Assistant/Associate Prof in Control & Orchestration of Complex Optical Networks

Emerging future (computing) networks will be required to integrate the increasing demand for bandwidth with the need to provide low latency access to advanced computation modalities. The network can be based on any variant of connected devices and computing nodes. From traditional optical and wireless nodes to 6G-mobile computing nodes, quantum internet, internet of molecules and/or Internet of mixed realities.

We foresee a need to build specific knowledge in network control and orchestration and more specifically to support the growing disparity between the different modes of communication and compute. The position can grow to support on one hand quantum communication networks and on the other hand free-space optics (FSO) and 6G wireless network paradigms. A holistic approach is needed, covering the entire layer stack from higher layers to the network and transmission link optimization at the physical layer - exploiting state of the art machine learning and neuromorphic approaches. On the compute side we see trends towards networks of disaggregated computing nodes and optical accelerators (computing, non van Neuman) required for new applications such as digital twin, mobile edge computing node for 6G, high performance computing, machine learning training networks, etc.

The fast pace of developments and the exponential growth in bandwidth needs, requires continuous research effort into supporting future solutions. As we continue to grow as a research group, we are in search of new talent to strengthen the group.

The Electro-Optical Communications group
The electro-optical communications (ECO) group in the faculty of electrical engineering has been leading the scientific and applied research into the use of light for communication systems for the past 40 years, in the Netherlands, Europe and the world. With deep connection with industry and academia around the globe, the ECO group offers new members an opportunity to become the next leaders in optical communications research. The core competence of the ECO staff members is making the link between different technologies and different requirements being raised by the industry. We apply the knowledge gained by collaborators and other scientists in the TU/e and more recently in the Eindhoven Hendrik Casimir Institute (EHCI) to develop the required solution for many of the most burning problems in communication. For that sake, the group includes expertise spanning the fundamentals of photonic integrated circuits (PICs) design and manufacturing to the higher layers of communication networks including quantum communication networks.

The ECO group is housed in the FLUX building on the TU/e Campus overlooking a state-of-the-art cleanroom and supported by more than 300m2 of labs for conducting experimental work. With 11 tenured scientists and as many as 70 PhD and postDocs the ECO group is a vibrant and exciting research group perfectly suited to embed talented and ambitious scientists. In this video you can get a short glimpse at the kind of research activities carried out in our group through short interviews with past students.