Overall objective
Foster the adoption of agrivoltaic solar production in cascade hydroponic greenhouses controlled by AIoT devices, contributing to carbon neutrality in food production.
PCI2024-153485 · Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena · 2024-2027
Precision AgriVoltaics for Carbon Neutrality Enhanced Production and Reduced Environmental Impact in Greenhouse
PAVER promotes the integration of cascade hydroponic greenhouses, agrivoltaic solar harvesting, AIoT communications and digital twins to move Mediterranean food production towards more efficient, traceable and low-carbon models.
- PI
- Antonio Javier García Sánchez
- Beneficiary institution
- Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena
- School
- School of Telecommunication Engineering
- Funding
- €145,000.00
European PRIMA Section 2 Project Summary
Smart agrivoltaics for hydroponic greenhouses
PAVER designs a smart, robust, viable and sustainable AIoT-agrivoltaic platform for different greenhouse types, climates and crops, especially in regions with limited access to the power grid or to irrigation water of sufficient quantity and quality.
Specific objectives
- Jointly optimise photovoltaic yield, monitored physical parameters and crop actuators.
- Improve crop efficiency and energy performance through sensors, AI and real-time control.
- Use photovoltaic energy for greenhouse self-consumption and irrigation water treatment/desalination.
- Build a digital twin that enables expert and non-expert users to tune and interpret parameters.
Technical progress
Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena work lines
The action connects agrivoltaic infrastructure, cascade hydroponic production and a parameterisable digital twin able to integrate environmental, energy and agronomic data.
WP2 · T2.1
Agrivoltaic infrastructure
Review of photovoltaic greenhouse solutions, installation layouts, shading strategies, energy management and integration with sensors and control systems.
WP3 · T3.2
Cascade hydroponic production
Field-trial design to evaluate soilless cultivation with drainage reuse, water and nutrient efficiency, productivity and reduction of external inputs.
WP6 · T6.1-T6.3
Digital twin and extended reality
Parameterisation, 3D visualisation, IoT integration, real-time data panels and heatmaps to monitor greenhouse behaviour.
Project results
Deliverables
Documents produced during the reporting period and linked to the tasks carried out by UPCT within PAVER.
D2.1 · WP2
Survey of advances in agrovoltaic infrastructure in greenhouses
Technical basis for selecting agrivoltaic solutions compatible with greenhouses and crop production.
D3.2 · WP3
Field trial design proposal
Experimental design for cascade hydroponic production and definition of agronomic monitoring variables.
D6.1 · WP6
Survey of advances in digital twin parametrization
Review of tools and workflows for parameterising digital twins applied to agriculture.
D6.2 · WP6
Extended reality technologies for the representation of digital twins
Analysis of augmented, virtual and mixed reality for visualisation, control and decision support.
D6.3 · WP6
Parameterizable greenhouse digital twin and control panel
Initial implementation of the digital twin with IoT, immersive 3D visualisation and a control panel.
Dissemination
Project publications
Selection of articles, datasets, conference contributions and patent outputs derived from project PCI2024-153485.
2026 · Journal of Sensor and Actuator Networks · JCR Q2
Citywide Air Quality Forecasting over Sparse Sensor Networks
Francisco-Jose Alvarado-Alcon, Rafael Asorey-Cacheda, Joan Garcia-Haro, Laura García, Antonio-Javier Garcia-Sanchez.
DOI: 10.3390/jsan150400522026 · IEEE Access · JCR Q2
Electrochemical Biosensor-Based Point-of-Care Device for Metabolic Health Monitoring
Jose-Francisco Beltran-Sanchez, Laura García, Gonzalo Martínez-García, Joan Garcia-Haro, Antonio-Javier Garcia-Sanchez.
DOI: 10.1109/ACCESS.2026.37059622026 · IEEE Internet of Things Journal · JCR Q1
MARLTC: A Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning-Based Interference-Aware Transmission Control for LoRaWAN IoT Devices
With the University of Innsbruck and the UPCT team.
DOI: 10.1109/JIOT.2026.36963532026 · Internet of Things · JCR Q1
CADD: Collaborative Adaptive Duty Cycle and Data Reduction for Congestion Control in LoRaWAN
Collaboration between UPCT and the University of Innsbruck.
