Full-time study

4 years

prof. Ing. Aleš Prokeš, Ph.D.

Chairman :
prof. Ing. Aleš Prokeš, Ph.D.
Councillor internal :
doc. Ing. Roman Šotner, Ph.D.
doc. Ing. Jiří Petržela, Ph.D.
doc. Ing. Tomáš Götthans, Ph.D.
doc. Ing. Martin Štumpf, Ph.D.
doc. Ing. Jaroslav Láčík, Ph.D.
Councillor external :
doc. Ing. Milan Polívka, Ph.D.

Provide doctoral education to graduates of a master's degree in electronics and communication technologies. To deepen students' theoretical knowledge in selected parts of mathematics and physics and to give them the necessary knowledge and practical skills in applied informatics and computer science. To teach them the methods of scientific work.

The Ph.D. graduate will be able to solve scientific and complex technical problems in the field of electronics and communications. Graduates of the doctoral program "Electronics and Communication Technologies" will be competent to work in the field of electronics and communication technology as scientists and researchers in fundamental or applied research, as high-specialists in development, design, and construction in many R&D institutions, electrical and electronic manufacturing companies and producers and users of communication systems and devices, where they will be able to creatively use modern computer, communication, and measurement technique.

The doctors are able to solve independently scientific and complex engineering tasks in the area of electronics and communications. Thanks to the high-quality theoretical education and specialization in the study program, graduates of doctoral studies are sought as specialists in in the area of electronic engineering and communications. Graduates of the doctoral program will be able to work in the field of electronics and communications technology as researchers in fundamental or applied research, as specialists in development, design and construction in various research and development institutions, electrotechnical and electronic manufacturing companies, where they will be able to creative exploit modern computing, communication and measuring technologies.

Doctoral studies are carried out in agreement with the individual study plan, which will prepare supervisor together with the doctoral student at the beginning of the study. The individual study plan specifies all the duties given by the BUT Study and Examination Rules, which the doctoral student must fulfill to finish his study successfully. These duties are scheduled into entire the study period. They are classified by points and their fulfilment is checked at fixed deadlines. The student enrolls and performs examination from compulsory subjects (Modern digital wireless communication, Modern electronic circuit design), at least from two compulsory-elective subjects aimed at the dissertation area, and at least from two optional courses such as English for PhD students, Solutions for Innovative Entries, Scientific Publishing from A to Z).
The students may enroll for the state exam only if all the examinations specified in his/her individual study plan have been completed. Before the state exam, the student prepares a short version of dissertation thesis describing in detail the aims of the thesis, state of the art in the area of dissertation, eventually the properties of methods which are assumed to be applied in the research topics solution. The defense of the short version of thesis, which is reviewed, is the first part of the state exam. In the next part of the exam the student has to prove deep theoretical and practical knowledges in the field of electrical engineering, electronics, communication techniques, fundamental theory of circuits and electromagnetic field, signal processing, antenna and high-frequency techniques. The state exam is oral and, in addition to the discussion on the dissertation thesis, it also consists of areas related to compulsory and compulsory elective courses.
The student can ask for the dissertation defense after successful passing the state exam and after fulfilling all conditions for termination of studies such as participation in teaching, scientific and professional activities (creative activities), and a study or a work stay at a foreign institution no shorter than one month, or participation in an international project.

The doctoral studies of a student follow the Individual Study Plan (ISP), which is defined by the supervisor and the student at the beginning of the study period. The ISP is obligatory for the student, and specifies all duties being consistent with the Study and Examination Rules of BUT, which the student must successfully fulfill by the end of the study period. The duties are distributed throughout the whole study period, scored by credits/points and checked in defined dates. The current point evaluation of all activities of the student is summarized in the “Total point rating of doctoral student” document and is part of the ISP. At the beginning of the next study year the supervisor highlights eventual changes in ISP. By October, 15 of each study year the student submits the printed and signed ISP to Science Department of the faculty to check and archive.
Within the first four semesters the student passes the exams of compulsory, optional-specialized and/or optional-general courses to fulfill the score limit in Study area, and concurrently the student significantly deals with the study and analysis of the knowledge specific for the field defined by the dissertation thesis theme and also continuously deals with publishing these observations and own results. In the follow-up semesters the student focuses already more to the research and development that is linked to the dissertation thesis topic and to publishing the reached results and compilation of the dissertation thesis.
By the end of the second year of studies the student passes the Doctor State Exam, where the student proves the wide overview and deep knowledge in the field linked to the dissertation thesis topic. The student must apply for this exam by April, 30 in the second year of studies. Before the Doctor State Exam the student must successfully pass the exam from English language course.
In the third and fourth year of studies the student deals with the required research activities, publishes the reached results and compiles the dissertation thesis. As part of the study duties is also completing a study period at an abroad institution or participation on an international research project with results being published or presented in abroad or another form of direct participation of the student on an international cooperation activity, which must be proved by the date of submitting the dissertation thesis.
By the end of the winter term in the fourth year of study the students submit the elaborated dissertation thesis to the supervisor, who scores this elaborate. The final dissertation thesis is expected to be submitted by the student by the end of the fourth year of the studies.
In full-time study form, during the study period the student is obliged to pass a pedagogical practice, i.e. participate in the education process. The participation of the student in the pedagogical activities is part of his/her research preparations. By the pedagogical practice the student gains experience in passing the knowledge and improves the presentation skills. The pedagogical practice load (exercises, laboratories, project supervision etc.) of the student is specified by the head of the department based on the agreement with the student’s supervisor. The duty of pedagogical practice does not apply to students-payers and combined study program students. The involvement of the student in the education process within the pedagogical practice is confirmed by the supervisor in the Information System of the university.

