8 PhD Positions in Cyber-Physical and Embedded Systems

Eindhoven University of Technology

Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e, www.tue.nl) is a world-leading research university specializing in engineering science & technology. The Department of Electrical Engineering is responsible for research and education in Electrical Engineering. The discipline covers technologies and electrical phenomena involved in computer engineering, information processing, energy transfer, and telecommunication. The department strives for societal relevance through an emphasis on the fields of smart sustainable systems, the connected world, and care and cure. The TU/e is the world's best-performing research university in terms of research cooperation with industry (#1 since 2009).

Electronic Systems group at the TU/e

The Electronic Systems (ES) group (www.es.ele.tue.nl) is comprised of three full professors, two part-time full professors, two associate professors, five assistant professors, about 35 PhD candidates and postdocs, and several technical and support staff. The group has excellent infrastructure that includes individual computers, compute servers, state-of-the-art FPGA and GPU farms, sensor- and ad-hoc networking equipment, and a comprehensive range of electronic-design software.

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 digital electronic circuits, embedded and cyber-physical systems. Our research results in tools and platforms such as SDF3 and CompSOC. We have strong national and international academic and industrial contacts. The work in the PhD projects will be carried out in close collaboration with several non-academic partners in the Eindhoven region including ASML, FEI, NXP Semiconductors, Oce Technologies, Philips, Technolution, and TNO-ESI.

3 PhD positions in the Robust CPS program

The design of next generation high-tech professional systems for medical imaging, lithography, electron microscopy and high-end printing requires a tight coordination between computation, communication and control elements (the cyber part), and physical processes such as heating, cooling, motion, vibrations, etc. (the physical part). The scientific disciplines providing the basis for such cyber-physical systems (CPS) have historically predominantly developed independently. This separation of disciplines can no longer be sustained and urgently needs to be bridged. This is particularly important for the high-tech industry, which faces challenges of exponential growth in complexity and increasing uncertainty. The Robust CPS program will realize the paradigm shift needed to unite the relevant disciplines. The focus of the program is on the development of generic multi-disciplinary methods, models and tools to deal with the complexities inherent to CPS and to guarantee robust operation of CPS under uncertainties.

PhD candidate PhD-RCPS-1 will address the challenge of realizing high-performance, robust, data-intensive control. Systems such as electron microscopes contain data-intensive sensors (e.g. imaging) that lead to high processing workloads in the control loop that controls the system. The compute platform in such systems is nowadays typically a networked multiprocessor platform. The close coupling between quality of control and quality of workload processing requires an integrated approach to controller synthesis and the design of the compute platform. This PhD candidate will work together with two other PhD students from mechanical engineering and computer science to develop a multi-disciplinary design approach for complex data-intensive control problems that is cost-effective, utilizes computation and communication resources effectively, and results in high performance and robust operation. The work is carried out in close collaboration with Technolution and FEI. Advisors for this position are dr.ir. Sander Stuijk and prof.dr.ir. Twan Basten.

PhD candidates PhD-RCPS-2 and PhD-RCPS-3 will collaboratively address another major challenge faced in the development of high-tech systems. The demands with respect to the system throughput and system accuracy are increasing in every generation of these systems. ASML's wafer scanners for example have to process wafers at ever increasing rates under more and more stringent nano-scale precision requirements. Traditionally, the design methodologies addressing system throughput (computer and electrical engineering) are completely different from those focusing on system accuracy (physics and control). The goal of this collaboration is to blend these methodologies by developing a model-based architecting approach, supporting system-wide trade-off analysis (accuracy against performance), while at the same time forming a system specification that can be implemented by the different mono disciplines (electronics, software and mechanics). PhD candidate PhD-RCPS-2 will focus on the required multi-domain modeling abstractions, together with their consistency relations. Advisors for this position are dr.ir. Sander Stuijk, dr.ir. Jeroen Voeten and prof.dr. Henk Corporaal. PhD candidate PhD-RCPS-3 will develop effective and efficient techniques to analyze system performance and make the appropriate trade-offs. Advisors for this position are dr.ir. Marc Geilen, dr.ir. Jeroen Voeten and prof.dr.ir. Twan Basten. The PhD candidates will work together with two other PhD students from the TU/e mechanical engineering department. The work will be carried out in close cooperation with ASML.

2 PhD positions in the ALMARVI project

ALMARVI is an EU Artemis project that focuses on algorithms and design methods for massive data-rate image processing on many-core execution platforms. Within the healthcare domain, the project focuses on medical-imaging assisted treatments such as tele-operation and interventional X-Ray. Speed (e.g., real-time image processing) and accuracy (e.g., high-precision position control) are of utmost importance along with constraints such as power, cost and robustness.

PhD candidates PhD-ALMARVI-1 and PhD-ALMARVI-2 will deal with modelling, analysis and design for real-time image processing and closed-loop control with image feedback. Functional correctness and appropriate performance depend on mapping, scheduling and resource arbitration of various real-time tasks on the many-core execution platform. A model-driven approach based on dynamic dataflow models is envisioned as a solution. One goal of this project is to develop fast and accurate design-space exploration methods; another goal is to develop controller synthesis techniques for controllers that can guarantee the expected performance. The developed methods should be able to take into account multiple design objectives like Quality of Control (QoC), throughput, latency, power consumption and their trade-offs. The candidates will be supervised by dr.ir. Marc Geilen and prof.dr.ir. Twan Basten and by dr. Dip Goswami and prof.dr.ir. Twan Basten, respectively. The work will be carried out in close cooperation with Philips healthcare and TNO-ESI .

