Prestigious PhD Student Position in beyond-5G millimeter-wave integrated circuits and systems design
Are you looking for high quality doctoral-level training in and outside academia?

The European Innovative Training Network 'MyWave' on Efficient MillimetreWave Communications for beyond-5G wireless communications offers 15 prestigious, fully funded PhD student positions in the area of millimetrewave antennas, integrated circuits and signal processing, starting in the autumn of 2019. The MyWave consortium consists of 8 leading European R&D laboratories from universities, industries, and technology institutes in the domain of wireless infrastructure which are located in The Netherlands, Sweden, Belgium and Germany.

Research:
Our society is on the brink of a new age with the development of new visionary concepts such as internet of things, smart cities, autonomous driving and smart industries. This stimulates the use of the mm-wave frequencies up to 100 GHz to support much higher data rates and to increase the capacity of mobile wireless communication systems to enable future beyond-5G infrastructure. This requires new system concepts such as Distributed Massive Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output (DM-MIMO) in which instead of a single basestation, the cell is covered by multiple remote antenna stations, all connected to a central unit. To overcome existing limitations, such as poor power efficiency and poor signal quality, MyWave will focus on an innovative system concept utilizing both silicon and III-V semiconductor technologies, advanced signal processing concepts and radio-over-fibre interconnect between a central unit and the remote antenna stations. MyWave establishes a unique and well-structured training network with leading R&D labs from European industries, universities and technology institutes in the domain of wireless infrastructure and a proven track-record in joint collaborations. 15 Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) will form a research team that is embedded in leading industrial and academic R&D labs. This will bridge the gap between the various disciplines by uniting their research efforts to solve the challenges.

Training programme:
MyWave will provide the PhD students with a comprehensive set of theoretical and practical skills relevant for innovation and longterm employability in a rapidly growing sector. This highly innovative training will cover several interdisciplinary areas. Each PhD student will be enrolled in a doctoral programme and is jointly supervised by supervisors from the academic and industry sector. Each PhD student will do a secondment of 18 months abroad at one of the industrial partners (TU/e, CHALMERS, KIT, Fraunhofer, ERICSSON, NXP, KEYSIGHT, United Monolithic Semiconductors (UMS), GAPWAVES, IMST).

PhD Position 'Millimeter-wave IC design and system architecture definition for DM-MIMO synchronisation concepts ' (secondment; ERICSSON)
Synchronisation between different transmit and receive channels is critical for coherent beamforming but still a major challenge for the highly cost-driven wireless infrastructure market. In this project, a local oscillator (LO) synchronization method of the various transmit and receive channels of the millimeter-wave-front-ends will be developed and implemented in advanced millimeter-wave IC technology. For beyond-5G millimeter-wave frequency bands, the ESR will investigate a coupling scheme inspired by A. Agrawal et al. [1] where the coupling is achieved between adjacent PLLs by using moderately high reference clock signals (e.g. 3.5 GHz). This is very suitable for scaling of large transceiver arrays. Furthermore, synchronisation concepts and related circuit blocks between remote radio transceivers will be studied. Based on user-scenarios, a basic DM-MIMO system design will be developed along with its interfaces and system-level specifications. The PhD candidate will be part of the 'Integrated Circuits' group of the Electrical Engineering faculty of Eindhoven University of Technology (https://www.tue.nl/en/research/research-groups/integrated-circuits/) and perform an 18 months secondment at Ericsson Research (Sweden).[1] Agrawal, A., A. Natarajan, A Scalable 28GHz Coupled-PLL in 65nm CMOS with Single-Wire Synchronization for LargeScale 5G mm-Wave Arrays, ISSCC, 2016.

Applicants should have, or expect to receive, a Master of Science degree or equivalent in a relevant electrical engineering or applied physics discipline and should not have more than four years of research experience. In addition to the formal ESR qualifications, selection is also based on the performance of the candidates in other works (e.g. thesis and advanced level courses), as well as through interviews and assignments. Besides good subject knowledge, emphasis will be on creative thinking, motivation, ability to cooperate, initiative to work independently and personal suitability for research training. Previous experience in the area of millimeter-wave IC design, microwave engineering and antennas as well as proficiency in using scientific and engineering software packages such as Cadence, ADS, CST, Matlab etc. are advantageous. For the PhD positions the EU 'Mobility rules' apply. This means that candidate students cannot have resided for more than 12 months during the period of 3 years immediately before the start of the PhD, in the prospective host country (Example: a candidate student who has stayed in The Netherlands for more than 12 months in the last 3 years cannot be hired by the university in The Netherlands).

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 € 2325, per month (gross) in the first year, increasing up to € 2972, 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.