoT, edge and cloud technologies

A Horizon Europe project that connected intelligent systems to simplify and secure data management across the digital continuum.

The aerOS – Autonomous, scalable, tRustworthy, intelligent European meta Operating System for the IoT edge-cloud continuum project has officially come to an end. Launched in 2022 and coordinated by the Universitat Politècnica de València, it involved the Department of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering of Politecnico di Milano as a technical partner and MADE Competence Center as a pilot use case.

Funded under the Horizon Europe framework programme, aerOS tackled the challenge of developing a European “meta-operating system” capable of dynamically deploying and managing AI-based processing and control software across the entire edge-to-cloud continuum (that is, the seamless connection between local data processing systems near devices – edge – and remote cloud infrastructures). The goal was to enable applications to run in the most suitable point of the network – either close to the data source or within high-performance infrastructures – thus optimising reliability, energy efficiency, and response times. In this way, asset management systems become more resilient to failures or unavailability, while overall performance improves.

The project has delivered tangible and immediately applicable results, including an interoperable platform that enables the orchestration of distributed resources and services, validated through five real-world use cases across different sectors. These include predictive maintenance in port terminals, energy and environmental monitoring in buildings, automatic container damage detection, and applications in smart buildings and intelligent logistics.

One of the use cases coordinated by the Department of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering focused on the use of Autonomous Guided Vehicles (AGVs) in complex logistics environments. The pilot demonstrated how, thanks to the aerOS platform, these vehicles can operate continuously and without breakdowns by integrating data from sensors, edge systems and cloud infrastructures to optimise routes, prevent malfunctions and improve operational safety. A video produced within the project illustrates this scenario in action: click here to watch it.

The Department of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering of Politecnico di Milano contributed to the development of modules for resource orchestration and virtualisation, the integration of frugal and explainable artificial intelligence solutions in industrial contexts, and dissemination activities targeting companies and stakeholders.

Although the project has formally concluded, the platform developed during its execution continues through aeriOS, a project incubated by the Eclipse Foundation. This initiative will ensure the maintenance and open-source evolution of the microservice orchestration platform, making it available to companies and system integrators. In this way, aerOS will keep on supporting the digitalisation of the European and international industrial landscape, promoting the adoption of interoperable, scalable, and secure solutions.

For further information, visit the official project website and YouTube channel.