1 PhD scholarship in Navigation with UAVs in Belgium | DTU Space (National Space Institute)

DTU Space is seeking an applicant for a 3-year fully funded PhD position in navigation with UAVs.

Advanced lightweight UAVs hold tremendous potential for a wide range of civilian applications including surveying and environmental monitoring. The candidate will contribute to the development of a completely new type of mini UAV. An essential part of this is the implementation of precise position and attitude determination used for the navigation and data collection. The PhD position will be partly funded by the Smart UAV project (Danish National Advanced Technology Foundation) and will be a collaborative effort between DTU Space, DTU Environment and the private company Sky-Watch A/S.

Responsibilities and tasks

The successful candidate will have a background in electrical engineering or similar. The candidate will in cooperation with Sky-Watch develop and implement high precision position and attitude determination navigation algorithms to be used in the new lightweight UAV. This includes knowledge of Kalman filtering and inertial sensors and GPS integration. The candidate will also participate in the development of a new laser based distance sensor. Willingness to travel and work in an international environment as well as performing field work with the UAV is essential.

The candidate will be part of a team consisting of scientists from DTU Environment, DTU Space and Sky-Watch A/S.

Qualifications:

Candidates should have a master's degree in engineering or a similar degree with an academic level equivalent to the master's degree in engineering.

Approval and Enrolment

The scholarships for the PhD degree are subject to academic approval, and the candidates will be enrolled in one of the general degree programmes of DTU. For information about the general requirements for enrolment and the general planning of the scholarship studies, please see the DTU PhD Guide.

Assessment

The assessment of the applicants will be made by Professor Per Knudsen and scientist Jakob Jakobsen.

We offer

We offer an interesting and challenging job in an international environment focusing on education, research, public-sector consultancy and innovation, which contribute to enhancing the economy and improving social welfare. We strive for academic excellence, collegial respect and freedom tempered by responsibility. The Technical University of Denmark (DTU) is a leading technical university in northern Europe and benchmarks with the best universities in the world.

Salary and appointment terms

The salary and appointment terms are consistent with the current rules for PhD degree students. The period of employment is 3 years.

The starting salary (for a newly graduated MSc) is approximately DKK 29.000 gross (including approximately DKK 3.500 for pension contribution), or US$ 5,300, per month.