Research position to investigate mechanisms to ensure a policy defined by an orchestrator for IoT...

The Space Communications Research Group is investigating different research lines related to the deployment of satellite networks. In particular, the development of new communication protocols to integrate Internet of Things (IoT) technologies in satellite constellations has become one of the main research topics of the group. 

Narrowband-IoT (NB-IoT) is becoming one of the relevant IoT technologies that is being extended in different domains. Its application in satellite systems is currently being discussed. These systems can provide global coverage and ubiquitous services to terrestrial devices. One of the main challenges that needs to be tackled is the orchestration of a satellite constellation that provides this service. Satellite operations are commonly planned, and the tasks are executed following a proper schedule. This scheduling must be uploaded to the satellite which must respect it. 

This schedule can be defined because a policy has been defined. This policy must be aware of business, network and satellite perspectives. Therefore, integrating all these domains requires an investigation of how to satisfy these constraints. Additionally, satellite operations are deterministic, but in this case, novel sensors can manage to interact with the satellite. Therefore, it is important that once the policy is determined, the satellite must have a minimum autonomy level to determine what to do when those unexpected events appear.  

The candidate will investigate how to define and deploy this policy in this context. For this reason, the candidate shall review and understand current technologies that address this challenge, and extend it with novel approaches. The developed solutions will constitute an embedded framework or operative system to achieve this deployment.

As a summary, the tasks associated to this job are the following ones:

- Review the state of the art related to QoS in NB-IoT context, business approaches, and satellite resource constraints

- Investigate in novel technologies to apply autonomously QoS in satellites 

- Design and implement a software framework for those novel concepts

- Publish the research results in conferences and Q1/Q2 journals

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i2CAT Foundation is a non-profit research and innovation centre that promotes mission oriented R&D activities on advanced Internet architectures, applications and services. The centre stands for a new open innovation framework, fostering the collaboration between companies, public administration, the academic environment and end-users.

i2CAT’s activities span the areas of Research, playing a key role in the EU Framework Program for Research and Innovation; Strategic Projects, leading local initiatives that strengthen the digital policies of public administration, and Technology Transfer, fostering R&D collaboration with companies to develop innovative market-oriented solutions.

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