Main supervisor profile and contact: Prof. Josep Vidal <josep.vidal@upc.edu>

Institution: Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya

Description of the job: The Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (Barcelona, Spain) is seeking a highly motivated and qualified Early Stage Researcher (ESR) to join the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network on future wireless connected industry. The ESR will be hosted by the SPCOM research group of UPC.

The candidate will develop technologies to enable simultaneous of 5G-and-beyond mixed services (ultra-reliable low latency communications (URLLC), massive machine-type communications (mMTC) and enhanced mobile broadband communications (eMBB)) in an Industry 4.0 environment, like bounded latency AR/VR devices and low-rate IoT devices. In addition to the conventiona dense access points deployments, we contemplate its coexistance with controlable reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS) and massive distributed antennas. Network slicing facilitates a cost-effective deployment and operation of multiple logical networks over a common physical network infrastructure so that each network best serves the needs of specific applications. In an industrial scenario, mobility, interference, the propagating conditions and the different traffic types generate uncertainty that has to be taken into consideration in the allocation of the shared radio resources to different slices. The approach adopted will account for: 1) The development of mathematical models describing uncertainties in propagation scenarios (channel state, interference, traffic dynamics, etc.) and of the traffic leading to an accurate evaluation of outage coverage, latency, capacity and packet loss. 2) The use of optimization and machine learning-based strategies in the dynamic optimization of resources based on grant-based/grant-free/NOMA protocols. 3) The characterisation of trade-offs in slicing eMMB, mMTC and URLLC traffic, in unicast and multicast modes and derivation of procedures to manage slices in a dynamic, robust and energy-efficient way, ensuring pre-defined outage, coverage, reliability and bitrate performance for mixed services. 4) Addressing critical mobility scenarios and propose dual active protocol stack with AI-based predictive solutions to considerably reduce interruption times and radio link failures.

Mission: Duties and responsibilities of the ESR are: 1) To undertake postgraduate research in the evolution of 5G towards the design of dynamical strategies for private radiocommunications networks in industrial scenarios. 2) To work closely with the academic supervisors towards the goal of 5GSmartFact. 3) Present and publish research in both academic and non-academic audiences. 4) To actively attend and participate in the training programme (courses and workshops) as well as the supervisory meetings. 5) To actively participate in dissemination, public engagement and outreach activities of 5GSmartFact. 6) To contribute to the generation of patents and knowledge generation as derived from the research activities. 7) To contribute and attend the public engagement and outreach activities of the Project (public talks, open days), 8) To prepare progress reports and similar documents on research as requested by the UE.

Main functions: 1) To achieve a comprehensive understanding of coverage/latency/reliability limits allowing to develop an optimization framework that enable mixed nature wireless services in relevant industrial scenarios with multiple user devices (user terminals, robots and sensors). 2) To assess uncertainty in channel state information including RIS during the secondment in Siradel using hybrid (ray-tracing and stochastic) models, and then assembling/adjusting simulation bricks to create a “factory scenario”. 3) To evaluate in a simulation environment in Nokia the technologies developed, and obtaining appropriate key performance indicators. 4) To disseminate results in 5G standardisation and in world-class conferences and journals. 5) Travel and work across Europe in the frame of the 5GSmartFact project activities. 6) The candidate is expected to pursue a PhD, to that end he/she will follow the training activities of 5GSmartFact and enrol in a PhD programme.

Secondments: The ESR will also enjoy two secondments of 8 months in Siradel (Rennes, France) supervised by Yoann Corre, and 10 months in Nokia (Aalborg, Denmark) supervised by Dr. Klaus Pedersen.

Doctoral programme: The ESR will be enrolled in the UPC Doctoral programme on Signal Theory and Communications.

Requirements of the candidate

• Education level: Master on Electrical Engineering

• Degree/speciality: Telecommunications, Wireless communications

• Language skills: Excellent level in oral, read and written English, including presentation skills

• Research experience: Research experience in wireless communication systems will be valued

• Other skills: 1) Good mathematical skills, 2) Background in 3GPP technologies, 3) Analytical and logical thinking, 4) Proficiency in Python, Matlab programming, 5) Optimization and Machine Learning, 6) Team-work in a research environment, 7) Communication abilities and proactivity, 8) Organisational skills, ability to manage computation and information systems

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