1. Advanced EMI Filters Models

   The aim of the project is focused on investigation of properties of single-phase EMC filters with indeterminate impedance termination. Uncertainty of impedance conditions at the place of installation of the filter can lead to significant deviations of the insertion loss of the filter from the expected values at the place of later installation. For better understanding of the behaviour of EM interference filters in different impedance conditions and especially in higher frequency bands, it is necessary to analyse their own circuitry, including parasitic filter elements and individual parasitic couplings inside the filters. The necessary analyses can be performed on the basis of measured data for various configurations of interfering currents. Furthermore, by analysing the measured cascade parameters on individual filters, when it is a suitable connection, part of the filter can be excluded from the measurement. Another good source of data for parasitic element analysis is the analysis of resonant frequencies, which can be identified in the transmission characteristic. The project should integrate all these outlined approaches to analysing filter properties into a comprehensive approach to identify all components of the complete filter model. The project is focused on the development of suitable mathematical models of interference filters that will respect their parasitic properties.

   Tutor: Dřínovský Jiří, Ing., Ph.D.

2. Analysis and simulation of a shared transmission channel for future wireless communication systems

   Doctoral thesis is focused on analysis of the modern and future wireless communication systems and their coexistence in a shared transmission channel. During the analysis, the systems like digital television broadcasting (eg. DVB-T/T2, NGH), standards for mobile communications (eg. GSM/UMTS/LTE/5G), wireless communication systems (eg. ZigBee, BT, WLAN, WPAN) etc., have to be taken into account. Prerequisite of the successful solution is definition of the statistical model of the transmission channel with variable parameters and then its verification including simulated coexistence with various wireless services. The aim of the work is not only the model of the transmission channel, but also innovative algorithms of the wireless services separation that are optimized for the verified and shared transmission channel model.

   Tutor: Kratochvíl Tomáš, prof. Ing., Ph.D.

3. Analysis and simulation of the transmission in the second generation digital television using spatial diversity technique

   The next generation of terrestrial digital video broadcasting standard (DVB-T2) incorporates the option of using multiple-input single-output (MISO) spatial diversity transmission technique. This dissertation thesis focuses on the exploring and analysis of signal transmission in the second generation terrestrial digital television standard (DVB-T2/T2-Lite) uses spatial diversity transmission techniques MISO and in the future MIMO. A prerequisite of such analysis is a creation of an appropriate simulation model, allows simulating and analysing of the signal transmission which consider multipath propagation with selective fading, and adjustable system parameters of the transmitter and receiver system blocks. A possible verification of theoretical (simulation) results by measurement either in a real environment or in laboratory conditions is also considered. The main aim of this work is the definition of the influence of the system parameters on the bit error rate (BER) and on the quality of the signal transmission.

   Tutor: Kratochvíl Tomáš, prof. Ing., Ph.D.

4. Design of time-domain pulses for EMC applications

   The thesis aims at the development of fundamentally new techniques for the design of time-domain pulses used for EMC simulations. New optimization methods for the design of pulses will be created. Automated software will be developed to validate the proposed methods experimentally. This software will combine artificial intelligence methods for the identification of the reference (measured) pulse type and developed optimization methods for assigning the optimal parameters of a selected pulse

   Tutor: Kadlec Petr, doc. Ing., Ph.D.

5. Electromagnetic cloaks

   Electromagnetic cloaks are structures that aim to reduce the reflectivity of the objects that surround or directly make them invisible. The theory of transformation electromagnetics and artificial materials are often exploited for their design. This project is focused on the research of electromagnetic cloaks of desired properties. The main attention should be concentrated on the development of methods for the design of artificial materials/surfaces with required electromagnetic properties based on machine learning approaches. The outputs of the project should find application in the fields of antenna technology, security or defense applications.

