PhD Position F/M Latency-Constrained Communications for Multi-Tier Computation
Contract type : Fixed-term contract
Level of qualifications required : Graduate degree or equivalent
Fonction : PhD Position
About the research centre or Inria department
The Inria research centre in Lyon is the 9th Inria research centre, formally created in January 2022. It brings together approximately 300 people in 16 research teams and research support services.
Its staff are distributed at this stage on 2 campuses: in Villeurbanne La Doua (Centre / INSA Lyon / UCBL) on the one hand, and Lyon Gerland (ENS de Lyon) on the other.
The Lyon centre is active in the fields of software, distributed and high-performance computing, embedded systems, quantum computing and privacy in the digital world, but also in digital health and computational biology.
Context
This PhD position will be funded by the ANR JCJC project "Tailoring Communications in Multi-Tier Computation for Digital Twinned Process Control" commencing in late 2024 and carried out within the Inria MARACAS team. MARACAS is a research group consisting of approximately 15 people within Inria and INSA Lyon, this includes 6 PhD students, 2 postdocs, and 2 research engineers. The focus of MARACAS is in the theory, algorithms, and experimentation for communication systems, developing and applying methods in information theory, statistical signal processing and machine learning.
The PhD position will complement on-going projects on goal-oriented communications and learning currently being carried out within MARACAS. International collaborations are envisaged, involving researchers at UCLouvain, Czech Technical University in Prague, or the University of California Santa Barbara. National and international research visits and conference attendance are also envisaged with travel expenses covered by the project.
Assignment
The PhD position will be supervised by Dr Malcolm Egan (https://malcolmalexegan.wordpress.com/), a tenured researcher in the MARACAS team in Inria Lyon. The position will focus on the design of communication systems (including resource allocation, coding), in the context of large-scale multiple access subject to strict latency constraints. This work will support communication by large-scale networks of sensors to reliably communicate in order to support digital-twin based networked control systems, and interact with other research in the project aiming to guarantee efficiency of learning and control.
More generally, the work in the PhD position will address the on-going challenge of massive ultra-reliable and low latency communications (URLLC) for mobile wireless communication networks. This challenge has not been resolved in 5G and is expected to be a key component of future 6G systems.
The work in the PhD position will primarily draw on tools from signal processing, machine learning, and information theory. As such, the candidate will develop expertise in future mobile communication systems (e.g., 6G), as well as knowledge of modern control systems, and ability to work with state-of-the-art methods in signal processing, machine learning, and information theory. Under the supervision of Dr Malcolm Egan, the candidate will be responsible for the development and evaluation of protocols and algorithms from both numerical simulations and theoretical analysis.
Main activities
The main activities of the candidate will be:
- Develop protocols and algorithms for massive URLLC, based on requirements for digital-twin based multi-tier computation in control systems.
- Perform numerical simulations and theoretical analysis to characterize the performance of the protocols.
- Collaborate with project members to develop requirements for communication, compression, and learning to support control systems.
- Collaborate with project members to develop simulation tools for a system level understanding of latency-constrained multi-tier computation in the context of control systems.
- Participate in conferences and research visits with international collaborators.
Benefits package
- Subsidized meals
- Partial reimbursement of public transport costs
- Leave: 7 weeks of annual leave + 10 extra days off due to RTT (statutory reduction in working hours) + possibility of exceptional leave (sick children, moving home, etc.)
- Possibility of teleworking (90 days / year) and flexible organization of working hours
- Professional equipment available (videoconferencing, loan of computer equipment, etc.)
- Social, cultural and sports events and activities
- Access to vocational training
- Complementary health insurance under conditions
Remuneration
1st and 2nd year: 2 100 euros gross salary /month
3rd year: 2 190 euros gross salary / month
General Information
- Theme/Domain :
Networks and Telecommunications
System & Networks (BAP E) - Town/city : Villeurbanne
- Inria Center : Centre Inria de Lyon
- Starting date : 2025-01-01
- Duration of contract : 3 years
- Deadline to apply : 2024-10-09
Warning : you must enter your e-mail address in order to save your application to Inria. Applications must be submitted online on the Inria website. Processing of applications sent from other channels is not guaranteed.
Instruction to apply
Applications must be submitted online on the Inria website.
Processing of applications sent by other channels is not guaranteed.
Defence Security :
This position is likely to be situated in a restricted area (ZRR), as defined in Decree No. 2011-1425 relating to the protection of national scientific and technical potential (PPST).Authorisation to enter an area is granted by the director of the unit, following a favourable Ministerial decision, as defined in the decree of 3 July 2012 relating to the PPST. An unfavourable Ministerial decision in respect of a position situated in a ZRR would result in the cancellation of the appointment.
Recruitment Policy :
As part of its diversity policy, all Inria positions are accessible to people with disabilities.
Contacts
- Inria Team : MARACAS
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PhD Supervisor :
Egan Malcolm / malcom.egan@inria.fr
The keys to success
The candidate will have a background in electrical engineering, computer science, or applied mathematics with coursework or projects involving communications, signal processing, or machine learning. A background in control systems is also appreciated, but not necessary. The candidate should also have experience in scientific programming (e.g., in python).
It is expected that the candidate has the ability to communicate effectively in English, both in written and oral form.
About Inria
Inria is the French national research institute dedicated to digital science and technology. It employs 2,600 people. Its 200 agile project teams, generally run jointly with academic partners, include more than 3,500 scientists and engineers working to meet the challenges of digital technology, often at the interface with other disciplines. The Institute also employs numerous talents in over forty different professions. 900 research support staff contribute to the preparation and development of scientific and entrepreneurial projects that have a worldwide impact.