2 PhD Scholarships, University of Bristol, UK (2017)

1) PhD Scholarship: Multidrone active perception for AV shooting

Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Bristol, United Kingdom

Details: £14,296 - £18,000 (tax free), depending on student qualifications
Duration: 3 years
Eligibility: UK/EU applicants only
Start Date: 1 January 2017

PhD Topic Background/Description: This is an exciting opportunity to conduct PhD research in the area of multiple drone computer vision (active perception) for audiovisual (AV) shooting, notably of sports events. The studentship is funded by the Horizon 2020 project MULTIDRONE: MULTIple DRONE platform for media production.

At the moment, research on using multiple drones for AV shooting is at a very early stage, with many key issues still open. As a PhD project, possible research topics include, but not limited to:

- Visual world mapping (pre-production semantic world modelling, on-line updating of the semantic world model, sparse/dense 3D world modelling, incremental/approximate semantic 3D world modelling) to be used in multiple drone localization for visual target tracking and, possibly, in 3D scene visualization.

- Multiple drone localization and visual target tracking for intelligent AV shooting: multidrone (re)localization/SLAM, visual target recognition/tracking/localization, fusion of different tracking information sources (e.g., GPS, visual) towards satisfying multiple drone AV shooting needs and cinematography intelligence requirements.

- Multiple drone visual information analysis (to support target detection/tracking and updating the semantic world map, e.g. with obstacle/crowd information).

The project will require a mix of theoretical and programming skills. You will specify, research, implement, evaluate the developed multiple drone SW algorithms and software and integrate/test them on the multidrone platform. You will liaise with MULTIDRONE partners for integration and testing. You will attend regular (weekly) research team meetings at the University of Bristol (UoB).

You will join UoB Visual Information Lab (VI-Lab), a large research group with long-standing track record on computer vision and a variety of other areas, supported by Bristol Robotics Lab. This will provide you with access to world-leading laboratory facilities state-of-the-art computing equipment and unique software capabilities.

You will be expected to support the activities of the VI-Lab, including contributing to the supervision of MSc Research Students, to contribute to project deliverables and reports, to write research papers on the outcomes of your research and be able to present your research at international conferences and project meetings.

Further Particulars: The quality of research at the University of Bristol places it within the top five Universities in the UK based on the Research Excellence Framework and Times higher Education rankings 2014-15. The PhD candidate will be a part of a friendly and diverse community, with the Bristol Doctoral College (BDC) as the focal central coordinating facility. Alongside the specialist training the candidate will receive in PhD-specific topics, the BDC offers approximately 200 courses, interactive workshops and seminars as a part of the University’s Personal and Professional Development Programme for PGR students. The BDC organises University-wide events and provides a hub of information, guidance and resources to help researchers to get the most of their time at Bristol.

How to apply: Please make an online application for this project at http://www.bris.ac.uk/pg-howtoapply. Please select on the Programme Choice page and enter details of the studentship when prompted in the Funding and Research Details sections of the form with the name of the supervisor Prof. Ioannis Pitas. Before/after on-line application, please also send your CV by email to Prof. Ioannis Pitas, ioannis.pitas@bristol.ac.uk

Candidate requirements: Degree holders (or about to complete) in electrical/electronic engineering, computer science, mathematics, physics, other engineering, or similar numerate discipline will be considered for a studentship. The project requires knowledge and skills in software development (primarily C/C++ or other OOP languages) and interest in research and development of computer vision and image processing methods.

Funding: Scholarship covers full UK/EU (EU applicants who have been resident in Europe for 3 years prior to application) PhD tuition fees and a tax-free stipend in the range £14,296-£18,000, depending on qualifications. Funding is for 36 months (available only during project execution).