   Tutor: Láčík Jaroslav, doc. Ing., Ph.D.

6. Electronically controllable oscillators of higher and fractional orders

   Research is focused on modeling, simulations and experimental verification of circuit realizations of higher-order harmonic oscillators and inharmonic generators for structures of physical layer of communication systems working in base and inter-frequency band. The main task is to found features and application possibilities of circuits with higher order than 3 and circuits defined by differential equations of fractional order. An attention will be concentrated on frequency tunability, phase and magnitude relations between generated signals and suitable amplitude stabilization especially. Part of the work deals with detailed description of signal generation based on linear and nonlinear mathematical operations that are allowed by implementation of so-called constant phase elements producing constant phase shift between excitation signal and response.

   Tutor: Šotner Roman, doc. Ing., Ph.D.

7. Evolutionary design of substrate integrated waveguide phase shifters

   In IEEE Xplore, about 150 papers on substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) phase shifters have been published in last 5 years. The papers range from descriptions of basic principles [1] to the exploitation of metamaterial particles [2] and partially magnetized ferrites [3]. The latest papers describe tunable shifters for the control of antenna arrays [4]. The dissertation is aimed to create a general structure of a phase shifter combining slots [5], dielectric slabs [6], meta-material particles [2] and other potential elements so that the number of degrees of freedom is reasonably high. A parametric model of the structure should be implemented in an appropriate electromagnetic simulator, and should be associated with an evolutionary or swarm-intelligence optimization. The developed phase shifter should be used for beam-steering of a selected antenna array [4]. Parameters of the phased array should be experimentally verified. A detailed comparison with exiting approaches should be provided. References [1] TAO YANG; M. ETTORRE; R. SAULEAU; Novel phase shifter design based on substrate-integrated-waveguide technology. IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters. 2012, vol. 22, no. 10, p. 518-520. DOI: 10.1109/LMWC.2012.2217122 [2] M. EBRAHIMPOURI; S. NIKMEHR; A. POURZIAD; Broadband compact SIW phase shifter using omega particles. IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters. 2014, vol. 24, no. 11, p. 748-750. DOI: 10.1109/LMWC.2014.2350692 [3] F. A. GHAFFAR; A. SHAMIM; A partially magnetized ferrite LTCC-based SIW phase shifter for phased array applications. IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, 2015, vol. 51, no. 6, article no. 4003108. DOI: 10.1109/TMAG.2015.2404303 [4] Z.R. OMAM; W.M. ABDEL-WAHAB; A. RAEESI; A. PALIZBAN; A. POURZIAD; S. NIKMEHR; S. GIGOYAN; S. SAFAVI-NAEINI; Ka-band passive phased-array antenna with substrate integrated waveguide tunable phase shifter. IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, 2020, vol. 68, no. 8, p. 6039-6048. DOI: 10.1109/TAP.2020.2983838 [5] WEI ZHANG; ZHIDAN SHEN; KAI XU; JIN SHI; A compact wideband phase shifter using slotted substrate integrated waveguide. IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters, 2019, vol. 29, no 12, p. 767-770. DOI: 10.1109/LMWC.2019.2949681 [6] Z.R. OMAM; W.M. ABDEL-WAHAB; A. POURZIAD; S. NIKMEHR; A. PALIZBAN; S. GIGOYAN; S. SAFAVI-NAEINI; Tunable substrate integrated waveguide phase shifter using high dielectric constant slab. IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters, 2020, vol. 30, no. 5, p. 485-488. DOI: 10.1109/LMWC.2020.2980264

   Tutor: Raida Zbyněk, prof. Dr. Ing.

8. Channel models for future generations of mobile networks

   Steadily growing number of communication devices per area and increasing quality of services require allocation of more frequency resources. Millimeter wave (MMW) frequencies between 30 and 300 GHz have been attracting growing attention as a possible candidate for next-generation broadband cellular networks. Specific limitations of MMW signal propagation, extremely large bandwidth and time variable environment caused by mobile users connected to a backhaul networks traveling in rugged municipal environments create unprecedented challenges to the development of broadband communication systems using advanced technologies for eliminating the undesirable time varying channel features. The aim of the project is measurement and modelling of the broadband non-stationary MMW channels between mobile users and infrastructure dominantly in time and spatial domain to analyze the effects of environment and weather conditions and evaluate feasibility of advanced techniques such as beamforming or massive MIMO spatial multiplexing implementation.

