PhD Studentship: Sensing and Sampling Drone for Water Quality Monitoring (2018)

What you get

£14,777 tax free stipend plus UK/EU fees waiver.

Type of award

PhD

PhD project

Autonomous and semi-autonomous quadcopters are being used in various applications of our daily lives, and new applications and developments are constantly achieved by research and innovation.

The success of such systems is achieved by the integration of new technology from various disciplines which include mechatronic systems, communications, embedded systems and computing, image and information processing, amongst others.

A particular motivation to research and develop innovative mobile robotic systems is to facilitate activities carried out by humans in difficult, hazardous, or dangerous areas; and quadcopters have proven to be an excellent example to explore and perform tasks under such circumstances.

The aim of this project is to explore the capability of an autonomous or semi-autonomous drone for sensing and sampling water quality.

In particular, this will be achieved through the development of an innovative sensing and sampling system for water quality measurements that can be implemented in a drone. The drone will be capable to detect water via image processing, and to navigate over water while sensing and sampling.

The system will be able to detect changes in the water environment such as pH level, nutrients, contaminants, temperature, etc. so that it can assist applications such as aquaculture, drinking water, aquatic habitats, etc. which have great impact in socio-economical activities.

This project will adopt embedded systems, mechatronic systems, image and information processing, and communication technologies to build a sensing and sampling system suitable for implementation on a drone.

This project is one of a number ear-marked for funding by the University of Sussex Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Doctoral Training Partnership to commence in September 2018.

This project is in direct competition with others for funding; the projects which receive the best applicants will be awarded the funding.

Eligibility

To be eligible, you need to:

• have an excellent academic record and should have received or be expected to receive a relevant first or upper-second class honours degree
• be a UK or EU student who has been ordinarily resident in the UK for the previous three years. If you're an EU student and you don't meet this criteria, you will only be eligible for a fee waiver. 

You can apply if you:

• have a Mechatronics or Robotics engineering background (highly desired)
• are a Mechanical Engineers with confident programming skills, or Electrical/Electronic Engineers with confident mechanical engineering skills.

If you are an overseas (non-EU) student, you are not eligible to apply for EPSRC funding, but you can apply if you have access to other sources of funding.

Deadline

30 June 2018 0:00

How to apply

You need to apply for a PhD in Informatics via the University of Sussex postgraduate application system.

When you apply, you should include a brief statement of your scientific interests and skills/experience for the mandatory "research proposal" section, including how they relate to this project (maximum two pages).

You should also indicate Dr Luis Ponce Cuspinera as your preferred advisor and clearly state the title of the studentship in the finance section.

Contact us

For enquires about the project contact Dr Luis Ponce Cuspinera L.Ponce-Cuspinera@sussex.ac.uk

Timetable

The deadline is 02/03/2018.