The following postgraduate scholarship opportunities to engage with industrial clients in postgraduate research are available.
The goal of the project is to help evaluate whether the increase in information obtained by deploying multiple sensors in a LP-WAN environment results in consistently easy-to-understand information that will inform and not confuse end-users. Results of this study will be discussed with end-users and is expected to be of publishable quality.
Technical supervisor (Wireless Research Centre) Dr Graeme Woodward.
Academic supervisor – TBD.
Background
Chaotic signals are broadband deterministic signals that are highly sensitive to initial conditions and parameter perturbations. These characteristics make them good carrier candidates for future secure communication systems.
Objectives
The project will involve development of the recently proposed chaos-based and chaotic communication systems in real time using existing development technologies. The ultimate goal of the project is to implement a chaos-based / chaotic transceiver which would be able to communicate wirelessly with its equivalent.
Tasks
The development technologies used may involve field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) coupled to analogue to digital converters (ADCs) / digital to analogue converters (DACs), Universal Software Radio Peripherals (USRPs), PCs or a combination of all these. The project would thus be most suitable for a passionate graduate hardware oriented electrical and electronic / computer systems engineering student with an existing knowledge of communications systems theory and hardware description languages such as VHDL or Verilog.
In addition to programmatic development challenges, a range of other technical challenges will be encountered during the development, such as channel equalisation and synchronisation. The project is thus very rewarding as an invaluable experience in the development of digital communication systems will be gained.
The initial stages of a similar project are in progress. Prospective students can get information on the general, non-confidential portions of it and see why this is an exciting opportunity for a talented student.
Prerequisites
The suitable candidate will have a background in Engineering, with strengths in maths and an interest in wireless technology or software engineering.
Stipend and duration
The student may receive a stipend of $20000 tax-free, with the course fees being the responsibility of the student. The duration of the project will be one year, and he/she will work mainly within and use facilities of the Wireless Research Centre. There may be some opportunity to work with the client at their site in Auckland.
Submission of applications
This opportunity will be open until filled. Applicants are required to submit the following documents by email to Graeme.Woodward@canterbury.ac.nz.
- Your current curriculum vitae.
- An A4 page typed statement about how your experience or interests relate to the chosen project(s).
- A reference from a supervisor or lecturer (or referee details).
- A copy of your current academic transcript.
Please ensure you include: Full legal name, postal address, email address, telephone/mobile number, programme, year of study and student number.
Terms
The University of Canterbury reserves the right to not award the stipend if a suitable candidate is not found.
Shortlisted applicants will be interviewed by the UC project supervisors, College of Engineering
Applicants must meet the University of Canterbury enrolment criteria for postgraduate study.
Stipend subject to successful contract agreement with the client, once a suitable candidate is identified.
Dr Richard Green, Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering.
Dr Graeme Woodward, Wireless Research Centre
Applicants are invited for the following Master’s Degree project within the University of Canterbury’s College of Engineering.
Background
The client, Scion, is a New Zealand Crown Research Institute (CRI) that specialises in research, science and technology development for the forestry, wood product and wood-derived materials and other biomaterial sectors. Scion is the trading name for New Zealand Forest Research Institute Limited.
Scion is currently investigating the advantages Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) technology can bring to the forest industry. This project is just one of many forestry applications where UAV technology will bring cost savings and efficiencies to the industry.
This project
When harvesting a forest, the area of cut trees is called the “cutover”. Currently, the geographic edge, and hence area, of cutover is not routinely measured. However, this information would be extremely useful in the following ways:
- The area of cut trees is directly related to the logging contractor’s remuneration.
- Log quality to land topography can be correlated if the original position of the cut tree is known.
- Topography of the land can be measured, for future planning purposes.
In stage one of this project (2015) a proof of concept sensor was built for this task. This project (stage two) will take the concept, and develop an industry ready prototype.
Objectives
This stage will continue the development of a UAV platform that can autonomously record the forest “cutover” geographic edge. The challenges will be:
- Automatically, with high reliability, detect the cutover edge using aerial sensors in a portable, embedded application.
- To perform the above with a variety of tree types, and tree density.
- To maintain a high degree of flight guidance safety and reliability.
Tasks
- Carry out a literature search on the parameters of IEEE802.11p.
- Gather information on the typical warehouse channel model.
- Create a propagation model of the warehouse environment.
- Perform simulation trials on various safety critical scenarios.
- Investigate the availability of hardware for real-world trials.
- Setup and perform representative communication trials in a warehouse.
- Deliver a thesis on this project.
Stipend and duration
The student will receive a stipend. The course fees will be the responsibility of the student. The duration of the project will be one year. The student will work within, and use facilities of the Spatial Engineering Research Centre.
Suitable experience
The following students would be appropriate for this project: Engineering graduates with a background in Computer Vision, Software engineering and/or mechatronics.
Submission of applications
Applicants are required to submit the following documents by email to Graeme Woodward, Research Lead, Spatial Engineering Research Centre.
- Your current curriculum vitae.
- An A4 page typed statement about how your experience or interests relate to the chosen project(s).
