During the summer of 2022, the Institute of Reliable Embedded Systems and Communication Electronics (ivESK) at the Offenburg University hosted a delegation of students and teachers from the Electronics and Telecommunications Department (ETD) at the Cuban University of UCLV (Universidad Central Marta Abreu de las Villas). The delegation was organized in 2 groups, consisting of two master students and a professor (see photos on the article). Each group visited ivESK for a duration of 3 weeks.

The visits took place within the context of a project called “Cooperation to Learning Internet of Things” (CooL-IoT), which aims at establishing scientific collaboration between the two universities, as well as developing and sharing multimedia educational content in the field of the Internet of Things (IoT). The one-year project, which started in October 2021, is a first collaboration between the two universities and is funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) in the program “International Virtual Academic Collaboration” (IVAC).

During their visit, the groups were developing the gPTP time synchronization protocol over the LoRa wireless protocol for Low Power Wide Area Networks (LPWAN). They realized multiple experiments using the laboratory equipment and tested them on development boards acquired through the project’s funding. They also had the opportunity to meet with the rector of the Offenburg University, Prof. Dr. Stephan Trahasch, and with the Director of the International Center, Dr. Alexander Burdumy. Last but not least, they also enjoyed the sunny weather in their free time and visited several touristic places in the city of Offenburg and in the region, such as Strasbourg, Freiburg and Appenweier.

It is expected that this project will be only the first step for a long-term collaboration between the institutions.