Software-defined and programmable networking is a key enabling technology to support 5G and beyond networks in achieving their promises of increased scalability and flexibility at a lower cost.

Deep network programmability, that is the ability to program the network fabric both vertically (control and data plane) and horizontally (end to end), is expected to characterize the new generation of mobile networks (6G) towards supporting extreme performance requirements and service-specific operations. To this end, enriching next-generation mobile networks with data plane programming capabilities can bring significant benefits with regards to network monitoring and telemetry analysis. In-band network telemetry (INT) can help correlate observed application/network performance degradation with network bottlenecks, short-lived congestion events, routing misconfigurations, or highly utilized network nodes and links.

The objective of the post-doc appointment is to investigate in-band network telemetry (INT) solutions for evolving 6G systems with attention to 6G-optical integration. In this context, INT should support the collection of accurate end-to-end network state and QoS/QoE parameters, to support (proactive) network adaptation and near real time control. Thus, new approaches and technologies will be developed and demonstrated for collecting, intelligently aggregating (e.g., using including autoencoders and other ML-based techniques) and processing monitoring information originated by user equipment and terminals, programmable HW-accelerated network elements, edge computing resources, and applications. Envisioned solutions should provide high monitoring accuracy along with low and fixed transmission overhead and ensure scalability/performance.

This research will be carried out as part of longstanding collaboration with CIENA, and it will result in joint demonstrators, proof-of-concepts and articles at suitable international conferences, such as Optical Fiber Communication Conference and Exhibition (OFC), ACM SIGCOMM, SuperComputing (SC), and in high impact journals. Testbeds available for this work are FABRIC, CENI (Ciena environment for network innovation) and BRIDGES, which all have an international node located at the premises of the University of Amsterdam. Additional facilities will be provided as part of the UvA participation in the SLICES-RI initiative.

Furthermore, research synergies with high innovation potential will be explored with the EU HORIZON-JU-SNS-2022 project DESIRE6G (DEep programmability and Secure distributed Intelligence for Real-time End-to-end 6G networks) spearheaded by the MNS team.

You will be embedded in the MNS group. The group focuses its researches on the fundamental architectural problems that arise from the interconnection of systems and of data flows. We look at the emerging architectures that can support the operations of the future Internet. More information can be found at the MNS website.

Tasks and responsibilities
You will:

• focus on the development of a data-plane telemetry system for pervasive monitoring and intelligent data aggregation for 6G systems;
• benchmark the performance or validate the applicability of proposed approaches;
• jointly work in the FABRIC research community on large-scale demonstrators;
• investigate synergies with the BRIDGES and the SLICES-RI initiatives;
• become active in the DESIRE6G research community and collaborate with other institutes and/or companies that are part of the project;
• publish and present work regularly at international conferences, workshops, and journals;
• support relevant educational activities and provide graduation opportunities to bachelor and master students on topics related to the research.

Your experience and profile:

• A PhD in a relevant discipline, such as computer science, electrical and computer engineering;
• Excellent programming skills (python, C/C++);
• Prior experience in programmable networking technologies and DSLs such as eBPF and P4;
• Knowledge in mobile network architectures and protocols;
• The willingness to be part of an international research team;
• The ability to travel to and visit conferences in North America;
• Fluency in oral and written English and good presentation skills;
• Commitment to maintaining an inclusive, collaborative, diverse, supportive work environment;
• Prior experience in graduation projects supervision.

We offer a temporary employment contract for 38 hours per week for a period of 12 months. If we assess your performance positive, your contract will be extended with 18 months. The preferred starting date is as soon as possible.

The gross monthly salary, based on 38 hours per week and dependent on relevant experience, ranges between € 2,960 to € 4,670 (scale 10). UvA additionally offers an extensive package of secondary benefits, including 8% holiday allowance and a year-end bonus of 8.3%. The UFO profile Researcher 4 is applicable. A favourable tax agreement, the ‘30% ruling’, may apply to non-Dutch applicants. The Collective Labour Agreement of Universities of the Netherlands is applicable.

Besides the salary and a vibrant and challenging environment at Science Park we offer you multiple fringe benefits:

• 232 holiday hours per year (based on fulltime) and extra holidays between Christmas and 1 January;
• Multiple courses to follow from our Teaching and Learning Centre;
• Multiple courses on topics such as leadership for academic staff;
• Multiple courses on topics such as time management, handling stress and an online learning platform with 100+ different courses;
• 7 weeks birth leave (partner leave) with 100% salary;
• Partly paid parental leave;
• The possibility to set up a workplace at home;
• A pension at ABP for which UvA pays two third part of the contribution;
• The possibility to follow courses to learn Dutch;
• Help with housing for a studio or small apartment when you’re moving from abroad.

Are you curious to read more about our extensive package of secondary employment benefits, take a look here.

Faculty of Science

The University of Amsterdam (UvA) is the Netherlands' largest university, offering the widest range of academic programmes. At the UvA, 42,000 students, 6,000 staff members and 3,000 PhD candidates study and work in a diverse range of fields, connected by a culture of curiosity.

The Faculty of Science (FNWI) has a student body of around 8,000, as well as 1,800 members of staff working in education, research or support services. Researchers and students at the Faculty of Science are fascinated by every aspect of how the world works, be it elementary particles, the birth of the universe or the functioning of the brain.

The mission of the Informatics Institute (IvI) is to perform curiosity-driven and use-inspired fundamental research in Computer Science. The main research themes are Artificial Intelligence, Computational Science and Systems and Network Engineering. Our research involves complex information systems at large, with a focus on collaborative, data driven, computational and intelligent systems, all with a strong interactive component.

You will be embedded in the MultiScale Networked Systems (MNS) group, part of the Informatics Institute at the University of Amsterdam. The group focuses its research on the fundamental architectural problems that arise from the interconnection of systems and of data flows and multiscale systems. E.g. cloud systems or clusters that define themselves by their dynamic size and scale, and on the network connecting them. We look at the emerging architectures that can support the operations of the future Internet. More information can be found here.

Want to know more about our organisation? Read more about working at the University of Amsterdam.