- A reference from a supervisor or lecturer (or referee details).
- A copy of your current academic transcript.
Please ensure you include: Full legal name, postal address, email address, telephone/mobile number, programme and year of study and student number.
Terms
- The University of Canterbury reserves the right to not award the stipend if a suitable candidate is not found.
- Short listed applicants will be interviewed by the UC project supervisors, College of Engineering.
- Applicants must meet the University of Canterbury enrolment criteria for postgraduate study.
- Stipend subject to a successful contract agreement with the client, once a suitable candidate is identified.
Background
The industrial sponsor of this project develops leading edge technology for their warehouse lift trucks, logistics equipment and provides infrastructure in the material handling industry. The warehouse is a challenging environment for wireless data communications, but the IEEE802.11p standard is seen to be a possible solution. The project will investigate the scalability of IEEE802.11p/WAVE wireless communications in a typical warehouse environment.
Objectives
This Master's projects aim to answer the question whether the IEEE 802.11p standard is suitable for an indoor environment, particularly in an industrial warehouse, for safety-critical communication. This involves creating a simulation model for 802.11p performance in a warehouse environment and carry out analysis of the performance of the system with various parameters. The focus will be placed on evaluations on the scalability and limitation of such system and to fine tune design parameters.
Tasks
- Carry out a literature search on the parameters of IEEE802.11p.
- Gather information on the typical warehouse channel model.
- Create a propagation model of the warehouse environment.
- Perform simulation trials on various safety critical scenarios.
- Investigate the availability of hardware for real-world trials.
- Setup and perform representative communication trials in a warehouse.
- Deliver a thesis on this project
Prerequisites
The suitable candidate will have a background in engineering, with interests in wireless technology, networking and/or computer science.
Stipend and duration
The student may receive a stipend tax-free, with the course fees being the responsibility of the student. The duration of the project will be one year, and he/she will work mainly within, and use facilities of the Wireless Research Centre. There may be some opportunity to work with the client at their site.
Submission of applications
This opportunity will be open until filled. Applicants are required to submit the following documents by email to Graeme Woodward.
- Your current curriculum vitae.
- Confirmation that you are a New Zealand resident or citizen (required for scholarship).
- An A4 page typed statement about how your experience or interests relate to the chosen project(s).
- A reference from a supervisor or lecturer (or referee details).
- A copy of your full tertiary academic transcript.
Please ensure you include: Full legal name, postal address, email address, telephone/mobile number, programme and year of study and student number.
Terms
- The University of Canterbury reserves the right to not award the stipend if a suitable candidate is not found.
- Shortlisted applicants will be interviewed by the UC project supervisors, College of Engineering.
- Applicants must meet the University of Canterbury enrolment criteria for postgraduate study.
- Stipend subject to a successful contract agreement with the client, once a suitable candidate is identified.
Supervised within the Wireless Research Centre and the Networks Research Group.
Background
The industrial sponsor of this project develops leading edge technology for their warehouse lift trucks, logistics equipment and provides infrastructure in the material handling industry. The warehouse is a challenging environment for wireless data communications, but the IEEE802.11p standard is seen to be a possible solution. The project will develop robust and novel routing algorithms across an ad-hoc network formed by a combination of static and mobile nodes to enhance network communication in a warehouse environment.
Objectives
As intelligent vehicles are more common in industrial settings, there is a need to improve communication in such environment. The IEEE 802.11p standard provides a framework for both vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication. However certain applications would require extra reliability requirements and the vehicle density cannot guarantee a fully connected network with all vehicles at all time. The goal of this project is to investigate novel routing algorithm that could enhance connectivity between smart industrial vehicles and overcome known limitations in such an environment.
Prerequisites
The suitable candidate will have a background in engineering, with interests in wireless technology, networking and/or computer science.
Stipend and duration
The student may receive a stipend tax-free (dependant on successful funding application), with the course fees being the responsibility of the student. The duration of the project will be three years, and he or she will work mainly within and use the facilities of the Wireless Research Centre. There may be some opportunity to work with the client at their site.
Submission of applications
This opportunity will be open until filled. Applicants are required to submit the following documents by email to Graeme Woodward.
- Your current curriculum vitae.
- Confirmation that you are a NZ resident or citizen (required for scholarship).
- An A4 page typed statement about how your experience or interests relate to the chosen project(s).
- A reference from a supervisor or lecturer (or referee details).
- A copy of your full tertiary academic transcript(s).
Please ensure you include: Full legal name, postal address, email address, telephone/mobile number, programme and year of study and student number.
Terms
- The University of Canterbury reserves the right to not award the stipend if a suitable candidate is not found.
- Shortlisted applicants will be interviewed by the UC project supervisors, College of Engineering.
- Applicants must meet the University of Canterbury enrolment criteria for postgraduate study.
- Stipend subject to a successful contract agreement with the client, once a suitable candidate is identified.
Supervised within the Spatial Engineering Research Centre and the Department of Software Engineering and Computer Science.