   Tutor: Prokeš Aleš, prof. Ing., Ph.D.

9. Metasurfaces for Stealth Technology

   Metasurfaces exhibiting extraordinary electromagnetic scattering properties hold great promise for developing novel structures with unprecedented features. Therefore, with stealth technology applications in mind, the present thesis aims at developing efficient computational stategies and design procedures concerning thin metamaterial layers exhibiting the electromagnetic transparency for causal pulsed eletromagnetic fields [1]--[2]. REFERENCES: [1] STUMPF, Martin. Time-Domain Modeling of Thin High-Contrast Layers With Combined Dielectric and Magnetic Properties. IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters. 2020, 19(6), 969-971. ISSN 1536-1225. [2] STUMPF, Martin, Giulio ANTONINI, Ioan E. LAGER a Guy A. E. VANDENBOSCH. Pulsed Electromagnetic Field Signal Transfer Across a Thin Magneto-Dielectric Sheet. IEEE Transactions on Electromagnetic Compatibility. 1-7. ISSN 0018-9375.

   Tutor: Štumpf Martin, doc. Ing., Ph.D.

10. Microwave antennas and circuits based on artificial materials

    Artificial electromagnetic materials are periodic structures whose relative permittivity or permeability can be greater or less than 1. The importance of these materials has recently increased due to the theory of transformation electromagnetics for the creation of special types of directional antennas, antenna lenses or electromagnetic cloaks. This project is focused on the research of antennas and circuits realized on artificial materials. The main attention should be concentrated on the development of methods for the design of artificial materials with required electromagnetic properties which may be space-dependent. Created materials should be exploited for novel concepts of microwave antennas and circuits.

    Tutor: Láčík Jaroslav, doc. Ing., Ph.D.

11. Multi-modal minimally invasive holographic endoscope for deep brain imaging

    The methods of holographic endoscopy have recently emerged as a powerful platform to introduce sub-cellular resolution microscopy deep inside tissues of living organisms, including brain. The laboratory of Complex Photonics (lead by Prof. Čižmár, http://www.isibrno.cz/cs/komplexni-fotonika) has been developing cutting edge multi-mode fibre based endoscopes and applying them in brain imaging in animal models in vivo. These minimally-invasive endoscopes can reach deep subcortical locations in the brain which are not accessible by other optical methods of similar resolution. This PhD work will focus on expanding the capabilities of the system with two new modalities: optical manipulation of cells using optogenetics and extracellular electrophysiological recordings. Optogenetics is a unique tool that enables manipulation of cellular activity with light. Electrophysilogy has been a golden standard method of neuroscience for the past fifty years which allows recordings of local field potentials (LFP) and multi-unit activity (MUA) of neurons. Uniquely, these modalities will be implemented within the same thin endoscopic probe which serves for imaging. Implementation of electrophysiology will be carried out in collaboration with Prof. Massimo de Vittorio and Dr. Ferruccio Pisanello (Instituto Italiano de Technologia). The candidate will develop/modify optical setups and the software for hardware control and data acquisition and processing (Lab View, Matlab, C++). Knowledge and experience in programing or optical set-up building is required. Experience with microscopy, fluorescence microscopy or electrophysiology is desirable. The work will be carried out at the Institute of Scientific Instruments of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic with the possibility of full-time employment. The PhD student will be a part of a European Commission project “DEEPER: Deep brain photonic tools for cell-type specific targeting of neural diseases" (https://deeperproject.eu/), which is funded within the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation actions scheme as is just starting at this institute. This Consortium clusters world-leading experts in molecular photonic tools, optical technology, pre-clinical, clinical brain research and innovative start-ups in an endeavour of providing new tools to tackle the mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of neurological disease.

    Tutor: Hudcová Lucie, doc. Ing., Ph.D.

12. Novel analog blocks and concepts for processing of electrical and nonelectrical quantities

    The integrated circuits are very important for processing of signals from sensors and sensor readouts as a part of modern physical layer of communication systems. They offer significant minimization of system area and low power consumption. Therefore, these concepts are highly useful for biomedical applications (blood analysis – presence of various chemicals, bioimpedances measurement and evaluation, etc.), in mechanics (distance influences capacity), etc. This topic includes study of utilization of of-the-shelf as well as custom integrated active building cells and blocks (amplifiers, converters, generators, flip-flop circuits, etc.) and study of features of currently available types of sensors for various physical quantities. The recommendations, requirements and methodologies for active sensor readouts in processing of signals are expected to be formulated. Works in this topic supposes implementation of own novel integrated cells or utilization of already available devices (designed in ON Semiconductor/AMIS 0.35 um or TSMC 0.18 um CMOS process) at the workplace.

