The Delft Center for Systems and Control (DCSC) is offering a PhD position under the newly funded ‘Signal Processing for Environment-Aware Radar’ (SPEAR) project. The project will be carried out in the research group of Dr. N.J. Myers, in collaboration with researchers at the faculty of 3mE and the faculty of EEMCS. In this project you will work on industry-relevant scientific challenges in collaboration with industry experts from NXP.
Dr. Myers’s group at TU Delft develops and analyzes novel signal processing techniques for communications and sensing with wireless systems. We focus on both applied and theoretical aspects of challenging problems in connected automotive and radars.

Currently, fully digital automotive radars face limitations in resolution due to the use of a limited number of antennas and low bandwidth settings, which are aimed at minimizing power consumption. A promising low-power alternative is one that uses low-resolution radar components which operate at high bandwidths. Radar signal processing with such a hardware, however, is extremely challenging due to the stringent constraints imposed by coarse quantization. Furthermore, these hardwares generate massive amount of information that is difficult to process using conventional techniques. To address both these challenges, we seek a talented individual to develop low-complexity radar signal processing techniques capable of effectively operating under coarse quantization effects at the receiver.

As part of this project, you will tackle this challenge by developing cutting-edge solutions that will push low-resolution automotive radars to their limits. Specifically, your focus will be on two key research themes:

1. Designing space-time waveforms that are robust to quantization effects at the receiver.
2. Developing low-complexity sparse recovery algorithms for target detection and interference management.

By joining our team, you will contribute to the advancement of automotive radar technology, enabling higher resolution and improved performance, all while operating under stringent power and computational complexity constraints.

Relevant research from our lab members:

[1] P. Kumari, N. J. Myers, and R. W. Heath Jr., “An adaptive and fast beamforming design for automotive millimeter-wave joint communication-radar,” IEEE Journal on Selected Topics in Signal Processing, vol. 15, no. 5, June 2021 (Top 25 most downloaded articles of the IEEE Signal Processing Society in 2022).

[2] H. Masoumi, N. J. Myers, G. Leus, S. Wahls, and M. Verhaegen, “Structured Sensing Matrix Design for In-sector Compressed mmWave Channel Estimation,” IEEE SPAWC 2022. (Best Student Paper Award)

[3] N. J. Myers, R. W. Heath Jr., "Message passing-based joint CFO and channel estimation in millimeter wave systems with one-bit ADCs," IEEE Trans. on Wireless Commun., vol. 18, pp. 3064-3077, April 2019

[4] V. Slobodyanyuk, R. Rimini, U. Fernando, N. J. Myers and V. Varadarajan, “High resolution and computationally efficient radar techniques”, US Patent Appl. no. 16/885,239, May 2020

[5] R. Rimini, P. Huang, and N. J. Myers, “Wireless communication with enhanced maximum permissible exposure (MPE) compliance based on vital signs detection”, US Patent Appl. no. 17/000,228, Aug 2020

For this position you are expected to have:

• a solid understanding of statistical signal processing and optimization;
• a background in radar and wireless communication is desirable, but not mandatory;
• experience in programming e.g., Python, MATLAB, R
• excellent communication and interpersonal skills;
• the ability to work in a collaborative environment.

Doing a PhD at TU Delft requires English proficiency at a certain level to ensure that the candidate is able to communicate and interact well, participate in English-taught Doctoral Education courses, and write scientific articles and a final thesis. For more details please check the Graduate Schools Admission Requirements.

Fixed-term contract: 4 years.

Doctoral candidates will be offered a 4-year period of employment in principle, but in the form of 2 employment contracts. An initial 1,5 year contract with an official go/no go progress assessment within 15 months. Followed by an additional contract for the remaining 2,5 years assuming everything goes well and performance requirements are met.

Salary and benefits are in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities, increasing from € 2770 per month in the first year to € 3537 in the fourth year. As a PhD candidate you will be enrolled in the TU Delft Graduate School. The TU Delft Graduate School provides an inspiring research environment with an excellent team of supervisors, academic staff and a mentor. The Doctoral Education Programme is aimed at developing your transferable, discipline-related and research skills.

The TU Delft offers a customisable compensation package, discounts on health insurance and sport memberships, and a monthly work costs contribution. Flexible work schedules can be arranged.

For international applicants, TU Delft has the Coming to Delft Service. This service provides information for new international employees to help you prepare the relocation and to settle in the Netherlands. The Coming to Delft Service offers a Dual Career Programme for partners and they organise events to expand your (social) network.

Delft University of Technology

Delft University of Technology is built on strong foundations. As creators of the world-famous Dutch waterworks and pioneers in biotech, TU Delft is a top international university combining science, engineering and design. It delivers world class results in education, research and innovation to address challenges in the areas of energy, climate, mobility, health and digital society. For generations, our engineers have proven to be entrepreneurial problem-solvers, both in business and in a social context.

At TU Delft we embrace diversity as one of our core values and we actively engage to be a university where you feel at home and can flourish. We value different perspectives and qualities. We believe this makes our work more innovative, the TU Delft community more vibrant and the world more just. Together, we imagine, invent and create solutions using technology to have a positive impact on a global scale. That is why we invite you to apply. Your application will receive fair consideration.

Challenge. Change. Impact!

Faculty Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering

From chip to ship. From machine to human being. From idea to solution. Driven by a deep-rooted desire to understand our environment and discover its underlying mechanisms, research and education at the 3mE faculty focusses on fundamental understanding, design, production including application and product improvement, materials, processes and (mechanical) systems.

3mE is a dynamic and innovative faculty with high-tech lab facilities and international reach. It’s a large faculty but also versatile, so we can often make unique connections by combining different disciplines. This is reflected in 3mE’s outstanding, state-of-the-art education, which trains students to become responsible and socially engaged engineers and scientists. We translate our knowledge and insights into solutions to societal issues, contributing to a sustainable society and to the development of prosperity and well-being. That is what unites us in pioneering research, inspiring education and (inter)national cooperation.

Click here to go to the website of the Faculty of Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering. Do you want to experience working at our faculty? These videos will introduce you to some of our researchers and their work.