PhD Position Exploiting mmWave Radars and Machine Learning to Design Privacy-Aware Monitoring Systems

Your research goal will be to create a system that monitors a given area but in a privacy-preserving manner (without using cameras).
Monitoring is central to the efficient and safe operation of smart homes, buildings, and cities. For example, monitoring systems may need to report an intruder breaking into a house or request help for an elder person living alone that has fallen.
The challenge is that most monitoring systems rely on cameras and citizens are becoming increasingly concerned about their abuse by governments or corporations.
Together with a leading Dutch company, Signify, we aim at investigating monitoring platforms that cannot provide personalized information even if they are hacked.
Our work will use sensors such as mmWave radars that provide limited information to maintain privacy. This limited information will be combined with deep learning techniques to identify events of interest.
To achieve our goal, the research work will focus at the intersection of deep learning and embedded systems. We want to develop a system that is accurate but works with limited computational and energy resources.
The PhD research will include a holistic approach, including the design of the embedded system, the optimization of the machine learning models and the connection with the edge and cloud services.
This position is a joint collaboration with Signify, a leading Dutch company formerly known Philips Lighting. During the PhD, the candidate will spend around 80% of the time in Delft and the remaining time in Eindhoven where Signify is located.

Requirements:

The applicant should have a Master Degree in Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Computer Science, or a closely related field. A solid knowledge of embedded systems and/or deep learning is required.
The position demands a strong background to build new prototypes and perform experimental work. The successful applicant should have good English language proficiency and a team player personality.
Prior knowledge on mmWave radars is a plus but not required.
Doing a PhD at TU Delft requires English proficiency at a certain level to ensure that the candidate is able to communicate and interact well, participate in English-taught Doctoral Education courses, and write scientific articles and a final thesis. For more details please check the Graduate Schools Admission Requirements.

Salary Benefits:

Doctoral candidates will be offered a 4-year period of employment in principle, but in the form of 2 employment contracts. An initial 1,5 year contract with an official go/no go progress assessment within 15 months. Followed by an additional contract for the remaining 2,5 years assuming everything goes well and performance requirements are met.
Salary and benefits are in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities, increasing from € 2.872,- per month in the first year to € 3.670,- in the fourth year. As a PhD candidate you will be enrolled in the TU Delft Graduate School. The TU Delft Graduate School provides an inspiring research environment with an excellent team of supervisors, academic staff and a mentor. The Doctoral Education Programme is aimed at developing your transferable, discipline-related and research skills.
The TU Delft offers a customisable compensation package, discounts on health insurance, and a monthly work costs contribution. Flexible work schedules can be arranged.
For international applicants, TU Delft has the Coming to Delft Service. This service provides information for new international employees to help you prepare the relocation and to settle in the Netherlands. The Coming to Delft Service offers a Dual Career Programme for partners and they organise events to expand your (social) network.

36 - 40 hours per week

Mekelweg 2