    Tutor: Šotner Roman, doc. Ing., Ph.D.

13. Perspective methods for precise positioning of people and wireless devices in an indoor environment

    Nowadays, there are numerous methods to monitor, track and localize people and wireless devices in indoor environments. In the future, due to new emerging wireless communication systems (for instance the field of Internet-of-Things or Low-Power Wide Area Networks (LPWAN), it is assumed that current localization methods and techniques will need improvement or extension. From this point of view, utilization of Machine Learning and Deep Learning (ML and DL) techniques are among perspective solutions. This dissertation thesis focuses on advanced methods and approaches for precise localization of people and wireless devices in an indoor environment. Development and realization of methods and approaches should be based on techniques evaluating parameters like RSSI, ToA and AoA. Utilization of ML and DL-based approaches to improve efficiency of localization methods and accuracy of localization in an indoor environment is also assumed. Testing and verification of the proposed methods and approaches by a set of measurements under laboratory and real conditions is an inseparable part of this dissertation thesis.

    Tutor: Polák Ladislav, doc. Ing., Ph.D.

14. Smart coexistence of wireless communication systems

    radio frequency (RF) bands in the future. To minimize or suppress fluctuations in the quality of provided services, coordination of the coexistence of these systems will be necessary. Cognitive radio, RF spectrum sensing and Machine Learning and Deep Learning (ML and DL) based approaches are among perspective solutions. This dissertation thesis deals with the research of methods and techniques that enable a smart coexistence of wireless communication systems utilizing common RF bands. Attention should be devoted to conventional (on their optimization) as well as on emerging methods, which can identify the interfering signal, kind of interfering system and its characteristics parameters with high precision. Based on the obtained results, approaches to minimize possible interference between coexisting systems should be proposed. Verification of the proposed methods and approaches on a real set of RF signals in laboratory and real environment conditions (e.g. utilization of a SDR-USRP radio) is an inseparable part of this dissertation thesis. Based on the obtained results, recommendations for so called smart-coexistence or coexistence-free operation of wireless communication systems in shared RF bands will be defined.

    Tutor: Polák Ladislav, doc. Ing., Ph.D.

15. Stress detection by means of speech signal analysis

    Speech carries information not only about the linguistic content, but also about the identity of the speaker and his/her psychological state. From speech signal, hundreds of utilizable speech parameters can be extracted with the help of advanced signal processing methods. Paper [1] provides an introductory overview of the types and categories of information that can be derived from human voice and speech. When a person feels stress, adrenaline level is increased which causes numerous responses such as increased blood pressure, heart pulse rate, muscle tension, etc. These factors influence the articulatory system, and this way also the speech production. Stress can occur in speakers as acute (i.e., short term) or chronic (i.e., long term). The dissertation is focused on development of algorithms for acute stress recognition in both real-time speech and speech recording. A part of the work will be given over to databases of speech signal under stress conditions such as exam stress [2]. Currently, the most widely used tool for speech analysis is the free software Praat [3]. In study [4], four classification methods to detect and classify speech under stress are compared. Potential applications of the new algorithms developed in dissertation are different fields such as dialogue systems, friendly robotics, security systems and forensic speech science. References [1] J. L. KRÖGER, O. H.-M. LUTZ, P. RASCHKE, Privacy Implications of Voice and Speech Analysis – Information Disclosure by Inference. In: M. Friedewald et al. (Eds.): Privacy and Identity Management. IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology, 2020, vol. 576, pp. 242–258, Springer, Cham. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-42504-3_16 [2] M. SIGMUND, Introducing the database ExamStress for speech under stress, Proceedings of the 7th Nordic Signal Processing Symposium (NORSIG), Reykjavik, 2006, pp. 290–293. • DOI: 10.1109/NORSIG.2006.275258 [3] P. BOERSMA, D. WEENINK, Praat: doing phonetics by computer [Computer program], 2018. Available at: http://www.praat.org [4] D. PALACIOS et al., An ICA-based method for stress classification from voice samples. Neural Computing and Applications, 2020, vol. 32, no. 24, pp. 17887–17897. DOI: 10.1007/s00521-019-04549-3

    Tutor: Sigmund Milan, prof. Ing., CSc.

16. Tunability range extensions in electronically controllable circuits

    Decreasing value of power supply voltage creates limited conditions for electronic tuning of circuits (for example active filters) in comparison to standard current systems operating with high DC power supply. The main task of this work focuses on research and study of methods of electronic control of applications (for example filters and oscillators) working as components of modern communication systems. Suitable combination of features for control of active elements and change of character of dependence (e.g. oscillation frequency vs. adjustable parameter) serve for substantial improvement of tunability range of application. Verification of intended methods supposes PSpice and Cadence IC6 (low voltage technologies AMIS 0.35 um, TSMC 0.18 um) simulations and experiments.

