Project context and researcher’s activities

The position is part of the collaborative project CO-HUMANICS funded by the Carl Zeiss Foundation in cooperation with other scientific groups at TU Ilmenau. The project investigates how co-presence of people can be improved by using AR technologies or telepresence via assistance robots. The main target group is seniors, with the aim of enabling social participation and being together with friends and relatives even in phases of limited mobility or temporarily insurmountable spatial distance. In the project, different versions of co-presence systems will be developed and evaluated by means of a user-centric design approach. Non-seniors will also be involved in the planned developments and tests. The results will thus be valid for a broad group of users.

In this collaborative project, the PhD student will address research questions related to the collection and analysis of metadata on the audiovisual technology used, on audio and video signals, their transmission and processing, as well as on the application context and usage environment (e.g. room acoustics, lighting). Furthermore, aspects of audiovisual perception and quality evaluation as well as user behavior will be investigated. The findings will be used to characterize and improve components of AR- and robot-based telepresence systems. The project results achieved by the candidate should form the basis for a PhD at TU Ilmenau. It is expected that the candidate will take over organizational and self-administrative tasks within the usual amounts.

Your profile

• University degree in one of the fields electrical engineering, information technology, sensor technology, computer science, or related fields such as media technology, neuroinformatics, computer linguistics or physics
  
• expertise in one or more of the following areas: Audio/video/multimedia technology, speech processing, telecommunications / network technology, digital signal processing, statistical analysis procedures, implementation / analysis of empirical studies
  
• good knowledge in at least one of the programming languages and tools: Python/C/C++/ MATLAB, Unity/Unreal, or similar
  
• knowledge in areas such as pattern recognition, machine learning, conversation analysis or modelling of perception and/or cognition is a plus
  
• interest in multidisciplinary research at the interface between technology and human perception
  
• very good communication skills, commitment, enthusiasm, independent working style as well as initiative and team spirit
  
• At least good proficiency in English, high proficiency in German (written and spoken)
  

Research group

The Audiovisual Technology Group of the Institute of Media Technology (IMT) is part of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology.