Master Thesis “Evaluation of Radio Technologies for Mobile Autonomous Robots: Coverage, Performance, and Localization”

CENTER FOR VISION, AUTOMATION & CONTROL

As Austria's largest research and technology organization for applied research, AIT is dedicated to making substantial contributions to solving the major challenges of our time, climate change and digitalization.

The Center for Vision, Automation & Control located in Vienna invites applications for a master’s thesis position. VAC develops intelligent solutions in computer vision, robotics and control and works closely with industrial and academic partners to bring cutting-edge algorithms onto real machines and into real environments.

As part of the Competence Unit Assistive & Autonomous Systems, AIT researches safe and dependable autonomous systems and mobile work machines for challenging outdoor and industrial scenarios, focusing on robust perception, localization, planning and monitoring technologies.

Your tasks

• Dive into the state of the art in radio technologies for large outdoor environments, focusing on solutions such as LoRa/LoRaWAN, Wi-Fi / Wi-Fi HaLow, private 5G / campus networks, UWB and mesh-based approaches.
• Derive system requirements from a representative large-scale outdoor robotics scenario: area size, typical link distances, number and type of nodes, required data rates, latency bounds, availability and robustness needs.
• Analyze and model coverage and capacity of selected radio technologies, comparing coverage range per node, infrastructure density, achievable throughput and latency, device energy consumption and scalability for different deployment concepts.
• Investigate coarse localization capabilities of radio technologies as a fallback in case of GNSS degradation or loss, for example using RSSI-based methods, time-difference-of-arrival or other multilateration approaches, and assess achievable accuracy.
• Study how radio-based information can support dead reckoning, analyzing to what extent translation and rotation can be inferred or stabilized from communication infrastructure.
• Develop simulation or analytical evaluation scenarios, for example in Python, to compare different radio technologies and configurations, perform sensitivity analyses and visualize trade-offs between coverage, localization quality, infrastructure effort and energy use.
• Work as part of an experienced research team and receive close mentorship from scientists in robotics, wireless communication and localization.

Your qualifications as an Ingenious Partner

• Ongoing master’s studies in Telecommunications, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Robotics, Mechatronics, or a related technical field.
• Solid coding skills in Python; experience with simulation or modelling tools, for example for wireless systems or network analysis, is an advantage.
• Basic understanding of wireless communication principles, link budgets, propagation, latency and basic networking, and/or strong motivation to acquire this knowledge.
• Interest in autonomous systems, mobile robotics, wireless networks and localization.
• Analytical mindset with enjoyment of conceptual work, modelling and quantitative comparison of alternatives.
• Ability to work both independently and as part of a team.
• Good command of English, spoken and written.

What to expect

• Duration of the master’s thesis: 6 months.
• Start date: as soon as possible.
• The opportunity to kick-start your scientific career in an applied research environment, work on highly relevant questions at the interface of robotics and wireless communication and contribute to the design of future communication and localization architectures for autonomous mobile work machines.
• EUR 1.005,06 gross per month for 20 hours per week based on the collective agreement.
• Additional company benefits.
• As a research institution, AIT is experienced in supervising master’s theses and will support you throughout the project, from definition of the topic to scientific writing, publication and presentation.

At AIT, an inclusive and family-friendly working environment promotes equal opportunities and actively strengthens diversity across the workforce and in leadership positions. Applications from female applicants are particularly welcome.

Please submit complete application documents online, consisting of CV, cover letter, relevant certificates and documents, as well as proof of identity.