    Tutor: Šotner Roman, doc. Ing., Ph.D.

1. round (applications submitted from 01.04.2021 to 15.05.2021)

1. Adaptive classification of RF signals by artificial intelligence

   The dissertation is focused on the adoption of machine learning and deep learning techniques to process RF signals dominantly from radars. The techniques are aimed at extracting relevant information such as target identification and location or general received signal parameters from the available data, despite the lack of an accurate mathematical description of system behavior and electromagnetic wave propagation. Important goal of the research is better detection accuracy than that achieved using conventional signal processing methods. Although some important steps have already been taken to adopt these techniques, considerable research efforts are needed to make them a reality.

   Tutor: Prokeš Aleš, prof. Ing., Ph.D.

2. Adversarial machine learning for drone communication

   The dissertation is aimed to employ adversarial neural networks for black-box modelling to imitate communication with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). The question if deep neural networks could learn sophisticated waveforms of modern wireless communication systems (and potentially create new ones) has not been answered yet. In [1], authors demonstrate that jamming is ineffective to neutralize unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). The presented method allows the drone to exploit an adversarial jamming signal for implementing an emergency (but effective) navigation which enables the drone to accomplish its mission. In [2], capabilities of deep neural networks in channel coding, modulation, and parametric estimation are discussed for the physical layer of wireless communications. In [3], authors presented a deep-learning detector DeepIM which employs a deep neural network with fully connected layers to recover data bits in an OFDM-IM system. While the remote controller is traditionally operated by a person maintaining the visual line of sight with the UAV, the trend is moving towards long-range control and autonomous operation. To enable this, reliable and widely available wireless connectivity is needed to manually control a UAV or take control of an autonomous UAV flight [4]. References [1] R. DI PIETRO; G. OLIGERI; P. TEDESCHI; JAM-ME: Exploiting Jamming to Accomplish Drone Mission. In 2019 IEEE Conference on Communications and Network Security (CNS), Washington DC, DC, USA, 2019, pp. 1-9, doi: 10.1109/CNS.2019.8802717. [2] Z. ZHAO; M. C. VURAN; F. GUO; S. D. SCOTT; Deep-Waveform: A Learned OFDM Receiver Based on Deep Complex Convolutional Networks, https://arxiv.org/abs/1810.07181 [3] T. V. Luong, Y. Ko, N. A. Vien, D. H. N. Nguyen and M. Matthaiou, "Deep Learning-Based Detector for OFDM-IM," in IEEE Wireless Communications Letters, vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 1159-1162, Aug. 2019, doi: 10.1109/LWC.2019.2909893. [4] A. ABDALLA; V. MAROJEVIC; Communications and Networking Standards for UASs: The 3GPP Perspective and Research Drivers. 2020, https://arxiv.org/abs/2009.03533

   Tutor: Götthans Tomáš, doc. Ing., Ph.D.

3. Cascade model of turbulent transmission medium

   One of the phenomena affecting the qualitative and quantitative parameters of the optical beam in the transmission medium is turbulence. Standardly the degree of turbulence is determined by the structural parameter of the refractive index, which is based on a statistical analysis of the transmission medium. There are a number of ways to set this parameter. However, the current approach of determining the degree of turbulence of the transmission medium cannot express the instantaneous degree of turbulence. The aim of the dissertation is to design and develop a methodology for determining the degree of turbulence of individual transmission media using an equivalent temperature gradient, which is based on the physical properties of the transmission medium and gives information about the instantaneous degree of the turbulence at a given place and time. It is necessary to set the limits of the validity of the method. The equivalent temperature gradient method should be modified for several turbulent inhomogeneities on the path of the transmitted beam. Individual inhomogeneities should be described and quantified by matrix expression. The equivalent temperature gradient method should be extended for a cascade of turbulent inhomogeneities. The problematics need to be solved in both the spatial and temporal domains. The proposed methods should be applicable to different types of transmission media. The output of the dissertation will also be the analysis and determination of the maximum achievable transmission rate of optical wireless links in dependence on the type and degree of turbulence for various transmission media.

   Tutor: Hudcová Lucie, doc. Ing., Ph.D.

