King's College London

About us

King’s Telecoms Group has been part of the global ecosystem which designed and deployed telecoms technology, from 2G to 5G, and now 6G.

King’s Telecoms Group has become a flagship hub of cutting-edge research and ground-breaking innovation, working with more than 200 collaborators.

Underpinned by millions of pounds in public and private funding, King’s Telecoms Group has been advancing wireless communications for three decades.

For further information, please see here:

 https://www.kcl.ac.uk/research/ctr

About the role

The evolution of radiofrequency and optical wireless networks for advanced communication and radar systems toward increasingly complex devices demands powerful digital signal processors to enable real-time data processing and rapid decision-making.

On the other hand, fundamental limitations of digital electronics in bandwidth and power consumption have resurfaced interest in analogue logic. An analogue processing engine can utilize fundamental properties of electromagnetic waves for massive parallel computations to enable massively parallel processing capabilities literally at the speed of light. Notably, the very nature of an analogue processor can facilitate dramatic reduction in size, weight and power compared to its digital counterpart.

In the past decade, there has been substantial progress in the development of processing units that perform matrix operations, by leveraging electromagnetic waves in free space and in guided wave structures. However, less attention has been paid to reconfigurable analogue structures that could be programmed on demand to perform the desired transfer function in radiofrequency and wireless optical networks, as well as through physical engineered materials. In this vein, a large number of relevant signal processing operations boils down to basic matrix operations. T

his includes matrix multiplications, matrix divisions and matrix inversions, as well as the computation of discrete Fourier transforms and singular value decompositions through elementary matrix operations.

The key objective of this opening is to design low-complexity and energy efficient analogue transceiver structure performing key mathematical operations that are fundamental to modern massive multiple-antenna communication technologies, such as large-scale complex matrix transformations.

This is a full-time position (35 hours per week), offered on a fixed-term contract for a period of six months or until 28 February 2027, whichever is the earlier date.

Research staff at King’s are entitled to at least 10 days per year (pro-rata) for professional development. This entitlement, from the  Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers, applies to Postdocs, Research Assistants, Research and Teaching Technicians, Teaching Fellows and AEP equivalent up to and including grade 7. Visit the  Centre for Research Staff Development for more information.

About you

To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience:

Essential criteria

1.      PhD qualified in relevant subject area 

2.      Deep knowledge of wireless communications

2.      Deep knowledge of multiple-antenna technologies

3.      Deep knowledge of optimization theory

4.      Deep knowledge of Matlab

5.      Deep knowledge of CVX

Desirable criteria

1.      Excellent communication skills

2.      Excellent presentation skills

* Please note that this is a PhD level role but candidates who have submitted their thesis and are awaiting award of their PhDs will be considered. Should the successful candidate be awaiting the award of their PhD, the appointment will be made at Grade 5, spinal point 30 with the title of Research Assistant until confirmation of the award of the PhD has been received. Upon confirmation of the award of the PhD, the job title will become Research Associate and the salary will increase to Grade 6, spine point 31.

Further Information

We pride ourselves on being inclusive and welcoming. We embrace diversity and want everyone to feel that they belong and are connected to others in our community.

We are committed to working with our staff and unions on these and other issues, to continue to support our people and to develop a diverse and inclusive culture at King's.

As part of this commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion and through this appointment process, it is our aim to develop candidate pools that include applicants from all backgrounds and communities.

We ask all candidates to submit a copy of their CV, and a supporting statement, detailing how they meet the essential criteria listed in the person specification section of the job description. If we receive a strong field of candidates, we may use the desirable criteria to choose our final shortlist, so please include your evidence against these where possible. 

To find out how our managers will review your application, please take a look at our ‘ How we Recruit’ pages.