Master Thesis on Autonomous Control of a Quadcopter, using onboard sensors - Device Technologie i Stockholm

Background
Ericsson Research is looking for Master Thesis candidates with enthusiasm and skill, to be part in our current Device Technology Research. Robots, sensors, machines, cameras, screens, tactile interfaces, wearable’s – all devices with embedded computing and interface capabilities of a varying kind will be fundemental for the future of connectivity.

Research within the area of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) is a continuously expanding field due to their wide and diverse range of applications such as surveillance, transportation, aerial imaging, agriculture and entertainment. However, their current usage highly relies on either a skilled human operator or on highly accurate external positioning systems when operated autonomously, such a GPS or motion tracking systems. In the future, quadrotors are expected to be self-sufficient and autonomous and it is therefore desired that it mainly relies on onboard sensor information for positioning and navigation.

Assignment

The objective of the thesis is to investigate the autonomous control of a quadcopter using onboard sensors. The quadcopter is composed of inertial sensors, an optical flow sensor and an RGB camera. During the thesis project, an algorithm to fuse the multiple sensor information to estimate the quadcopter’s position should be designed and implemented in the quadcopter’s onboard processor. The quadcopter should be able to hover and also track defined positions. The thesis will be performed at our offices in Kista, Stockholm.

The student is strongly encouraged to propose methods and innovative solutions to achieve the desired results. The developed methods are expected to be implemented in quadcopters available in our lab. We encourage a maker attitude and the applicant will belong to a group of highly skilled and talented researchers working in the areas of future device concepts, and software/hardware related research topics.

Deliverables
Deliverables expected at the end of the thesis project include clearly documented working code, a final thesis report, and a live demonstration - presentation of the final implementation and outcome to an Ericsson audience. Note that these are in addition to your university thesis requirements.

Qualifications
As a person you want to perform at your best and you want to participate in deep technical discussions with other team members. You believe that disruptive innovation happen in the intersection of different technology areas. We are looking for a self-motivated and creative student with the following qualifications;

• Master student in the area of Electrical, Mechanical or Mechatronics Engineering, Engineering Physics, or similar
• Experience in sensor fusion
• Experience in automatic control, robotics and computer vision
• Experience with embedded programming
• Excellent analytical skills
• Hands-on programming experience, preferably in C/C++ and Python
• Ability to work independently

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Primary country and city: Sweden (SE) || || Stockholm || Stud&YP

Req ID: 250862