4. Digital compensation of Impairments in millimeter-wave links with beamforming

   In the future high-speed communication and radar systems, the active antennas with beamforming in the millimeter-wave bands will be massively used. As an example, the use of 28 GHz band is already part of the 5G NR standard and a 60 GHz band is envisaged for the 5G NR Release 17. The real active antenna arrays suffer from many impairments and misalignments that limit the system performance, both for the applications in communications as well as in the radar systems. Among these, a beam squint, i.e., frequency dependency of the beam and the parasitic sidelobes of the beam are the most important examples. The sidelobes can result in the identification of false link opportunities or act as the source of unwanted interference to other users. The aim of the thesis is to study the practical level of such impairments of the existing active antenna components, investigate their effects on the system performance of 5G NR, and to propose the innovative solutions based on the digital signal processing techniques for their reduction. [1] L. Grannemann, A. Ichkov, P. Mähönen and L. Simić, "Urban Outdoor Measurement Study of Phased Antenna Array Impact on Millimeter-Wave Link Opportunities and Beam Misalignment," in IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, vol. 20, no. 3, pp. 1727-1741, March 2021, doi: 10.1109/TWC.2020.3035683. [2] P. Susarla et al., "Smart-RF for mmWave MIMO Beamforming," 2018 IEEE 29th Annual International Symposium on Personal, Indoor and Mobile Radio Communications (PIMRC), Bologna, Italy, 2018, pp. 1-6, doi: 10.1109/PIMRC.2018.8581001.

   Tutor: Maršálek Roman, prof. Ing., Ph.D.

5. Estimation of spatial environmental maps via Gaussian Process Regression

   Current trends in wireless communications tend to transfer continuously growing volumes of data in very complex time-varying urban environments, especially indoor and outdoor areas. For the successful design of appropriate communication systems, it is necessary to thoroughly know the nature of the transmission environment. The aim of the project is to investigate the properties of the estimation of spatial environmental maps from measurements collected at certain training location. Due to the presence of strong spatial correlation the promising tool proposes Gaussian process regression (GPR). The research will focus on an application where some scalar continuously distributed parameters in static locations can be repeatedly measured and which does not change rapidly (e.g. received signal strength (RSS)). It will be examined the temporal and spatial characteristics of RRS via GPR in real-world scenarios, especially where researchers work with crowdsourced data sources. The research will focus on several scenarios for which estimation of the field map via GPR and parameter influence will be investigated. Furthermore, it will be also provided analysis of various aspects of GPR and experimentally verified the theoretical expression of the mean square error (MSE) and its dependence on various system parameters, e.g. the number of training positions and the number of repetitions for the different level of noise variance.

   Tutor: Hlawatsch Franz, prof. Dr. Ing.

6. Optimization of phase shifters for HPM applications

   When varying the width of a rectangular waveguide operating in the TE10 mode, the propagation constant, and consequently the output phase, can be purely mechanically changed. Since no dielectric components or pins are included, the efficiency of the phase shifter is about 90%. On the other hand, the speed of tuning is low [1]. A dual circular polarizer with a motor-controlled metal plug was used in [2]. The phase at the RF output was adjusted by sliding the short circuit along the port related to a dual polarizer. Low losses of the phase shifter were kept, and the use of motor increased the speed of tuning. In [3], authors presented a phase shifter based on coaxial waveguides (TEM waves) and two identical TE11 circular polarizers. When rotating the second polarizer, the output phase was adjusted in the range from 0° to 360°. The dissertation is aimed to compare existing concepts of high-power phase shifters from various viewpoints (efficiency, speed of tuning, accuracy of phase setting, etc.). Outputs of this comparison should yield an optimum configuration of the phase shifter for the use in selected security applications. For the selected concept of the phase shifter, methodology of tolerance and sensitivity analyses should be worked out. Considering conclusions, an efficient optimization of the structure of the phase shifter should be proposed comprising accuracy of phase setting, efficiency of the phase shifter, speed of tuning, etc. References [1] YI-MING YANG; CHENG-WEI YUAN; GUO-XIN CHENG; BAO-LIANG QIAN; Ku-band rectangular waveguide wide side dimension adjustable phase shifter. IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science, 2015, vol. 43, no. 5, p. 1666-1669. DOI: 10.1109/TPS.2014.2370074 [2] CHAO CHANG; LETIAN GUO; SAMI G. TANTAWI; YANSHENG LIU; JIAWEI LI; CHANGHUA CHEN; WENHUA HUANG; A new compact high-power microwave phase shifter. IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, 2015, vol. 63, no. 6, p. 1875-1882. DOI: 10.1109/TMTT.2015.2423281 [3] XUE-LONG ZHAO; CHENG-WEI YUAN; LIE LIU; SHENG-REN PENG; ZHEN BAI; DAN CAI; GW TEM-mode phase shifter for high-power microwave applications. IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science, 2016, vol. 44, no. 3, p. 268-272. DOI: 10.1109/TPS.2016.2523122

   Tutor: Láčík Jaroslav, doc. Ing., Ph.D.

