Supervisors: Gregor Tanner, Stephen Creagh (School of Mathematical Sciences, Nottingham) and David Thomas, (Electrical Engineering, Nottingham)

This opportunity for PhD research is offered as part of a Nottingham-led consortium to develop theoretical and computational methods to model wireless communications between chips while taking explicit account of the particular physical environment of the devices involved. The consortium, which involves researchers at universities in Nottingham, Nice, Toulouse and Munich, along with a number of private companies, has received substantial funding from the EU Horizon 2020 programme to pursue this research. This three-year Phd project is fully funded as part of that project and will provide excellent opportunities for travel, career development, and interdisciplinary research.

The aim of the wider project is to develop computational tools and measurement techniques that will ultimately be used in software packages to model chip-to-chip wireless communication and to develop design strategies for chip architectures. This PhD project will contribute by developing computational and theoretical methods to propagate EM fields within enclosures, while taking account of the fact that the sources are typically noisy and statistically characterised. The main focus will be to develop propagators for correlation functions, which characterise the average properties of the wave field when compared at two nearby points. The methods used will involve Green function techniques, numerical approaches to wave propagation, and, where possible, short-wavelength approximation related to ray tracing. In the ray-tracing picture, an important theoretical aspect will be to use phase space ideas and to exploit techniques developed in dynamical systems theory to efficiently propagate bundles of rays. Some of the ideas used have origins in the treatment of quantum-mechanical waves (such as the “Wigner function” approach to treating wave propagation using rays or classical trajectories), although a background in quantum mechanics is not necessary if the candidate has a good foundation in mathematical approaches to wave propagation problems.

The graduate programmes at the School of Mathematical Sciences provide a variety of appropriate training courses. We require an enthusiastic graduate with a 1st class degree in Mathematics, Physics, Electrical Engineering or a related discipline, preferably of the MMath/MSc level, ideally with good programming skills and willing to work as a part of an interdisciplinary team. A candidate with a solid background in mathematical methods for wave propagation will have an advantage. The studentship provides an annual stipend of £13,863 and full payment of Home/EU Tuition Fees and will cover three years of study. The studentship has a start date of October 1, 2015.

Informal enquiries should be addressed to Dr. Gregor Tanner email: gregor.tanner@nottingham.ac.uk

To apply, please access: my.nottingham.ac.uk/pgapps/welcome. Please ensure you quote ref: SCI/1457. This studentship is open until filled. Early application is strongly encouraged.