Postgraduate Study Opportunities in ERG

The Electronics Research Group investigates the performance of packet radio links (e.g. mobile and satellite links used for Internet access). There are on-going research projects in digital video broadcast, optimisation of TCP, multicast communication, and the development of new Internet protocols. The group has an excellent record in both developing leading-edge solutions, standardisation. and publishing technical articles. The University of Aberdeen is among the UK's top research universities in the latest Research Assessment Exercise (RAE 2008) - a year long independent evaluation of the quality of research undertaken across Britain's universities. The University provides a set of web pages that describe the University or Aberdeen and why students should consider studying in Aberdeen's world-leading research environment.

Currently Available Postgraduate Projects

Short Term Research Appointment: Research Assistant/Internship/Exchange

Duration: 6 Months

The University of Aberdeen plans to advertise a new short-term full-time post in the School of Engineering. The post is created as a result of expansion of the research group. This position is ideally suited to a established researcher seeking an opportunity to work in a new and challenging environment. The successful applicant will work in the ERG laboratories in the School of Engineering

This position is linked to a European Space Agency research project. DVB-RCS is a key European standard for satellite broadband. It is defined and maintained by Digital Video Broadcast forum. Following approval by the DVB commercial module, the DVB technical module started development of a Next Generation RCS (RCS2) Specification in 2011 The first stage of standardisation, to be completed in mid 2010 will define new physical layer methods - primarily to increase flexibility and reduce costs. The project will define a Higher Layer Specification (HLS), including interaction with Internet QoS.Working with a postdoctoral fellow, the researcher will propose a suitable signaling scheme, seeking to harmonize the proposed solutions across different use cases.

Award

This position is a funded position to be appointed at the UK national rates for research assistants. The position is available to UK applicants or nationals of other EU states. The starting date and duration are to be confimed, prior to formal advertisement, but initial enquires are invited from Jun 2011.

The successful candidate will have a First Class Degree in Engineering or Computer Science. Applicants are expected to also possess or have completed a Master of Science (or equivalent) postgraduate degree/diploma in computer science or electronic engineering. She/He will be expected to have or gain skills in simulation and practical experimentation.

Rural Digital Economy Research Hub

The University of Aberdeen is inviting applications for a number of PhD studentships on offer as a result of the development of a new Rural Digital Economy Research Hub funded by the UK Research Councils. The Aberdeen Digital Economy Hub is one of three such centres in the UK. An award of 12.4 million pounds will fund a programme of research over the next five years, which will explore how digital technologies can be developed to enhance the delivery of crucial services such as healthcare and transport in rural areas across the UK. Around 60 research staff and students will be based in the Hub. Each student will be provided with office space in a dedicated environment within the Hub located in the King's College campus supported by the ERG laboratories and testbed facilities in the School of Engineering.

Topics of study include:

Universal broadband service. Universal service depends on advanced digital solutions to rural problems. This includes use of satellite technology for locations where last mile coverage can not be provided by urban fixed wireless or wired links. Key issues are how to integrate the traffic in a cost-effective manner, this implies understanding the expectations of different applications - ranging from multimedia streaming to voice-over-ip, web browsing to office applications and in the future software-download and data dissemination protocols. The initial work will be to design a simulation platform in ns2, implement relevant traffic models and then propose protocol extensions or new protocols for simulation, results will be validated using satellite trials.
Rearchitecting the Internet Transport Layer. Research to identify new approaches and transport mechanisms to improve the performance of TCP stacks for the Future Internet, including the use of path-cached information, and advanced congestion control methods. The initial work will be to design a simulation platform in ns2, implement relevant traffic models and then propose protocol extensions or new protocols for simulation, results may be validated by developing a linux tool.
Environmental Sensor Networks. Research to pioneer algorithms leading to deployment of a platform for environmental monitoring. The initial work will be to design a simulation platform in ns2, implement relevant protocols and then propose protocol extensions or new protocols and evaluate using simulation, the work needs to be closely coordinated with field trials and will include analysis using a live testbed.

Awards

Studentships were appointed in June 2011. Further research staff will be recuited as the project progresses.

The successful candidate will have a First Class Degree in Engineering or Computer Science, a Masters in a related topic or equivalent experience. She/He will be expected to have or gain skills in simulation and practical experimentation and be able to develop an understanding of technologies relating to the Future Internet.

Radio Resource Management for Next Generation Broadband Satellite

The University of Aberdeen is inviting applications for PhD study to support an existing programme of research. The work will use simulation tools, supported by the ERG laboratories and testbed facilities in the School of Engineering.

Research will analyse the impact of new methods and their applicability for both broadband Internet provision and support for emergent applications. This is expected to inform this standards activity and can then build upon the standards to define and analyse methods. This research support is crucial to evolving large-scale markets and assuring support across a breadth of applications. Topics of immediate concern are definition of advanced radio management techniques that can support higher-rate consumer systems, use of the Generic Stream Encapsulation to drive down operating cost, and to allow the network to be tailored to specific applications.

The work will focus on Layer 2 protocol design and be primarily simulation-based using ns2, although it is expected to be supported by practical experimentation to explore real system characteristics and to validate the results of the simulation. The student will work as a part of a team, with other team members working on higher layer protocols. The work will be assisted by a senior postdoctoral research fellow (supported by industry funding) leading work on developing a next generation simulation environment.

Award

Students are normally expected to meet their own costs. (Proposals for industrial funding are also in preparation and may be applicants may be elligible, please request deatails).

Finding out more and applying to study in the group

Interested applicants requiring additional information about the projects and positions should contact Prof. Gorry Fairhurst. Please include a CV and provide details of programming experience. Files should be sent as text files, PDF, or postscript.

All applications should be made via the University postgraduate admissions procedure, naming Prof. G. Fairhurst as the expected supervisor for the studies. All applicants for PhD study are expected to register initially for a MSc, and transfer to the PhD programme on proof of satisfactory progress.