Deadline: 30 October, 2012
Open to: UK/EU and International applicants who have at least an upper second class (2:1) undergraduate honours degree (or equivalent) in communications, electronic/electrical engineering, or a related discipline
Scholarship: The scholarship will cover the full academic fee and provide a maintenance allowance of £13,590 per year for a maximum of 3 years.
Description
The growing trend in cloud computing is rising the need for building massive data centers capable of holding hundreds to thousands of servers that sustain and support a variety of services (e. g., web-search, video content hosting and distribution, social networking and large-scale computations). The interconnection network infrastructure of the data center is key to its cost, performance and feasibility. Independent of the interconnection topology of the data center network, high-performance switches and routers are the key building block of its infrastructure and, therefore, the capability of the data center in all its aspects largely depends on the capability of its switches and routers. While high-performance switch design has been studied in the context of data networking and telecom areas, little research has been conducted into designing switching architectures for data center networks.
The objective of this research is to design switching architectures for data center infrastructure capable of handling the projected growth of data centers. The focus of the research will be on scalable switching architectures topologies as well as switch resource allocation and flow control algorithms for data center networks.
The studentship will involve theoretical analysis, computer simulation and hardware implementation, underpinned by strong theoretical understanding. It is suitable for a motivated student who has the equivalent to an UK classification (2:1) honours degree minimum, in electronic/electrical engineering, preferably with good knowledge in communication techniques.
About the School
The School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at Leeds was ranked top for Electronic and Electrical Engineering in the UK in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise. The research will be undertaken in the Institute of Integrated Information Systems, which comprises over 60 people, including 10 academic staff. It has an international reputation for excellence across a broad range of modern electronic engineering research. Our current activities include signal processing for communications, communications theory, sensor networks, ultrasonics, optical communication, and communication networks.
Scholarship
The studentship is open to UK/EU and International applicants. The scholarship will cover the full academic fee and provide a maintenance allowance of £13,590 per year for a maximum of 3 years.
Academic Requirements
Candidates should have at least an upper second class (2:1) undergraduate honours degree (or equivalent) in communications, electronic/electrical engineering, or a related discipline. Applicants are expected to have good experimental, mathematical and software skills, and good knowledge in communication systems and theory. Expertise in hardware design is an asset.
How to Apply
Prior to submitting an application, you are encouraged to discuss your suitability. Informal enquiries can be made via:
Dr Lotfi Mhamdi, School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University of Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK
+44(0)1133436919, l.mhamdi@leeds.ac.uk
Formal applications for research degree study should be made on-line. Please state clearly on the funding section of the application form that you wish to be considered for the “Scalable Switching Architectures for Next-Generation Data Center Networks” scholarship. In the research information section please state the name Dr Lotfi Mhamdi. The closing date for applications is 30 October 2012 with a commencement date of early 2013.
