PhD in Modelling Environment

Are you passionate about developing novel research and keen to shape the future of energy transfer technologies in the area of distributed Radio Frequency (RF) sensing and drone detection? We are recruiting a motivated PhD candidate to undertake an exciting project within the EPSRC Energy Transfer Technologies Doctoral Training Hub. As a student of the Hub, you will receive an enhanced stipend of £24,780 per year, plus additional funds of £7,000 a year for travel, conferences and research equipment. This project is co- funded by QinetiQ./nDrones represent a key challenge for modern radar systems. They are very difficult to detect due to their small size, low flight profile and slow speed. This project investigates how to improve drone detection and localisation performance using radar systems./nThis can be achieved by improving the detection performance of individual sensors and by employing a cooperative network of sensors which is optimally placed to improve the overall defence performance of a distributed counter-drone capability./nThe use of a multistatic radar network can potentially provide a significant improvement in performance. Multistatic radar deployments, which produce several bistatic angles, can aid increasing the signal to noise ratio (SNR), increasing drone detectability and increasing the ability to accurately track and classify them. This also helps to observe different angular realisations of the multipath and clutter and to measure multiple angular-dependent target Doppler contributions, decreasing the likelihood of the target to fall within the stationary clutter returns and in the shadow of complex structures./nWe will investigate the use of multistatic radars against low observable threats and develop signal processing methods and a modelling environment, aided by unique hardware-in-the loop, to assess the detection and estimation algorithm performance and determine optimal multistatic configurations and target search strategies./nThe Doctoral Hub specialises in developing research and training the next generation of leaders in energy transfer technologies for defence and related sectors. The successful candidate will be based at [university] and throughout their PhD will benefit from the support and expertise of our diverse academic community, a community of students working towards similar goals, as well as our specialist industrial network./nThe Centre for Defence Engineering and Physical Science at Cranfield University is a world-leading centre for research, education and consultancy on a diverse range of specialities in electronic and digital attack and protection. Located at the Defence Academy in Shrivenham, the Centre’s capabilities are widely respected within the defence and security sector, serving an extensive range of students, clients and organisations.