7. Perspective optical wireless communication systems for communication standard 5G/B5G

   The subject of the scientific project is to investigate methods of optical signal generation and detection in optical wireless communication systems, which are implemented in the 5G standard or are planned in B5G. The research will focus on signal processing in optical transceivers. New advanced types of modulations and channel coding will be analyzed. Experimental work will be focused on the comparison of selected types of modulators and detectors. The aim of the research is to suppress the negative influence of the atmosphere on the transmission of the optical signal, to optimize the transmission technology and to increase its reliability and availability.

   Tutor: Barcík Peter, Ing., Ph.D.

8. Picture and video quality in multimedia systems for virtual reality

   Nowadays, demand for multimedia systems supporting technology virtual reality (VR) in different application fields is rapidly increasing. Thanks to progress in display technology and affordable end user devices, there are numerous Head-Mounted Devices (HMDs) and accessories for watching 180/360-degree pictures and videos. For massive providing of multimedia services with such content in appropriate quality, advanced video compression algorithms with high efficiency are vital. Next, methods to assess the quality of panoramic picture/video on both objective and subjective level are also important. This dissertation thesis focuses on modern video coding algorithms for compression of 180/360-degree pictures and videos. Attention should be also devoted to the study of objective and subjective metrics to assess quality of 180/360-degree pictures and videos. The outputs of this work, besides the definition of requirements on compression algorithms for 180/360-degree picture and video, should introduce appropriate methods for 180/360-degree picture and video quality assessment with high reproducibility on both objective and subjective levels.

   Tutor: Polák Ladislav, doc. Ing., Ph.D.

9. Qualitative and quantitative behavioral analysis of nonlinear electronic systems

   Project is focused into the area of precision modeling of the nonideal nonlinear and parasitic accummulation properties of the subsystems dedicated for radio-frequency signal processing. By using derived mathematical models and new numerical algorithms areas of the chaotic behavior in the hyperspace of the internal system parameters will be localized. These dynamical systems will be considered both as autonomous as well as driven in order to generalize approaches to full scale of analog functional blocks of the radio-frequency channel. Existence of strange attractors and other specific solutions will be confirmed experimentally using equivalent anlog circuits.

   Tutor: Petržela Jiří, doc. Ing., Ph.D.

10. UAV detection and localization by MIMO radars

    Small-sized propellers have low radar cross section (RCS) values [1]. On the other hand, the rotation of propellers causes a significant periodic fluctuation of the radar echo [1], [2]. This unique feature of periodic fluctuations registered by rotating blades is in an agreement with micro-Doppler theory. Radar signatures contributed by rotating blades of drones usually refer to the kinematical micro-Doppler phenomenon on spectrograms. The mapping between the micro-Doppler signature and the rotation characteristics of blades does not always require a long time. Theoretically, when the observation time is short enough that the instant micro-Doppler produced by rotating blades become the “blade flash” in the time domain and the rotor blade modulation in the spectrum. The dissertation is aimed to conduct polarimetric analysis based on RCS and micro-Doppler simulations of small drones [3], [4]. The thesis should provide theoretical support for the practical radar system design for detecting small drones. The situations of multiple rotors, different blade configurations and different altitude angles need to be completed as well. References [1] T. PETO; S. BILICZ; L. SZUCS; S. GYIMÓTHY; J. PÁVÓ; The radar cross section of small propellers on unmanned aerial vehicles. In Proc. 10th Eur. Conf. Antennas Propag., 2016, pp. 1–4. doi:10.1109/EuCAP.2016.7481645. [2] R. NAKAMURA; H. HADAMA; Characteristics of ultra-wideband radar echoes from a drone. IEICE Commun. Express, vol. 6, no. 9, pp. 530–534, 2017. doi:10.1109/WiSNeT46826.2020.9037614. [3] T. LI; B. WEN; Y. TIAN; Z. LI; S. WANG; Numerical simulation and experimental analysis of small drone rotor blade polarimetry based on RCS and micro-doppler signature. In IEEE Antennas Wireless Propag. Lett., vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 187–191, Jan. 2018. doi:10.1109/LAWP.2018.2885373. [4] J. GONG; J. YAN; D. LI; R. CHEN; F. TIAN; Z. YAN; Theoretical and Experimental Analysis of Radar Micro-Doppler Signature Modulated by Rotating Blades of Drones. In IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, vol. 19, no. 10, pp. 1659-1663, Oct. 2020, doi:10.1109/LAWP.2020.3013012.

    Tutor: Götthans Tomáš, doc. Ing., Ph.D.