M/F Postdoc : Performance evaluation of GNSS-free LoRaWAN-based tracking systems

Job Description

Missions

The adoption of positioning systems to locate people, animals, and objects is beneficial to the development of many applications, including food tracking, geofencing, targeted advertising, and traffic congestion management. Herein, the most known and exploited method for geo localization is the Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). A GNSS-enabled device collects the position and timing signals sent by some dedicated satellites in direct radio visibility, and it uses such an information to compute its own relative position on the Earth. Then, the computed position can be disclosed to any tracking application through any communication technology. However, listening to the radio for incoming GNSS signals can quickly deplete the energy stored in the feeding batteries. For this reason, the application scope is limited. For instance, Alzheimer patients or pets could not be reliably monitored: once the battery is discharged, localizing them would not be possible anymore. Remarkably, a significant research interest has been raised by the need of a localization infrastructure able to guarantee energy efficient communications (e.g., when radio transceivers of tracked devices are fed by batteries that must last for years) while keeping precise position estimates. More recently, Long Range Wide Area Networks (LoRaWAN) have been proposed as solution to leverage very low power geo localization. However, the gain in energy efficiency comes at the cost of a coarse-grained positioning system. This natural trade-off is still acceptable for some applications that do not have stringent requirements on the expected precision of the location estimate. A wise approach to the design of novel localization architectures should also account that GNSS can suffer from outages (e.g., for military purposes) or breakdowns (e.g., due to increased solar activities).
The objective of this postdoc is to investigate the ability of a multi-gateway LoRaWAN network to track mobile objects systems without GNSS.

Activity

The expected result of the related research activity is the definition of algorithms able to predict the behavior of moving objects. Herein, the precision of the tracking system is fully linked to the frequency with which the target object reports its presence, so that the precision of the position estimate can be traded-off for a higher number of tracked objects. To achieve such an ambitious goal, all possible data helping navigation should be used, including accelerometers or range-free localization techniques.
The recruited postdoc will be in charge of (i) modeling the pictured scenario with theoretical instruments, (ii) developing a realistic simulation environment, and (iii) testing the conceived ideas.

Your Profil

Skills

In-depth knowledge of:
- Probability and statistics
- LoRaWAN
- simulation environments
- Python
- Python

Your Work Environment

The Laboratory for Analysis and Architecture of Systems (LAAS) is a unit of the CNRS with activities in many fields.
The activity will take place within the SARA (Services and Architectures for Advanced Networks) team under the direction of Nicola Accettura (nicola.accettura@laas.fr) and Balakrishna Prabhu (balakrishna.prabhu@laas.fr), in the context of the project ANR JCJC LAPSUS.

Compensation and benefits

Compensation

Between €3041 and €4395 gross per month, depending on experience

Annual leave and RTT

44 jours

Remote Working practice and compensation

Pratique et indemnisation du TT

Transport

Prise en charge à 75% du coût et forfait mobilité durable jusqu’à 300€

About the offer

About the CNRS

The CNRS is a major player in fundamental research on a global scale. The CNRS is the only French organization active in all scientific fields. Its unique position as a multi-specialist allows it to bring together different disciplines to address the most important challenges of the contemporary world, in connection with the actors of change.

CNRS

The research professions