DOI: 10.1016/j.iot.2026.1019042026 · IEEE Access · JCR Q2
FAST-LoRa: An Efficient Simulation Framework for Evaluating LoRaWAN Networks and Transmission Parameter Strategies
Work on efficient simulation of LoRaWAN networks.
DOI: 10.1109/ACCESS.2026.36693472025 · Journal of Network and Computer Applications · JCR Q1
Seamless Remote Roaming Activation in LoRaWAN via an API-Driven Gateway Bridge Service
International collaboration with the University of Messina.
DOI: 10.1016/j.jnca.2025.1042682025 · IEEE Access · JCR Q2
Lightweight Blockchain for Data Integrity and Traceability in IoT Networks
Work on IoT data integrity and traceability with collaboration from Universidad Santiago de Cali.
DOI: 10.1109/ACCESS.2025.35677732025 · IEEE Open Journal of the Computer Society · JCR Q1
Minimizing the Carbon Footprint in LoRa-Based IoT Networks
Machine-learning perspective on gateway placement.
DOI: 10.1109/OJCS.2025.35593312025 · Applied Sciences · JCR Q2
Compliant and Seamless Hybrid Network Topology Coexistence for LoRaWAN
Proof of concept for star/mesh coexistence.
DOI: 10.3390/app150734872025 · Internet of Things · JCR Q1
ADRL: A Reconfigurable Energy-Efficient Transmission Policy for Mobile LoRa Devices
Reinforcement-learning-based transmission policy.
DOI: 10.1016/j.iot.2025.1015772025 · Expert Systems with Applications · JCR Q1
Air Quality Forecasting in Non-Monitored Urban Areas Through Machine- and Deep-Learning Models
Machine- and deep-learning models for forecasting in non-monitored areas.
DOI: 10.1016/j.eswa.2025.127749Patent · OEPM
Method for detecting genetic material in a sample and device for carrying it out
Spanish patent ES2932875B2, granted on 10/04/2025; application P202130697.
Dataset · Zenodo · 2026
Replication data for Reducing Monitoring Stations for Cross-Location Air Quality Forecasting via Deep Learning
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.18459608Dataset · Zenodo · 2026
Replication data for Citywide Air Quality Forecasting over Sparse Sensor Networks
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.15240646Conference · CADAT 2024
A Monitoring System of Crops and Meteorology Parameters by Bringing Together Physical Sensors and Computer Vision Cameras
The First International Conference on Accessible Digital Agriculture Technologies, pp. 30-35.
Dataset · UPCT · 2026
Replication data for Optimizing Energy and Event-Level Recall in UAV Fire Detection
DOI: 10.82432/10317/21516Poster · EuCNC & 6G Summit 2026
Carbon Footprint-Aware Gateway Placement in LoRa Multi-Hop Networks
Poster P-2.7, Malaga, Spain, 2-5 June 2026.
No publications match the current filter.
Collaboration network
National and international collaborations
PAVER builds on the PRIMA consortium and on scientific collaborations related to IoT communications, rural connectivity, DECT NR+, LoRaWAN and digital twins.
Spain
Universitat Politècnica de València
PAVER coordinator and direct national collaborator of UPCT. Its contribution is linked to WP1, WP5 and WP8, with sensors, communications, application and security inputs feeding WP6.
Morocco
INRAM and USMS
INRAM contributes circular water economy expertise and USMS leads hydroponic production, generating water, nutrient, crop and carbon-footprint variables for the digital twin.
Morocco · Egypt · France
REOWA, GPAI and UHA
REOWA and GPAI connect applied validation, solar irrigation and agrivoltaic infrastructure. UHA reinforces training, dissemination and international exploitation of results.
Austria · Colombia · Italy · Germany
Scientific collaborations
University of Innsbruck, Universidad Santiago de Cali, University of Messina, Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences and Sennheiser contribute to WP6 in connectivity, quality of service, LoRaWAN, DECT NR+ and remote control.
UPCT
Project team
People currently involved in the scientific and technical implementation of the project at UPCT.
Current research team
- Antonio Javier García Sánchez Principal investigator
- Juan García Haro Research team
- Rafael Asorey Cacheda Research team
- Juan Antonio Fernández Hernández Research team
- Catalina Egea Gilabert Research team
- Laura García García Research team
Current technical and support staff
- Rafael Zamora Martínez Software development and technical integration
- Julian Alexander Murillo Portocarrero Communications and data integration