ETRO, the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and imec are proud to announce that Prof. Nikos Deligiannis has been awarded a prestigious ERC Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council to make a groundbreaking contribution to science and society.

Project: IONIAN: Reinventing Multiterminal Coding for Intelligent Machines
Budget: €1,999,404

Professor Deligiannis’ IONIAN project focuses on reinventing multiterminal coding, a crucial technology for efficient communication and collaboration between intelligent machines. With the explosive growth of data, such as video and point cloud streams, current storage and communication technologies are under pressure, undermining the ability of intelligent machines to cooperatively perceive their environment. This project develops a groundbreaking compression and communication approach based on interpretable and explainable AI that breaks the limits of traditional compression and cooperative perception techniques.

IONIAN combines classical theories, such as distributed source coding, with modern deep learning techniques and explainable AI, focusing on three innovative pillars:

1. Solving theoretical limitations in multiterminal coding.
2. Designing interpretable and efficient machine learning models.
3. Developing new methods to enhance model interpretation.

The goal of this project is to elevate the collaboration between intelligent systems, such as autonomous vehicles and mobile robots, to a higher level, with greater safety and trust as the result.