PhD Candidate offer. Cryptography field as applied to aviation

Tadorea, in collaboration with the Universidad Politecnica de Madrid - Telecommunications Faculty, is currently seeking a PhD candidate to undertake his/her PhD programme in the Cryptography field as applied to aviation and, in particular, as applied to air traffic management (ATM).

Today's aviation operations utilize a set of large, heterogeneous, widely-distributed systems which are sometimes even composed of isolated sub-systems. These are highly complex and very difficult to model analytically, especially considering the interactions between them. Often, detailed data about these systems is needed to understand and benchmark their performance, set up targets, make policies or even plan shared network resources. In the last decade, access has improved to this type of data as well as the computing infrastructures required to store and perform complex calculations with such data. Some of those calculations are, for instance, machine learning algorithms which have also proven their usefulness. Aviation researchers are implementing solutions based on the latest deep learning techniques (DataScience.aero, 2018).

That said, large datasets are not as available to aviation data researchers compared to data availability in other fields. Data science researchers face challenges related to the diversity of inhomogeneous data sources and the large volume of information to be handled and represented. However, the confidentiality of the datasets has historically been the most difficult barrier to data accessibility as most data owners have refused to provide access to significantly large datasets.

In this proposal, a potential approach is presented through the use of state-of-the-art cryptography techniques in overcoming this barrier. By painting some air traffic management data science problems as cryptography systems, and utilizing novel crypto-based solutions, the confidentiality barrier can be overcome without breaking confidentiality requirements. Private data could be used in ATM procedures and systems.

The selected candidate will join TADOREA´s research and development team in Madrid, Spain. His/her PhD thesis will be supervised by Pr. Dr. Victor A. Villagrá from the Telematics Department at the UPM-ETSIT who will be driving the research plan in applying state-of-the-art cryptography techniques to overcome data sharing barriers in the aviation sector. The combination of skills from the TADOREA and UPM-ETSIT teams will offer the candidate an ideal environment to develop his/her professional career in an environment with strong ATM-domain expertise and state-of-the-art data science, cybersecurity and privacy-preserving techniques.

The PhD programme is framed under the SESAR-Engage Knowledge Transfer Network and co-funded by it. As part of this network, the selected candidate will enjoy unique opportunities to participate in summer schools and conferences with other students and researchers in the field. The candidate will have access to a variety of datasets: from airlines, airports, air navigation service providers to other aviation stakeholders.

Talented and highly motivated individuals with a great dose of imagination, problem-solving skills, resourceful and data-driven passion are encouraged to apply.

Benefits

Tadorea offers a unique set of benefits:

• Immediate start - Candidates are mandated to start the PhD during Q1 2019. Only available candidates should apply.
• Training, internal and external, on the work-related different technologies.
• Integration in a highly qualified and collaborative international team with innovative thinking and agile working methodology.
• Flexibility and good working conditions.
• Gross salary: 22.000€