Marie Sklodowska-Curie PhD position in the field of “sound synthesis for autonomous vehicles” in Leuven, Belgium

Job Family: Internal Services

Req ID: 366358

PhD position in the field of sound synthesis for autonomous vehicles

Job vacancy at Siemens Industries Software (SISW) for the Marie Skłodowska Curie European Training Network GAP_NOISE – Global Acoustic interaction and Psychoacoustic impact of the autonomous vehicles in interior and exterior NOISE”.

Individual Research Project (IRP): Human-centric sound design in the context of autonomous and electrified mobility.

Siemens Industries Software NV (SISW) has an open position for a Doctoral Candidate (DC) on vehicle digital prototyping tools for human-centric sound design in the context of autonomous and electrified mobility.

If you are passionate about the future of autonomous vehicles and want to contribute to improving the safety and overall experience of users related to audio, we encourage you to apply for this position.

About the GAP_NOISE European project

The position is part of the European Doctoral Network GAPNOISE which will recruit 10 DC at 4 research universities and 3 international companies from 5 European countries. The primary goal of GAPNOISE is to train DCs through inter-sectoral, multidisciplinary and international joint research in the fields of acoustics and vibrations.

The GAP_NOISE Training Network will explore the paradigm of the perceptual vibro-acoustic comfort and acceptability associated with the interior and exterior noise produced by electric vehicles. Current research suggests that interior perception will be affected by numerous design choices such as vehicle design, systems, and components, electric motor control, human response to noise, vibration and harshness, passenger orientation and position within the vehicle, and their interaction. Since autonomous vehicles spectacularly change the passenger experience, one can foresee that conventional comfort criteria for passenger cars must be revisited and adapted.

About the DC track

The DC will investigate the link between autonomous vehicles’ sound attributes and passenger physiological states. This will include the creation of immersive sound events involving vehicles and pedestrians passing by, along with sophisticated driving assistant systems (ADAS) in tasks involving potential safety risks. To this end, the DC will rely on a hardware-in-the-loop setup for testing autonomous vehicles` sensors.

The main goals of the DC are:

1. To develop a framework for the realistic and real-time audio rendering of event-dependent audio cues related to autonomous driving tasks.

2. To conduct subjective evaluation tests in which vehicle states are logged along with juror’s physiological states (such as eye tracker) and jury test feedback.

3. To identify correlations between vehicle acoustic attributes and psychoacoustical and physiological states.

Candidate profiles

The ideal candidate has:

• A master’s degree in one of the following subject areas or a related field: mechanical or electrical engineering, acoustics, physics, mathematics, or computer science.

• Good foundation in physical science or engineering sciences and curiosity about automotive engineering

• Proven background in acoustics or vibration testing, simulation (CAE), and programming languages (procedural languages such as pure data, Max/MSP is a plus)

• Affinity with the scientific research methodology

• Interest to develop and implement a long-term research program leading to a PhD

• Capability to work independently and in a team

• Working proficiency in English

Mobility: you must not have resided or carried out your main activity (work, studies, etc…) in Belgium for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately prior to your recruitment under the GAP_NOISE project.

To be eligible, you need to be an “early-stage researcher” i.e., simultaneously fulfill the following criteria at the time of recruitment: Qualifications and research experience: you must be in the first 4 years of your research career after the master’s degree was awarded.

The positions adhere to the European policy of balanced ethnicity, age, and gender. People of all genders are encouraged to apply.

Offer

The DC will be hosted in the Research Department of the Test division of SISW and registered as a DC at the mechanical engineering department of KU Leuven, both in, Leuven, Belgium.

We offer a fully funded 3-year position at SISW.

The DC will participate in exchange visits (called ”secondment”), training events, workshops, and summer schools organized by the network.

The remuneration will be in line with the European Commission (EC) rules for Marie Curie grant holders. It consists of a salary augmented by a Mobility Allowance aligned with the EC general condition, resulting in a net (all taxes/social security paid) monthly salary of about 1900-2300 Euro depending on family status.

Start time: Q2 or Q3 2023.

Who are we?

Siemens Digital Industries Software helps organizations of all sizes digitally transform using software, hardware and services from the Siemens Xcelerator business platform. Siemens’ software and the comprehensive digital twin enable companies to optimize their design, engineering and manufacturing processes to turn today’s ideas into the sustainable products of the future.

Simcenter is a key component of Xcelerator and also a flexible, open, and scalable portfolio of outstanding predictive simulation and test applications that support customers at every step in their digital journey to drive innovation into their products and shorten time to market. The simulation and test group headquarters (Siemens Industry Software NV, SISW) is based in Leuven, Belgium, and the group has representatives across the gl