Research Associate (Postdoc) in road and rail communications

The University of Luxembourg is an international research university with a distinctly multilingual and interdisciplinary character. The University was founded in 2003 and counts more than 6,700 students and more than 2,000 employees from around the world. The University’s faculties and interdisciplinary centres focus on research in the areas of Computer Science and ICT Security, Materials Science, European and International Law, Finance and Financial Innovation, Education, Contemporary and Digital History. In addition, the University focuses on cross-disciplinary research in the areas of Data Modelling and Simulation as well as Health and System Biomedicine. Times Higher Education ranks the University of Luxembourg #3 worldwide for its “international outlook,” #20 in the Young University Ranking 2021 and among the top 250 universities worldwide.

The Faculty of Science, Technology and Medicine (FSTM) contributes multidisciplinary expertise in the fields of Mathematics, Physics, Engineering, Computer Science, Life Sciences and Medicine. Through its dual mission of teaching and research, the FSTM seeks to generate and disseminate knowledge and train new generations of responsible citizens, inorder to better understand, explain and advance society and environment we live in.

The Postdoc will be a member of SECAN-Lab, headed by Prof. Dr. Thomas Engel. SECAN-Lab conducts internationally competitive fundamental and applied research in computer networking, privacy, and security, namely in the areas of privacy by distribution, network and system security, SCADA and cyber security, IoT, vehicular communication and multimodal traffic management, and wireless networks and mobile security.

Your Role...

You will conduct research in the scope of two projects:

• CANDI, ajoint project of the University of Luxembourg, EURECOM, and LIST. The objective of CANDI (Cellular Ad hoc Networking for Decentralized IoT Architectures) is to develop the foundations of cellular ad hoc networking as a support for next generation distributed applications that require direct communication between devices in proximity of each other over multiple hops. Examples of such applications are public safety (i.e., disaster scenarios when the cellular infrastructure is unavailable), railway virtual coupling (i.e., platoons of trains), smart factories and farming, and others. To achieve this, the CANDI project will leverage wireless ad hoc networking concepts with recent 5G cellular innovations proposing multi-hop device-to-device communications. It will investigate cooperative resource allocation mechanisms, as well as joint relaying & scheduling approaches to enable multi-hop communication for next-generation decentralized cellular networks
• SETICA, ajoint project of the University of Luxembourg, and Honda R&D. As of today, in-vehicle communication systems have been designed to allow for very stringent end-to-end delays and deterministic communication requirements. However, they are inflexible, will hardly be able to provide the bandwidth needs of future cars, and offer little security. Contrary to conventional in-vehicle communication systems, Ethernet is flexible and offers high bandwidth. While Time Sensitive Networking (TSN) can guarantee tight end-to-end delays, and MACsec can provide security, there is no profile that consolidates these properties. Developing such an automotive TSN profile, which includes answering challenging research questions and thorough evaluation, is of the essence for future cars in terms of safety and security as well as comfort. The importance of this has been acknowledged by the IEEE which started working on such a profile (802.1DG)

Your tasks:

• Specify the functional and non-functional system requirements of the CANDI use case
• Implement security controls on a physical TSN-enabled Automotive Testbed for the SETICA project
• Oversee communicating with all project stakeholders
• Turn findings into publications of scientific papers in top peer-reviewed international journals and conferences like ACM SIGCOMM, IEEE ICC, IEEE GLOBECOM, IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing, etc.
• Writing or helping to write new project proposals

All tasks will be carried out in close cooperation with the project partners EURECOM and LIST.

What we expect from you…

• A PhD degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related discipline
• A background in Networking and Communication Technologies
• Evidence of high-quality research documented by good publications
• Strong knowledge of 5G radio technologies:
  • 5G system architecture and protocol stack
  • 5G operation modes (e.g., 5G NR V2X Modes 1 and 2)
  • Analytical modelling
• Good understanding of the scheduling and allocation of network radio resources
• Very good written and spoken English skills; proficiency in French or German is a plus

In Short...

• Contract Type: 1 - 2 years depending on start date (extension possible)
• Start date: As soon as possible
• Work Hours: Full Time 40.0 Heures par Semaine
• Location: Belval
• Job Reference: UOL05404

The yearly gross salary for every Postdoctoral Researcher at the UL is EUR 79095 full time

How to apply...

Applications should include:

• Cover letter
• Curriculum Vitae
• List of publications
• Contact information of two references

Early application is highly encouraged, as the applications will be processed upon reception. Please apply ONLINE formally through the HR system. Applications by email will not be considered.

The University of Luxembourg embraces inclusion and diversity as key values. We are fully committed to removing any discriminatory barrier related to gender, and not only, in recruitment and career progression of our staff.

In return you will get…

• Multilingual and international character. Modern institution with a personal atmosphere. Staff coming from 90 countries. Member of the “University of the Greater Region” (UniGR). 
• A modern and dynamic university. High-quality equipment. Close ties to the business world and to the Luxembourg labour market. A unique urban site with excellent infrastructure.
• A partner for society and industry. Cooperation with European institutions, innovative companies, the Financial Centre and with numerous non-academic partners such as ministries, local governments, associations, NGOs …
• Find out more about the University
• Addresses, maps & routes to the various sites of the University

Further information...

For further questions please contact: thomas.engel@uni.lu