Vacancy for PhD student in group Signal Processing Systems (SPS), dept. EEOptical Wireless Communication for the Internet of Things: Signal Processing Work environment
Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e, https://www.tue.nl/en/) is one of Europe's top technological universities, situated at the heart of a most innovative high-tech region. Thanks to a wealth of collaborations with industry and academic institutes, TU/e's research has real-world impact. In 2015, TU/e was ranked 106th in the Times Higher Educational World University ranking and 49th in the Shanghai ARWU ranking (engineering). TU/e has around 3,000 employees and 2,300 PhD students (half of which international, representing about 70 nationalities).

The candidate will work in the Signal Processing Group (SPS) at the Department of Electrical Engineering (https://www.tue.nl/en/university/departments/electrical-engineering/). Within the EE department, research and education is done in domains of Telecommunication, Care and Cure, and Smart energy systems. The SPS group has a strong track record not only in signal processing for digital communication, but also for medical applications and for intelligent lighting systems. The impact of the work of the group is evident from a very close cooperation with industrial partners and research institutes and from international recognition and awards of the team.   

The project is run in close cooperation with a PhD student at the Electro-Optical Communication Systems (ECO) group, and Oxford University, with industrial partners in a European Consortium.  

Project description
The position is in the new H2020 project ELIOT - Enhance Lighting for the Internet Of Things. The project is an Innovation Action project with strong industrial and academic partners, and aims to introduce Visible Light Communication (VLC) for the realization of dense reliable low-power high-bandwidth connectivity which should enable and bring new features for Internet of Things (IoT) applications. The project comprises work on the hardware infrastructure (VLC transceivers, a multi-cell backbone infrastructure), signal processing and handover protocols, network architecture design, as well as experimental verification and demonstration with real services in practical system trials.

The PhD candidate will have to design, engineer and implement a novel multi-cell VLC system with multiple luminaire-based access points, which is able to reliably offer high data bandwidths using advanced signal processing (including MIMO) techniques in an IoT environment. The candidate also should take into account technical and economical constraints in the system design, such as cost-optimized coverage for multi-cell installations or power consumption and signaling complexity. Moreover, he/she should validate the system in a realistic system application environment of IoT.

The PhD candidate should regularly report about his/her work in the international project consortium, both orally in progress meetings as well as in writing deliverable reports. He/she should cooperate with the other researchers in the project, amongst others by integrating his/her results in the joint project system demonstrator. He/she should disseminate his/her work, amongst others through patents and publications in scientific journals and conferences.

MSc degree in electrical engineering, in particular in signal processing, wireless communications or related area.

Solid knowledge of signal processing and communication systems,

Solid knowledge of communication principles and radio protocols (such as diversity reception, MIMO and handovers)

Familiar with electronic laboratory measurement equipment, , semiconductor devices, and electronic circuits.

Proven team-working capabilities and communication skills, preferably having some experience in academic publishing

English proficiency (both verbal and written)

Having the ambition to combine world-class academic research with meaningful industrial transfer

Willingness to start as soon as possible (project start date is January 2019)

We offer a challenging job at a dynamic and ambitious university through a fixed-term appointment for a period of 4 years. The research in this project must be concluded with the attainment of a Ph.D. 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 € 2266.- per month (gross) in the first year, increasing up to € 2897.- per month (gross) in the last year. Moreover, an 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 also offers you the opportunity 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.

More information on employment conditions can be found here: employment conditions.