PhD in AI Computer Vision for Drone-based Inspection of Offshore Wind Turbines

Job Description

The PhD candidate will work within an international research project ADVISOR in cooperation with industrial partners from Netherlands, Denmark and South Korea. The general goal of the project is to automate inspection of offshore wind mill platforms by deployment of multi-modal sensors, seaborne/airborne drones and advanced AI-based data analysis. The PhD candidate will perform research for potential deployment of results in industrial products of Demcon, Avular and Sorama.

The goal of the PhD candidate is to research and develop efficient algorithms for multi-modal sensor data fusion for three purposes: a) detection of defects and structural deformations of wind turbines, b) obtaining situational awareness for the seaborne drone navigation and c) automated landing of UAV onto the seaborne drone. The following sensor types will be used for data acquisition: acoustic array, visual camera, radar and LiDAR. The data collection, experiments and validation of the system will be performed in the offshore wind platforms in North Sea near the Netherlands. The most challenging target for the research is the detection of defects and anomalies in wind turbines using very limited training datasets.

Job Requirements

For this project, a candidate with MSc degree in Electrical or Computer Engineering will be selected and hired as a PhD in the Signal Processing Systems/VCA group for a 4-years period. The candidate should have strong background knowledge in image processing domain, machine learning and have good programming skills. More specifically, the candidates should have experience in AI models for anomaly detection and multi-modal data fusion. Experience in the development of algorithms for autonomous localization and navigation (SLAM) algorithms is highly desired. Knowledge of deep learning algorithms is a prerequisite. Due to the sensitive nature of the project, candidates from China and Iran cannot be considered. Candidates should be excellent in academic writing, should have good communication skills and should be able to cooperate in a multidisciplinary team.

Conditions of Employment

• A meaningful job in a dynamic and ambitious university, in an interdisciplinary setting and within an international network. You will work on a beautiful, green campus within walking distance of the central train station. In addition, we offer you: 
• Full-time employment for four years, with an intermediate assessment after nine months. You will spend a minimum of 10% of your four-year employment on teaching tasks, with a maximum of 15% per year of your employment. 
• Salary and benefits (such as a pension scheme, paid pregnancy and maternity leave, partially paid parental leave) in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities, scale P (min. € 2,901 max. € 3,707).  
• A year-end bonus of 8.3% and annual vacation pay of 8%. 
• High-quality training programs and other support to grow into a self-aware, autonomous scientific researcher. At TU/e we challenge you to take charge of your own learning process. 
• An excellent technical infrastructure, on-campus children's day care and sports facilities.  
• An allowance for commuting, working from home and internet costs. 
• A Staff Immigration Team and a tax compensation scheme (the 30% facility) for international candidates. 

Information

The PhD student will be working in the Video Coding Architecture group (http://vca.ele.tue.nl ) in the Department of Electrical Engineering at TU/e. The Department of Electrical Engineering is one of the nine departments of the Eindhoven University of Technology and provides BSc and MSc programs in Electrical Engineering. The department has nine research groups and has research collaborations with other departments at the Eindhoven University of Technology as well as with a large number of other universities and companies, both within The Netherlands and internationally. The Electrical Engineering  faculty has approximately 300 employees and 1,000 students. 

Do you recognize yourself in this profile and would you like to know more? Please contact the hiring manager, dr.ir. Egor Bondarev (e.bondarev@tue.nl).

Visit our website for more information about the application process or the conditions of employment. You can also contact HR Services, HRServices.flux@tue.nl.

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Application

We invite you to submit a complete application by using the apply button. The application should include a:

• Cover letter in which you describe your motivation and qualifications for the position.
• Curriculum vitae, including a list of your publications and the contact information of three references.

We look forward to receiving your application and will screen it as soon as possible. The vacancy will remain open until the position is filled.