Internal Research Fellow (PostDoc) in Onboard Data Handling for Cognitive Cloud Computing in Space

Reporting to the Head of the Explore Office in the ESA Φ-lab, you will work in close cooperation with other staff in the Directorate of Earth Observation Programmes, as well as staff in the Avionics and EEE Division within the Directorate of Technology, Engineering and Quality. You may also collaborate with scientists and engineers in other divisions of ESA. You will be part of the ESA Φ-lab. Our mission is to accelerate the future of Earth Observation (EO) by embracing disruptive innovation and serve as the catalyst for disruptive and transformative innovation in the sector. Our vision is to become an EO innovation hub, connecting EO with a growing ecosystem of disruptive and transformative innovation, including AI, machine learning, quantum computing, edge computing, metamaterials, and photonics. Many of the challenges posed by new technologies need to be tackled at scientific, application and capability levels to deliver the maximum value from satellite-derived EO assets for our climate, society, and economy. The Φ-lab will bring together early career and senior researchers from a variety of disciplines across EO and disruptive/transformative innovation to contribute to the development of innovative EO solutions. We offer a stimulating multinational, interdisciplinary and open work environment, access to high-performance computing infrastructure and unparalleled EO and technology expertise, a unique opportunity to work on innovative solutions to address global challenges, freedom and focus to conduct creative research while making an impact in relation to ESA’s strategy, and a wide network of relationships and collaboration with top academia, industry, and research centres. As an internal research fellow within the Φ-lab, you will invest your time mainly in the agreed research topics, but will also provide support to the Φ-lab’s industrial and internal activities, mentor members of our research network and engage in outreach activities, all generally but not exclusively related to your research topic. The research activity aims to build efficient data handling processing chains for EO 3CS missions, with a focus on hardware and architectural elements and prototyping. In particular, it will analyse 3CS-enabled novel mission paradigms and observation strategies, derive their main requirements, and investigate the design of the most efficient data processing chains and the most suitable hardware elements. Moreover, it will investigate potential advantages brought about by the use of innovative computing paradigms in the implementation of such processing chains.