1 PhD position in the EMC2 project

The Artemis EMC2 project addresses embedded multi-core systems for mixed-criticality applications in dynamic real-time environments. Traditionally, embedded and cyber-physical systems run a single (usually real-time) application on a single processor. More recent systems run multiple applications with different levels of criticality (real time, best effort, safety critical, etc.) on shared resources, which introduces many challenges. The introduction of multi- and many-core architectures further complicate performance & safety analysis.

PhD candidate PhD-EMC2 will investigate how mixed-criticality applications can safely run on a platform (hardware and software) that is variable in the sense of required and offered performance levels, and with respect to reliability/errors. The platform will contain multiple interconnected processors with a run-time environment (microkernel, virtualization, RTOS, etc.). The goal is to design a platform that can adapt to performance variations and reliability problems in a (analytically) guaranteed safe manner. (Parts of) the CompSOC (www.compsoc.eu) virtualizing microkernel, RTOS, and hardware architecture (multi-processor, network on chip, DRAM) will be used.

The candidate will be part of the CompSOC team. He or she should have a background in computer architecture, real-time performance analysis, and embedded software. The candidate will be supervised by prof.dr. Kees Goossens and dr. Dip Goswami. This project will be carried out in close cooperation with NXP Semiconductors.

1 PhD position in the DEWI project

PhD candidate PhD-DEWI will work in the Artemis DEWI (dependable embedded wireless infrastructure) project on the use of wireless communication technology for in-vehicle networks (IVN) in the automotive domain, instead of the current wired networks. Challenges to be investigated include real-time performance guarantees, reliability & dependability, and (automatic run-time) discovery & reconfigurability of wireless IVNs. The work will build on the CompSOC (www.compsoc.eu) virtualizing microkernel, RTOS, and hardware architecture (multi-processor, network on chip, DRAM).

The candidate will be part of the CompSOC team and should have a background covering at least some of computer/automotive architecture, real-time performance analysis, and (wireless) communication protocols. The candidate will be supervised by prof.dr. Kees Goossens and prof.dr.ir Twan Basten. This project will be carried out in close cooperation with NXP Semiconductors.

1 PhD position in the OpenES project

The OpenES project is concerned with designing embedded systems-on-chip (SOC) more efficiently. In particular, current SOC design flows describe the hardware components well, but do not explicitly describe or manage software running on hardware, or subsystems containing both hardware and software. PhD candidate PhD-OPENES will work on formally capturing how multiple applications run in their own virtualized (composable) execution platform. Multiple virtual platforms run concurrently on physical hardware (processors, network on chip, memories, etc.) and software (microkernel, RTOS, etc.). The real-time virtualized CompSOC (www.compsoc.eu) platform and tool chain will be used.

The candidate will be part of the CompSOC team and should have a background covering at least some of CAD / design flows, real-time performance analysis, and RTOS/microkernels. The candidate will be supervised by prof.dr. Kees Goossens and dr.ir Sander Stuijk.

Requirements

We are looking for excellent candidates who meet the following requirements. Candidates should have an MSc in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science or a similar relevant program. We are searching for candidates that have demonstrated excellent research skills, very good programming skills (in C and C++), that are highly motivated, and have good communication skills. You should be eager to push the state-of-the-art, and to show your research results with working demonstrators and publications in top conferences and journals.

Application procedure

Applications have to be submitted through the form available at http://jobs.tue.nl/en/job/8-phd-positions-in-cyberphysical-and-embedded-systems-175212.html. Please submit the following information (only pdf files are accepted):

1. Cover letter, including availability (starting date), statement of research interests, and the position(s) you apply for.
2. Curriculum vitae, including full education and employment histories, publication record, proof of proficiency in English, any teaching experience, and the names of at least three references that can be contacted.
3. Scans of certificates showing BSc, MSc, and other courses followed, with grades and rankings.
4. Up to two selected publications (e.g. MSc thesis) in English of which you are the first or main author.

The deadline for application is 5 January 2014.

What we offer

We offer a challenging job at a dynamic and ambitious university through a fixed-term appointment for the period of 4 years. The research during this period must be concluded with the attainment of a PhD degree. A salary is offered starting at Euro 2083 per month (gross) in the first year and increasing up to Euro 2664 per month (gross) in the last year. You will also receive excellent secondary benefits (annually holiday allowance and end of year allowance etc.). Assistance for finding accommodation can be given.

TU/e offers opportunities for personal development by developing your social and communication skills. We do this by offering every PhD student a series of courses as an excellent addition to your scientific education.

More information

For more information about the advertised positions you can contact:

Prof.dr.ir. Twan Basten: email a.a.basten@tue.nl, tel +31 40 247 5782

Prof.dr. Henk Corporaal: email h.corporaal@tue.nl, tel +31 40 247 5462

Dr.ir. Marc Geilen: email m.c.w.geilen@tue.nl, tel +31 40 247 3091

Prof.dr. Kees Goossens: email k.g.w.goossens@tue.nl, tel +31 40 247 3404

Dr. Dip Goswami: email d.goswami@tue.nl, tel +31 40 247 8242

Dr.ir. Sander Stuijk: email s.stuijk@tue.nl, tel +31 40 247 3387

Dr.ir. Jeroen Voeten: email: j.p.m.voeten@tue.nl, tel +31 40 247 3304