Connectionists: [jobs] postdoc position: active monitoring for UAV swarms in precision agriculture - ISTC-CNR, Rome, Italy

[Vito Trianni]

A postdoc position is now open in the context of the AGR-o-RAMA research project (http://www.agrorama.it)
The research will be conducted at the ISTC-CNR (https://istc.cnr.it) in Rome, Italy, under the supervision of Vito Trianni, and in collaboration with Sapienza and RomaTre university. 
The starting date should be around May the 1st, 2022, with some flexibility. A valid working permit in Europe/Italy is an asset. 
Candidates nearing the end of the PhD (up to 6 months from the defence) are also welcome.

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Applications
Only for inquiries, you can contact Vito Trianni by email (vito.trianni _at_ istc.cnr.it).
Your official candidature must instead be submitted following the procedure below, which also states eligibility conditions and other relevant information about the position:

Information for applicants — English: http://bandi.urp.cnr.it/doc-assegni/documentazione/12193_DOC_EN.pdf
Information for applicants — Italian: http://bandi.urp.cnr.it/doc-assegni/documentazione/12193_DOC_IT.pdf

Note that, despite mentioned in the eligibility conditions, knowledge of Italian IS NOT required.

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Research Description
AGR-o-RAMA aims at the study of autonomous intelligent drones capable of actively monitoring a field in order to identify and map features of interests (e.g., weed or pests) that could be distributed heterogeneously within the field. Moving beyond the classical approach of a uniform coverage of the field with predetermined mission plans for remote sensing, AGR-o-RAMA proposes to adaptively define the sampling frequency and resolution in order to focus on the areas of interest, while mildly monitoring areas that are devoid of relevant features. 
Active monitoring strategies will be developed and tested both with a single drone and with groups of drones. In the latter case, the drones will coordinate to explore the field in parallel and collaborate to identify the areas of interest, maximising both efficiency and accuracy.

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Skills:
- Programming abilities in C++ and Python (required)
- Knowledge of ROS/ROS2 (required)
- Knowledge of deep learning frameworks (asset)
- Knowledge of Unity (asset)
- UAV Piloting abilities (asset)

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Background knowledge:
- multi-robot systems
- Information-based motion planning
- Bayesian inference
- Information theory
- Active vision



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Vito Trianni, Ph.D.					vito.trianni@(no_spam)istc.cnr.it
ISTC-CNR						http://www.istc.cnr.it/people/vito-trianni
Via San Martino della Battaglia 44		Tel: +39 06 44595277
00185 Roma						Fax: +39 06 44595243
Italy
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