Fully Funded Siemens Mobility and UKRI PhD Scholarship: Geographic Test Data Generation in the Railway Domain

Funding providers: Siemens Mobility and UKRI

Subject areas: Computer Science 

Project start date: 

• 1 July 2024 (Enrolment open from mid-June)

Project description: 

This will be a PhD project done in Collaboration with our Industrial Partner, Siemens Mobility.

Modern Railway Systems operate from accurate geographical maps called scheme plans. They contain the topology of the tracks, positions of signalling equipment, and conceptual constructs such as train routes, and may have thousands of elements. Due to the large quantity of possible data permutations, manual testing of the scheme plan data preparation system is a laborious process. To avoid that we aim at an alternative approach, via the automated generation of test data. These will be constructed following the European Train Control System(ETCS) standards involving significant domain knowledge to interpret the requirements. Coverage metrics will be added to understand how well a set of test data exercises the requirements. 

There are various approaches to solve this problem: 1) Via SMT solving or Constraint Solving, or 2) via AI/Optimization. [SMT solvers/constraint solvers are state-of-the-art Symbolic AI tools for verifying computer programs and are applied in Industry as part of quality assurance processes. The use of optimization techniques is an alternative and also quite promising in this context.] 

Interested candidates should have a strong interest/background in either Formal Methods/Mathematically derived techniques, or in Software Engineering/Testing, or in Artificial Intelligence.

Eligibility

Candidates must hold a UK bachelor’s degree with a minimum of Upper Second Class honours or overseas bachelor’s degree deemed equivalent to UK honours (by UK ECCTIS) and achieved a grade equivalent to UK Upper Second Class honours in Computer Science, Mathematics or a closely related discipline, or an appropriate master’s degree with a minimum overall grade at ‘Merit’ (or Non-UK equivalent as defined by Swansea University). If you are eligible to apply for the scholarship but do not hold a UK degree, you can check our comparison entry requirements. Please note that you may need to provide evidence of your English Language proficiency. 

Due to funding restrictions, this scholarship is open to applicants eligible to pay tuition fees at the UK rate only, as defined by UKCISA regulations.

Funding Details

Additional Funding Information

This scholarship covers the full cost of UK tuition fees and an annual stipend at UKRI rate (currently £18,662 for 2023/24).

Additional research expenses will also be available.