Courtesy of some industry demand, we're looking to offer a fully funded PhD scholarship for someone interested in developing machine vision solutions for UAV navigation.
The 'we' in this case would be the University of Canterbury, in Christchurch, New Zealand. Specifically, the UAV Research Group in the Dept of Mechanical Engineering.
Guess what we're looking for is someone with a Bachelors or Masters degree in engineering, computer science, or something suitably technical sounding. Preferably someone with a strong background in computer vision, or who can otherwise convince us that they are right for the job. And someone who is interested in being at the forefront of developing UAS technologies for real-world industrial applications.
That's probably enough to convey the general idea; if anyone wants more information, comment or something and I'll get you the details of the people you'll want to speak to...
Comments
I wish programs like this existed when I did my Ph.D. Looks like a good opportunity.
Ok, rather than replying to everyone individually, I'll try to give a bit more information here:
The project will, I believe, be funded via MSI (or TIF, or FRST, or whatever the NZ Ministry for Science and Innovation have rebranded themselves as by the time I finish typing this post); so I guess you would be looking at a NZ$30,000pa tax-free stipend, plus the cost of your course fees. There may be residency requirements, I guess, you'd need to discuss that with the higher-ups.
The work would be performed through some kind of collaboration between the Dept of Mechanical Engineering, the Dept of Computer Science, NZi3 (the 'National ICT Innovation Institute', basically the go-between between the uni and high-technology industries) and the company who are sponsoring the project.
The broad strokes of the project itself is that we want to develop a UAV for some industrial inspection work, and this person will be responsible for developing a system which uses vision technologies to localize the vehicle in relation to the infrastructure being inspected, with accuracy on the order of centimeters, over distances on the order of metres? There can also be a bunch of secondary things to look towards, such as simultaneous environment sensing and condition analysis of the infrastructure, but reliable real-time localization is the critical bit.
Relevant links:
University Website
Dept of Mechanical Engineering
Dept of Computer Science
National ICT Innovation Institute
Wikipedia Entry: University of Canterbury
Wikipedia Entry: Christchurch, NZ
That's about as much information as I can really give at this point; if you are interested in finding out more, then the person you want to contact is Richard Green:
Richard.Green@canterbury.ac.nz
Could I get more information?