The
Department of Electrical Engineering is one of the nine departments of
the Eindhoven University of Technology and provides BSc
and MSc programs in Electrical Engineering. The department has nine research groups and has research collaborations with other departments at the Eindhoven University of Technology as well as with a large number of other universities and companies, both within the Netherlands and internationally. The department has approximately 300 employees and 600 students.
and MSc programs in Electrical Engineering. The department has nine research groups and has research collaborations with other departments at the Eindhoven University of Technology as well as with a large number of other universities and companies, both within the Netherlands and internationally. The department has approximately 300 employees and 600 students.
Research challenges
The
exploding need for wireless communication capacity is getting beyond the
capabilities of traditional radio techniques. The available radio
bandwidth gets exhausted, wireless devices start interfering with each
other in this overcrowded radio spectrum, and high-capacity radio is
power-hungry. Optics can offer a breakthrough, by means of the huge
bandwidth of its spectrum, together with intelligent networking. In a
five-years project funded in the FP7 Ideas programme of the European
Research Council, we aim to create this breakthrough by a revolutionary
combination of novel techniques: a multitude of dynamically steered
free-space optical beams, an intelligently routed optical fibre
platform, and flexible radio communication techniques. This hybrid
technology will increase the available wireless bandwidth by several
orders of magnitude, while operating very energy-efficiently. The
narrowly confined optical beams
will allow very high data rates in free-space communication and will need dynamic steering to connect to the (moving) devices of the users. These techniques will be combined with intelligent optical signal routing techniques in the fibre backbone network to optimize the end-to-end network performance, and with advanced low-power highly-integrated radio techniques for upstream communication and for user localisation and tracking capabilities, in order to deliver ultra-broadband services to every user, tailored for his device.
We will explore an autonomic network management and control system to orchestrate the heterogeneous resources and evolve these as the user’s needs, context, device capabilities and energy requirements change.
will allow very high data rates in free-space communication and will need dynamic steering to connect to the (moving) devices of the users. These techniques will be combined with intelligent optical signal routing techniques in the fibre backbone network to optimize the end-to-end network performance, and with advanced low-power highly-integrated radio techniques for upstream communication and for user localisation and tracking capabilities, in order to deliver ultra-broadband services to every user, tailored for his device.
We will explore an autonomic network management and control system to orchestrate the heterogeneous resources and evolve these as the user’s needs, context, device capabilities and energy requirements change.
The PhD student tasks
The research tasks of the two PhD students are:
- PhD student 1 will focus his/her work on creating free-space optical communication links by means of narrowly confined light
beams. He/she will define, analyse, design and realise novel concepts for steering the light beams, with adaptive optical beam alignment to track the user’s devices, and novel techniques to achieve high data rate transmission through such free space links. - PhD student 2 will focus his/her work on transparent signal routing in the fibre backbone network which feeds the system units emitting the free-space optical beams. He/she will define, analyse, design and realise novel concepts for optical routing of the data signals to these units in a dynamic way, in order to optimize the performance of the end-to-end data transfer and for minimizing the network congestion probability.
The two
PhD students will work together with a third PhD student who will
address the radio communication challenges, a fourth PhD student for the
autonomic network management and control challenges, and a
Post-Doctoral researcher for the overall system design and integration.
Requirements
Candidates
for this challenging project should have a Master of Science degree in
Electrical Engineering or in Applied Physics. He/she should have a
strong affinity with optical techniques and data communication
techniques, and preferably have hands-on experience with optical
bench-top laboratory setups, optical fibre systems and electronic
circuits. They should have good communication skills and be fluent in
English, both in speaking and in writing.
What we offer
We offer a challenging job at a dynamic and ambitious university through a fixed-term appointment for the period of 4 years.
The research in this project must be concluded with the attainment of a PhD degree.As an employee of the university you will receive a competitive salary as well as excellent employment conditions. A salary is offered starting at EUR 2042 per month (gross) in the first year and increasing up to EUR 2612 per month (gross) in the last year. Moreover 8% bonus share (holiday supplement) is provided annually. Assistance for finding accommodation can be given. The university offers an attractive package of fringe benefits such as excellent technical infrastructure, child care, savings schemes, and excellent sports facilities.
TU/e offers opportunities for personal development by developing your social and communication skills. We do this by offering every PhD student a series of courses that are part of the PROOF program as an excellent addition to your scientific education.
The research in this project must be concluded with the attainment of a PhD degree.As an employee of the university you will receive a competitive salary as well as excellent employment conditions. A salary is offered starting at EUR 2042 per month (gross) in the first year and increasing up to EUR 2612 per month (gross) in the last year. Moreover 8% bonus share (holiday supplement) is provided annually. Assistance for finding accommodation can be given. The university offers an attractive package of fringe benefits such as excellent technical infrastructure, child care, savings schemes, and excellent sports facilities.
TU/e offers opportunities for personal development by developing your social and communication skills. We do this by offering every PhD student a series of courses that are part of the PROOF program as an excellent addition to your scientific education.
Application Deadline : 31 January 2013
