We offer the following research topic

Thesis - Smart Monitors exploiting differential video sensors & neuromorphic computing 

Master Thesis

Increased automation in automotive mobility is one of the grand challenges of our society. The goal is to drastically reduce road fatalities (vision zero), while increasing efficiency and productivity. SAE J3016 defines steps towards highly automated and autonomous vehicles (HAV). However, beyond level 3 this turns out to become tough.  Several challenges of engineering safe and secure highly automated vehicles have been identified (arXiv:2103.03544), and approaches to overcome those have been suggested. Monitoring represents an important element. Smart monitoring components can provide reliable information about the status of a vehicle’s safety, reliability and security. This includes continuous monitoring, if the vehicle observes its safety clearance, abides applicable traffic rules, etc. 
In this master thesis (done in collaboration with an ongoing HorizonEurope research project), a new approach based on event-based  Dynamic Vision Sensors (DVS) and neuromorphic computing shall be analyzed. Based on simulators and HW prototypes from research partners, a prototypical  smart sensor shall be implemented, and validated regarding energy consumption, accuracy and robustness. 
 

YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES:

• State of the art analysis of approaches to perform ML on DVS streams
• Select a model, then fine-tune it if required for a typical automotive scenario
• alternatively: build a simple own model by applying multi-stage learning using an existing perception system as feature extractor
• Port model to run on neuromorphic computing system (or simulator) 
• Evaluation in typical driving scenarios on AVL's proving ground
   

YOUR PROFILE:

• Ongoing studies in the fields of Computer Science, Telematics, Physics, Electrical Engineering
• Good programming skills in Python 
• Good knowledge in data management and ML model development
• Good knowledge of German and English
• For this thesis is your presence at our headquarter in Graz required!
   

WE OFFER:

• You can write your thesis independently and receive professional guidance and support from our experienced employees.
• You will have the opportunity to exchange ideas with experts in the company and benefit from their expertise.
• Take the opportunity to immerse yourself in the world of AVL and embed your theoretical knowledge in a practical environment.

The successful completion of the thesis is remunerated with a one-time fee of EUR €3,500.00 before tax.

You don't want to write your final thesis just for the books, then explore the mobility of the future together with us! Maybe you will be a part of it soon!

At AVL, we foster and celebrate diversity: We recognize that diverse ways of thinking are required to achieve our vision of a greener, safer, and better world of mobility. Different backgrounds, attitudes, interests, and experiences make us successful. As Equal Opportunity Employer we consider all qualified applicants without regard to ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation or disability status.