2023-04

3-years PhD position in the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Doctoral Network “GENIUS” on “Reconfigurable integrated circuits with glide symmetry for G- band radars”

Keywords: electromagnetics, meta-surfaces, radars, integrated circuits, numerical methods

Starting date: 1st November 2023
Supervisors: Francesca VIPIANA at POLITO (Thesis director) and Simon He at SINOWAVE Complete application details are available at https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/81696

Where to apply: genius.DC6@polito.it

Offer Description

A 3-years PhD position is available in the framework of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Doctoral Network (MSCA-DN) “GENIUS - Glide-symmetric mEtamaterials for iNnovative radIo-frequency commUnication and Sensing”, funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe Programme and by the UK Research and Innovation.

The research project will be done at Politecnico di Torino (POLITO), Italy, for 1.5 years and at SINOWAVE, Sweden, for 1.5 years. The candidate will be enrolled in the PhD programme of POLITO.
The doctoral candidate will conduct original research in the design of reconfigurable integrated circuits with glide symmetry for G-band radars. First, at POLITO, she/he will develop an integral-equation formulation exploiting glide symmetries for the electromagnetic modeling of the entire structure and will design a 150 GHz antenna composed of travelling-wave elements integrated by means of glide symmetric electromagnetic band gap structures to achieve high compactness. Then, at SINOWAVE, she/he will design of a beam forming network providing beam steering based on electrical/piezoelectrical reconfiguration and front-end modules with integrated transceivers. The whole designed system will be prototyped and measured at SINOWAVE.

GENIUS programme

Towards 6G telecommunication, IoT and various applications, higher data rates, better localization resolution, shared platforms among users and the development of autonomous vehicles are stimulating a revolution in technologies for communications and sensing. New antennas and components are required at millimeter waves, being wide-bandwidth, light-weight, low-cost. Unfortunately, existing technologies are currently very bulky, lossy, heavy, and expensive.

It has recently been discovered that electromagnetic waves propagating across metamaterials which exhibit glide symmetry possess marvelous properties (ultra-wide band propagation, strong isolation and high absorption features) capable to address the open challenges of modern RF systems. The GENIUS programme aims at providing doctoral candidates with excellent, multi-disciplinary scientific training ranging from metamaterial theory to advanced modelling methods and design of devices. We aim at helping the researchers to develop a critical thinking in a very wide range of sectors of innovation requiring mastering of novel radio-frequency systems and embedded electronics.

Benefits

The candidate will benefit of a salary approximately € 32,000 to € 55,000 per annum (depending on family status). She/he will conduct research in recognized international teams, will attend all the common training events of the Network (PhD schools, workshops, and convened sessions at international conferences) and will be in contact with the other five doctoral candidates of the network working on similar topics and with the other GENIUS partners.

Transferable-skill training will be provided both at POLITO and SINOWAVE as part of the doctoral programme.

Requirements:

• The applicant should have good knowledge of programming languages such as Python, C and Matlab.

• The applicant should have basic knowledge of commercial electromagnetic (EM) simulation software,

  e.g., CST or HFSS; knowledge of numerical methods for EM will be a plus.

• The applicant should have a very good knowledge of English (both written and oral).

• The applicant should be highly motivated, autonomous, and willing to collaborate with both academic

  and industrial partners.

Skills/Qualifications:

The applicant should have completed a Master program in Engineering or Physics with a good background in electromagnetic devices and theory at the date of the recruitment.

Place and research environment of the PhD program:

• • 1,5 year at Politecnico di Torino (Torino, Italy). The applicant will work at the Politecnico di Torino, Dept. of Electronics and Telecommunications with the Wavision research group that has an extensive experience in integral-equations EM software tools for the analysis of multi-scale geometrically- complex structures, EM analysis and modelling of glide periodic structures, and design, realization and testing of microwave imaging and sensing systems for medical and industrial applications.

  • 1,5 years at SINOWAVE (Gothenburg, Sweden). The applicant will work at SINOWAVE, Dept. of Research and Technology Development, whose expertise area is mm-wave and THz hardware and systems, and in particular the development of 100-200 GHz advanced antenna components for automotive and industrial sensing, with several collaborations with major technical companies to support high risk and pilot research activities.