[alife] PhD Studentship in Surrey (UK) in collaboration with the European Space Agency

[Claudio Iacopino]

One PhD position is available in Surrey at the Surrey Space Centre of the
University of Surrey (UK),

Context
This project builds upon an already established collaboration between the
University of Surrey, Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) and the
European Space Agency (ESA) where a ground-based automated planning &
scheduling system for the imaging campaign of an Earth Observation
constellation has been built.  Multi agent systems represented a fruitful
approach to model this dynamic context. The novelty of this project was to
apply Ant Colony Optimisation techniques to achieve optimisation and
coordination in the constellation planning. This mechanism offers
high-level of adaptability and scalability. The project used mathematical
models of non-linear dynamical systems to model the self-organising
long-term system’s behaviours. Finally, the system developed has been
applied to the ESA GENSO (Global Educational Network for Satellite
Operations) network and to the SSTL Disaster Monitoring Constellation.

Project Title
Application of Dynamical Systems Theory to Multi Objective Automated Space
Mission Planning based on Ant Colony approach

Project Description
The work proposed here represents the natural step forward. The innovation
of this project regards three main research directions:

   - Multi-Objective Optimisation. The P&S problem can be treated as pareto
   problem, ie. separate optimisation of objectives to find a set of
   pareto-optimal solutions (which might have conflicting objective goals).
   This is becoming a key requirement for goal-oriented planning because
   extends the way how the objectives can be defined and it could greatly
   improve the operators’ evaluation of the solutions generated.
   - Dynamical System Theory. The model previously developed can be
   extended in a number of directions: the problem representation affects the
   range of applications of the planning system; the ACO techniques
   implemented affects its performance.
   - Hybrid architecture. This research should explore the benefits of
   hybrid architecture where deliberative agents are set to regulate the
   collective behaviours expressed by the self-organising multi agent system.
   This could extend the capabilities and the reliability of the overall
   system.

Requirements

   - The PhD last 3 years.
   - The applicant will be based in Surrey at the university. He can spend
   periods abroad up to 1 year, in general he should spend 6 months in ESOC
   but it's not mandatory.
   - The supervisor will be Prof Phil Palmer, head of the group of
   Astrodynamics at the Surrey Space Centre. Alessandro Donati and Nicola
   Policella will be his tutor at the European Space Operation Centre (ESOC)
   of Darmstadt (Germany) and Claudio Iacopino will be his tutor at the Surrey
   Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL)
   - Applicants should hold a good honours undergraduate or Masters degree
   in computer science or a closely related discipline such as mathematics.
   - Applicants should have a background in artificial intelligence or
   advanced computer technologies, ideally automated planning and scheduling
   and an understanding/experience of the Space Operations/ Earth Observation
   field.
   - Applicants' nationality has to be ones of the member states of
   the European Space Agency

Funding: The applicant will receive full funding for tuition fee,
international travels and a salary for 3 years.

Deadline: Until filled.

Start date: 1st October 2014- 1st January 2015