Fully Funded Cotutelle Ph.d. Position

Advancing UAV Design For High-Performance, Safety And Effective Environmental Considerations: The ELEVATION Project

Subject

The ELEVATION project aims to develop an in-house Multidisciplinary Design Analysis and Optimization (MDAO) framework for exploring and evaluating innovative concepts of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The project emphasizes the importance of optimizing UAV design with energy efficiency, dynamic performance, safety, and environmental considerations.

The project consists of several research tasks, including the identification and specification of relevant UAV concepts, the continued development of an in-house MDAO software tool with new mission dynamic performance analysis, new design models for hydrogen-based equipment and advanced electric battery technologies, and new controllability analysis methods for innovative flight control configurations, and a generic Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for effective environment considerations.

This project will advance the design of UAVs and apply to challenging future innovative applications that will require demonstrating high reliability, performance and effective environmental considerations.

Qualifications & Skills

·Master's or PhD degree in aerospace, mechanical or electrical engineering, or a related field.

·Experience in scientific programming, specifically with Python language.

·Interest in drone design, environmental issues and impact assessment methods.

·Good communication and teamwork skills, including the ability to work collaboratively with other researchers from diverse backgrounds.

Information

·Starting date: January 2024

·Duration: 36 months

·Locations: 18 months at ISAE-Supaéro, Toulouse, France + 18 months at Concordia University, Montréal, Canada.

·Funding: base annual salary of €22,800 in France and $25,000 in Canada. Teaching opportunities at both ISAE-Supaéro and Concordia University offer potential extra income. Possibility of additional award funding at Concordia University for excellent candidates. Tuition fees are not covered.