Contacts: For informal enquiries please email Prof. Ioannis Pitas, ioannis.pitas@bristol.ac.uk For general enquiries, please email gsen-pgrs@bristol.ac.uk

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2) PhD Scholarship: Multiple drone audiovisual (AV) shooting and cinematography intelligence

Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Bristol, United Kingdom

Details £14,296 - £18,000 (tax-free) depending on student qualifications
Duration 24 months though funding may be extended up to 27 months
Eligibility: Home/EU applicants only
Earliest PhD start date: 1 January 2017
Latest PhD start date: 1 October 2017

PhD Topic Background/Description: This is an exciting opportunity to conduct PhD research in the area of multiple drone audiovisual (AV) shooting, drone cinematography intelligence and multidrone visual information analysis, notably for shooting sports events. The studentship is funded by the Horizon 2020 project MULTIDRONE (MULTIple DRONE platform for media production).

At the moment, research on using multiple drones for AV shooting is at a very early stage, with many key issues still open. As a PhD project, possible research topics include, but not limited to:

a) Creation of a taxonomy of shot types for various scenarios, including novel techniques for shot composition, specific to multidrone applications.

b) Determination of the optimal shooting parameters (position/viewpoint, orientation, relative motion between platforms, camera parameters etc.) for a range of typical and new shot types.

c) Analysis of the quality of the shot data and determination of associated tolerances on the optimum parameters in (a).

d) Novel path planning and camera control techniques to ensure the ability of the drone team to follow prescribed cinematographic shooting rules and, e.g., avoid entering into each other’s principal camera field-of-view, in conjunction with target tracking.

e) Post-production and evaluation of the resulting video content from actual drone flights.

The project will require a mix of theoretical and programming skills. You will specify, research, implement, evaluate the developed multidrone SW algorithms and software and integrate/test them on the multidrone platform. You will liaise with Multidrone partners for integration and testing. You will attend regular (weekly) research team meetings at the University of Bristol (UoB).

You will join UoB Visual Information Lab (VI-Lab), a large research group with long-standing track record on computer vision and a variety of other areas, supported by Bristol Robotics Lab. This will provide you with access to world-leading laboratory facilities state-of-the-art computing equipment and unique software capabilities.

You will be expected to support the activities of the VI-Lab, including contributing to the supervision of MSc Research Students, to contribute to project deliverables and reports, to write research papers on the outcomes of your research and be able to present your research at international conferences and project meetings.

Further Particulars: The quality of research at the University of Bristol places it within the top five Universities in the UK based on the Research Excellence Framework and Times higher Education rankings 2014-15. The PhD candidate will be a part of a friendly and diverse community, with the Bristol Doctoral College (BDC) as the focal central coordinating facility. Alongside the specialist training the candidate will receive in PhD-specific topics, the BDC offers approximately 200 courses, interactive workshops and seminars as a part of the University’s Personal and Professional Development Programme for PGR students. The BDC organises University-wide events and provides a hub of information, guidance and resources to help researchers to get the most of their time at Bristol.

How to apply: Please make an online application for this project at http://www.bris.ac.uk/pg-howtoapply. Please select on the Programme Choice page and ensure that in the Funding section you tick “I would like to be considered for a funding award from the Electrical and Electronic Engineering Department” and specify the title of the scholarship in the “other” box below with the name of the supervisor, Prof Ioannis Pitas. Before/after on-line application, please also send your CV by email to Prof. Ioannis Pitas, ioannis.pitas@bristol.ac.uk

Candidate requirements: Degree holders (or about to complete) in electrical/electronic engineering, computer science, mathematics, physics, other engineering, or similar numerate discipline will be considered for a studentship. The project requires knowledge and skills in software development (primarily C/C++ or other OOP languages) and interest in the research and development of computer vision and image processing methods.

Funding: Scholarship covers full UK/EU (EU applicants who have been resident in Europe for 3 years prior to application) PhD tuition fees and a tax-free stipend in the range £14,296-£18,000, depending on qualifications. Funding is for 24 months (starting on 1/10/2017). It may extend up to 27 months. Funding is only available for this period. The successful applicant’s PhD registration will last for 3 years, however, with a further year for writing up. Applicants must be prepared to cover the cost of their tuition fees and living costs for the third year.

Contacts: For informal enquiries please email Prof. Ioannis Pitas, ioannis.pitas@bristol.ac.uk For general enquiries, please email gsen-pgrs@bristol.ac.uk