The Eindhoven University of Technology has a vacancy for: 

PhD student on energy harvesting and transient computing.

The research will be conducted within the Electronic Systems (ES), Department of Electrical Engineering, in close cooperation with industrial partners in the Netherlands. 

Research challenge

Ultra-low power transponders (ULPT) for vulnerable road-side users. Energy autonomous communication devices that will not only enhance our comfort but will also improve our safety, will soon emerge on the market. Examples of such devices are autonomous WLANs for vehicular networks (IEEE 802.11p): transponders that can be mounted on bicycles to inform car-drivers about the presence of vulnerable road-users such as children going to school by bike.

The scientific challenge of this research project lies on the definition of digital circuit techniques that use low energy to perform an activity depending upon the available energy from the source. Adaptive and reconfigurable architectures allow optimizing energy efficiency depending upon the interplay between source and demand of energy. The required energy is reduced, by making a trade-off between the computation speed, accuracy and the required energy by selecting dynamically an energy optimal circuit to perform a computation depending on the desired computation speed and the available energy. Selection of energy optimal circuits will be used besides existing dynamic voltage frequency scaling, clock cycle stretching and back biasing techniques in processors. This research further looks into power management architectures based on short-term supply (harvesting) and long-term storage (super-capacitor) to service various power loads. This intelligent power management maximizes power autonomy dynamically depending upon power load demands and the uncertainty that goes together with energy harvesting. The intelligent unit arbitrates between the use of limited power directly from the harvester on the one hand and long-term storage on the other hand, or both, deciding when, and how to do this such that maximum overall power efficiency is obtained under a power-constrained operation, even perhaps at the task level.

Electronic Systems group
The Electronic Systems (ES) group consists of seven full professors, one associate professor, eight assistant professors, several postdocs, about 30 PDEng and PhD candidates and support staff. The ES group is world-renowned for its design automation and embedded systems research. It is our ambition to provide a scientific basis for design trajectories of electronic systems, ranging from digital circuits to cyber-physical systems. ES research is organised in three subprograms that cover the engineering, system and circuit perspectives: Model-driven engineering, smart electronic systems, and digital nano-electronics. The group is strongly involved in the electrical engineering bachelor and master programs of the TUE, as well as in the automotive bachelor program and the embedded systems master program. The group has excellent infrastructure that includes individual computers, computer servers, state-of-the-art FPGA and GPU farms, sensor- and ad-hoc networking equipment, a cyber-physical systems lab, an electronics lab and a comprehensive range of electronic-design software. ES has strong collaborations with industry, research institutes and other universities. Eleven of its staff members have a second affiliation besides their TUE-ES affiliation. The ES group has been very successful in attracting funding for its research through national and international projects and collaborations (EU programs: H2020, ITEA, CATRENE, ECSEL, Artemis, Marie Curie; national programs: STW, RVO, contract research), for a total budget of around 2M euro per year. The ES group is a multicultural team, with staff members of eight different nationalities and students from all over the world.

For the PhD position in this project, candidates with and MSc degree in Electrical/Computer Engineering will be selected and hired as doctoral students in the Electronic Systems Group (https://www.es.ele.tue.nl) for a 4-years period. The candidate should have: 

an excellent knowledge and background in electronics and computer engineering, 

affiliation with IoT applications, 

a very strong analytical background,

strong insight in systems development,

experience in using Cadence, Matlab, Simulink, and IC design and FPGA tools,

strong programming and experimental skills,

work experience in a multi-partner international project environment,

a good command of the English language is required.

Both candidates will closely cooperate with the other parties involved in this project. Your CV must include a complete list of the marks obtained during your whole university career.

a challenging job in a dynamic and ambitious university and a stimulating internationally renowned research environment;

full-time temporary appointment for 4 years;

gross salary between € 2.222,00 per month (first year) and € 2.840,00 per month (last year);

Additionally, 8% holiday and 8.3% end-of-year annual supplements

an extensive package of fringe benefits (e.g. excellent technical infrastructure, the possibility of child care and excellent sports facilities);