Background
Many steel structures, such as bridges, pylons, towers, oil rigs platforms, require frequency inspections. Performing these with human inspectors or manned aircraft involves high risk and system shutdown time.
Objectives
To develop a guidance system for a UAV to keep a safe distance from the structure whilst collecting inspection image data. The ability to perform these tasks in adverse weather will enable more frequent and lower cost inspections.
Tasks
- Carry out a literature search on existing and previous work in this area.
- Gather information on applicable sensors currently available.
- Create a HIL simulation model for sensor/ flight controller.
- Perform simulation trials on various safety critical scenarios.
- Build a proof of concept prototype for demonstration in at least one scenario.
- Carry out trials on a structure.
- Deliver a thesis on this project.
Prerequisites
The suitable candidate will have a background in engineering, with interests in sensor technology, computer vision and/or computer science.
Stipend and duration
The student may receive a stipend tax-free, with the course fees being the responsibility of the student. The duration of the project will be one year, and he/she will work mainly within, and use, facilities of the Spatial Engineering Research Centre. There may be some opportunity to work with the client at their site.
Submission of applications
This opportunity will be open until filled. Applicants are required to submit the following documents by email to Graeme Woodward.
- Your current curriculum vitae.
- Confirmation that you are a New Zealand resident or citizen (required for scholarship).
- An A4 page typed statement about how your experience or interests relate to the chosen project(s).
- A reference from a supervisor or lecturer (or referee details).
- A copy of your full tertiary academic transcript.
Please ensure you include: full legal name, postal address, email address, telephone/mobile number, programme and year of study and student number.
Terms
- The University of Canterbury reserves the right to not award the stipend if a suitable candidate is not found.
- Shortlisted applicants will be interviewed by the UC project supervisors, College of Engineering.
- Applicants must meet the University of Canterbury enrolment criteria for postgraduate study.
- Stipend subject to a successful contract agreement with the client, once a suitable candidate is identified.
Antarctic supervisor: Wolfgang Rack (Gateway Antarctica)
Technology supervisor: Graeme Woodward (SERC)
Academic supervisor: TBC
Applicants are invited for the following PhD Degree project within the University of Canterbury’s College of Science.
Background
Climate warming will soon begin to erode Antarctic sea ice as it has done in the Arctic, therefore the reliable determination of sea ice thickness is urgently needed. Sea ice thickness is the critical factor in controlling heat exchange between ocean and atmosphere. Unfortunately, available satellite-based estimates of sea ice thickness around Antarctica are confounded by the dual challenges of thick snow on the ice surface, and ice sheet-driven accumulations of tiny ice crystals at the base of the sea ice. We will overcome both these challenges and reliably extract sea ice thickness in complex Antarctic conditions by convolving new electromagnetic remote sensing and radar techniques, with observed in situ drivers of sea ice growth and decay.
Objectives
The current methods to measure sea ice are satellite remote sensing or helicopter-borne Electro-Magnetic (EM) field instruments flown at a low level. Space-based measurements have insufficient accuracy to measure freeboard heights, and helicopter operations are limited by weather and low flying height safety concerns. This project will investigate methods to design and build an EM instrument suitable for integration into an Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) capable of being flown on long-range missions in the Arctic and Antarctic. Ideally, the same platform will be capable of carrying an instrument to simultaneously measure snow depth.
Task
- To investigate the requirements for an autonomous UAS airborne instrument to measure sea ice thickness and snow depth.
- Design and build a prototype EM instrument suitable for integration into a UAS airframe.
- Design, build or procure a suitable airframe for the EM instrument, possibly including snow radar.
- To carry out field trials of the flying instrument over representative surfaces, such as Antarctic sea ice.
Prerequisites
The suitable candidate will have a background in Physics or Engineering, with strengths and interests in avionic engineering, mechatronics or electromagnetics in physics.
Scholarships and duration
A candidate with excellent grades may be eligible for a UC doctoral scholarship to meet enrolment fees and living expenses. We will assist strong candidates in applying for this scholarship. See the Scholarships at UC page.
The duration of the project will be three years, and the student will work mainly within, and use facilities of the Spatial Engineering Research Centre. There will be an opportunity to work with Gateway Antarctica and may be required to attend subsequent trials in the Antarctic.
Submission of applications
This opportunity will be open until filled, but the preferred start date is February 2016.
Applicants are required to submit the following documents by email to Graeme Woodward, Research lead, Spatial Engineering Research Centre.
- Your current curriculum vitae.
- An A4 page typed statement about how your experience or interests relate to the chosen project.
- A reference from a supervisor or lecturer (or referee details).
- A copy of your current academic grades transcript.
Please ensure you include: Full legal name, postal address, email address, telephone/mobile number, programme and year of study and student number.
Terms
- The University of Canterbury reserves the right to not award the stipend if a suitable candidate is not found.
- Shortlisted applicants will be interviewed by the UC project supervisors, College of Science
- Applicants must meet the University of Canterbury enrolment criteria for postgraduate study.
- Stipend subject to a successful contract agreement with the client, once a suitable candidate is identified.
