Postgraduate Studentships
Proposed Project Title: Physiological and Biomechanical State Recovery from the Received Signal Strength in Sports Applications
Principal Supervisor: Dr Simon Cotton

Project Description:

Understanding how the human body interacts with the wireless channel will be vital for the successful development of communications systems. Nowhere will this be more important than in future sports applications where wireless devices will be positioned on or in close proximity to the human body.

Due to the highly dynamic nature of most sports, physiological and biomechanical movements of the body will be expected to have a significant effect on the characteristics of the received signal. In this program of study novel signal processing techniques will developed to recover known physiological and biomechanical states from measurements of the received signal strength for athletes and team sports applications. This will then lead to development of ‘player state’ detection algorithms which could be used within commercial sports location and tracking systems.

This project will investigate the fusion of sports applications and wireless technology. It will provide the student with exposure to cutting edge processing techniques for signal detection. It will be very beneficial to someone considering a career in the sports technology domain, signal processing for wireless communications or academia/research.

Objectives:

The main objectives of this research are:

• To investigate emerging wireless technologies for sports applications.
• Develop an experimental test bed to enable measurements of the received signal strength for a number of known physiological and biomechanical states in athletics and multi-player sports.
• Investigate signal processing techniques for detecting known traits from the experimental data, where applicable propose new techniques.
• Develop algorithms using MATLAB to estimate a sports player’s current state. 
• To disseminate research findings at top national and international conferences, and publish in leading IET/IEEE journals.

Academic Requirements:

A minimum 2.1 honours degree or equivalent in Electrical and Electronic Engineering or relevant degree is required.

GENERAL INFORMATION

This 3 year PhD studentship, potentially funded by the Department for Employment and Learning (DEL), commences on 1 October 2015.

Eligibility for both fees and maintenance (£13,863 in 2014/15, 2015/16 TBC) depends on the applicants being either an ordinary UK resident or those EU residents who have lived permanently in the UK for the 3 years immediately preceding the start of the studentship. Non UK residents who hold EU residency may also apply but if successful may receive fees only.

Please note: DEL awards are available for Home and EU candidates only.

Applicants should apply electronically through the Queen’s online application portal at:
https://dap.qub.ac.uk/portal/

Further information available at:
http://www.qub.ac.uk/schools/eeecs/StudyattheSchool/PhDProgrammes/

Contact details:

Supervisor Name: Dr Simon Cotton                                         

QUB Address:

01/54 ECIT
The Institute of Electronics, Communications and IT (ECIT)
Queen’s University Belfast
NI Science Park
Queen’s Road
Queen’s Island
Belfast
BT3 9DT

Tel: 028 9097 1749
Email: simon.cotton<στο>qub.ac.uk
Web: http://www.eeecs.qub.ac.uk/wcl/

Deadline for submission of applications is 27 February 2015

For further information on Research Area click on link below:
www.eeecs.qub.ac.uk/wcl/