Rikshospitalet-Radiumhospitalet Medical Centre HF
Interventional Centre (IVS)
1 Post doctoral fellow position in Wireless biomedical sensor
network in the SAMPOS project for 2 years
The Interventional Centre at Rikshospitalet-Radiumhospitalet Medical
Centre HF, (http://www.ivs.no), has 1 Post doctoral fellow position
available.
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The position is available for 2 years and is to be filled as soon
as possible.
The position is normally allocated to people who hold a PhD
degree or similar.
The candidate should have a solid background in signal processing
and communications. It is also desirable that the candidate has
knowledge in software development using C/MATLAB.
Applications with all necessary enclosures must be received by
May 1, 2007.
The position is funded by the Research Council of Norway (NFR) within
the VERDIKT program. The project is on strategies for seamless
deployment of mobile patient monitoring systems (SAMPOS) and is a joint
effort
among
Rikshospitalet-Radiumhospitalet
Medical
Centre,
the
Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim,
SINTEF ICT in Trondheim, Norwegian Computing Center in Oslo, and ABB
Research in Oslo. International collaborators are EPFL Switzerland, KTH
Sweden and Massachusetts Medical Center, USA. The goal of the project
is to develop more basic understanding of, and novel and more efficient
(principles) methods for signal processing and communication in
wireless biomedical sensor networks. The project will mainly address
basic research, for improved energy-efficiency, quality-of-service
(QoS),
and
robustness.
For
more
information,
please
visit
http://www.ivs.no/sampos.
More information on this project and similar projects can be found at
http://www.ivs.no/wsn
Job description - Collaborative Context Aware Signal Processing
---------------------------------------------------------------
Background
Several clinical applications require that a combination of multiple
biomedical sensors measuring the same physiological parameter in
different locations on the tissue as well as a number of different
biomedical sensors measuring different physiological parameters are
needed. In clinical applications, the location of sensor nodes and the
environment are often defined. Context awareness, i.e., some knowledge
of the environment, will provide information to maximize overall
utility of the sensor network. Realistic models need to take
considerations such as interferences from other biomedical devices as
well as home appliances, path-loss due to signal transmission through
tissues, and low power emission and radiation. Schmidt et al. studied
the use of context awareness for adapting the operating parameters of a
GSM cell phone and a personal digital assistant. In a four-layer
architecture, the lowest layer is the sensor layer, which consists of
hardware part of the sensor. For each sensor, a number of cues are
created. Cues are abstractions of a sensor and allow calibration and
post-processing. When a sensor is replaced by one of a different type,
only the cues are modified. Cues typically include average of the
sensor data over a given interval, standard deviation over the same
interval, distance between first and third quartiles, and first
derivate of the sensor data. In this regard, context aware signal
processing algorithms that run on each sensor node may be a good trade
off between improved performance and low energy use.
Proposed research activities
The efficient processing of data in different layers is required, where
a short range radio is used for communication among sensor nodes in a
cluster. This is an attempt in addressing the problem of how much
information should be exchanged between nodes for distributed decision
making in sensor networks. One sensor node receives data from other
nodes. The sensor layer processes data and makes a decision. This leads
to data reduction down to a few bits. This information is placed on a
very short data packet that is sent to all other nodes in the cluster.
The nodes update their tentative decisions. These decisions are
rebroadcast to all nodes. The number of iterations depends on the
distributed algorithm.
Biomedical sensors obtain samples at different time intervals. As an
example we can assume that a temperature sensor will produce samples at
every 5 minutes whereas an ECG will produce samples at every 5
milliseconds.
This means the sensors are operating in different
sampling intervals. Our research focus will be utilizing a priori
knowledge of the sensor’s characteristics and the application it is
addressing, where sensor nodes are labeled with high, medium, and low
priority. The strategy, an algorithm for multi-parameter analysis will
be developed to activate inactive sensor nodes based on their
priorities and estimated decisions. The estimation of decisions will be
based
on
inter
node
communication
as
well
as
physiological
characteristics defined in medicine. We will also address strategies
for processing the raw data at the sensor nodes, gateway, and health
terminal based on bandwidth capacity, power consumption, available
random access memory and processor speed based some of the ideas in
MPEG-21.
About the Interventional Centre
------------------------------The Interventional Centre is a research and development department,
established for advancing the field of image guided and minimally
invasive therapy. The centre is unique in that doctors and engineers
work together in multidisciplinary groups in a clinical setting. The
research work at the center has been focused on the following three
areas; MRI, X-ray, ultrasound, video-guided interventions and surgery;
Robotics and simulators; and Biosensors, medical signal processing, and
communications. There are ongoing 23 PhD programs in both medical as
well as technical areas, where many of these are in collaboration with
other institutions and universities. In addition to patient treatment,
several animal procedures are performed. Lately, three spin-off
companies have been established in the areas of biosensors and surgical
simulators. We coordinate, ARISER, a project funded by the European
Union on Augmented Reality in Surgery and participate in CREDO, on
biosensor network. We also have several projects on biomedical sensors
funded by the Research Council of Norway, Innovation Norway and Nordic
Innovation Centre. Annually approximately 15 master students from the
NTNU in Trondheim and the University of Oslo perform their theses. For
more information, please visit: http://www.ivs.no/
Terms of employment
------------------The position is available for up to two years. The salary and terms at
the Rikshospitalet-Radiumhospitalet Medical Centre are in accordance
with Norwegian state regulations. Salary will be at NOK 380 000 – 430
000, (approximately US $ 61 400 – 69 500), depending on qualifications
and relevant work experiences. Full salary during illness and five
weeks paid holidays are according to the state regulations.
Further details
--------------For further information on the position, please contact
Professor Ilangko Balasingham, email ilangkob at klinmed.uio.no, phone
+47 23 07 01 01 or Section Manager Dr. Ole Jakob Elle, email
ole.jakob.elle at rikshospitalet.no phone +47 23 07 01 12.
How to apply
-----------Applications must include complete information about education at
bachelor, master and PhD levels, and documented scientific experience.
Women are especially encouraged to apply.
The application should contain following items:
1. cover letter with a statement of your interest
2. curriculum vitae
3. certified copies of transcripts for Bachelor, Master and pHD
degrees and course work
4. minimum two letters of recommendations and three references
5. list of publications containing a short description of the work
and where it was published
6. Samples papers
Send application to Professor Ilangko Balasingham, Interventional
Centre, Rikshospitalet-Radiumhospitalet Medical Centre, 0027 Oslo,
NORWAY.
Applications may also be submitted electronically to ilangkob at
klinmed.uio.no before May 1, 2007. Please avoid sending large
attachments by email.