The Role

The PDRA will work with Professor Sana Salous on a research project that aims to enhance Durham University radio measurement capability in the millimetre wave band (30-90 GHz)

and to perform long term measurements to assess interference between links and weather effects on propagation of mm waves in the 24-100 GHz band.

The job entails writing C code to programme the data acquisition card and conduct measurements in typical indoor and outdoor scenarios for both fixed and mobile applications. The data following processing are to be used in the ray tracing tool Remcom. It also involves continue the long- term measurements which commenced in December 2017 along over a short link with a second link to monitor interference. The collected data are to be analysed in conjunction with the data from the state-of-the art weather station set up at Durham University. The analysis aims to study the effect of weather on propagation of mm waves including polarisation effects and to evaluate possible interference between links. The data are to be analysed to extract suitable channel parameters and propagation models to either extend existing International Telecommunication Union Recommendations (ITU-R) or to propose new ITU-R recommendations. This will also involve a review of ITU-R recommendations, the preparation of intermediate reports, publications and submissions to the UK Study Group 3 for submission to the ITU. Other mm wave studies include point to area, clutter loss and building entry loss in various frequency bands using the multiple band channel sounding capability at Durham University.

The post-holder will have specific responsibility for the following areas of research:

• Upgrading of the sounder capability for remote programming and data acquisition;
• Performing system calibration, measurements and data analysis
• Derive suitable channel models from the measurements
• Use Remcom for channel modelling in typical scenarios

The post-holder will report to Prof. Salous as PI and collaborate with other researchers in the Centre for Communication Systems.