Years ago, somebody smart asked to Romanian scientists to reconsider their individual plans and start working together in partnerships. It was a hard lesson to learn, but a great advantage in accessing international funds, because at the time when programs like Norway Grants were launched, we already had something to build on.

Experience from within EARLINET, new equipments and expertise gained through projects like EXIST and DELICE, but a very clear need to expand spatially our measurements, determined INOE’s team to promote a new project, to install 4 new lidar stations in Timisoara, Iasi, Cluj-Napoca and Baneasa. ROLINET (ROmanian LIdar NETwork), a partnership program PNCDI2, formed a consortia of research institutes and universities which committed to a new research direction - laser remote sensing: "Al.I.Cuza" University of Iasi, "Babes-Bolyai" University of Cluj-Napoca, "Politehnica" University of Timisoara, National Meteorological Administration, and University of Bucharest - Faculty of Physics. In ROLINET, a prototype, a Romanian lidar system has been developed (Published patent no. RO125055-A0) and constructed by ESYRO company, project partner. This instrument was set up at National Meteorological Administration. The design of the lidar was especially for use near an airport, but then it was improved to study the planetary boundary layer (0- 3Km) and free troposphere aerosol (up to 10 km). Three identical lidars have been installed at Iasi, Cluj and Timisoara. ROLINET ended in 2010, but ROmanian LIdar NETwork continued to develop through RADO: ROmanian Atmospheric research 3D Observatory.