Organisation/Company Universidad Politecnica de Cartagena Research Field Engineering » Computer engineering Researcher Profile First Stage Researcher (R1) Positions Bachelor Positions Application Deadline 11 Mar 2026 - 23:59 (Europe/Madrid) Country Spain Type of Contract Temporary Job Status Full-time Hours Per Week 35 Offer Starting Date 15 Mar 2026 Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme? Not funded by a EU programme Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure? No
Offer DescriptionTECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF CARTAGENA, A CALL FOR APPLICATIONS IS ANNOUNCED FOR THE EMPLOYMENT CONTRACTING OF SCIENTIFIC-TECHNICAL ACTIVITIES FOR RESEARCH PERSONNEL GROUP II IN THE RESEARCH AREA OF DEVELOPMENT AND INTEGRATION SOFTWARE FOR LPWAN COMMUNICATIONS IN MESH TOPOLOGIES. (CALL CODE C-006/26).
Deadline for submission of applications: March 11.
TITLE OF THE POSITION OFFERED: Hardware/Software Development Engineer.
PROFESSIONAL CATEGORY: GROUP II. Intermediate Level Qualification (Diploma, Technical Engineer or equivalent).
REQUIRED QUALIFICATION: Graduate in Telecommunications Systems Engineering, Graduate in Telematics Engineering, Graduate in Computer Engineering, Double Degree in Mathematics and Computer Engineering.
In the case of degrees obtained abroad (including EU degrees), candidates must provide proof that they hold the corresponding validation or credential certifying, where applicable, the equivalence of their degree.
WEEKLY DEDICATION: The position will be part-time, and the workweek will be 35 hours, carried out from Monday to Thursday, from 9 am to 2 pm and from 4 pm to 6:30 pm.
GROSS ANNUAL REMUNERATION: The employee will receive an annual gross salary of 26.071,36 euros.
PROJECT TITLE: Development and integration of software for LPWAN communications in mesh topologies.
DURATION: The term of this contract shall be linked to the budgetary availability of the aforementioned line of research. Current R&D&I activity: "EVALUATION OF THE ARISE PROJECT ON NON-CONVENTIONAL SMART NETWORKS CONVENTIONAL SMART GRIDS: DECENTRALISED MESH TOPOLOGY AND ROUTING RESOURCES IN LPWAN", reference project PDC2025-165710-C22 funded by MICIU/AEI /10.13039/501100011033.
INTENDED DATE OF DEPUTY EMPLOYMENT: 15/03/2026.
TASKS TO BE CARRIED OUT:
A low-power custom electronic board will be developed, featuring native support for UART, I2C, and SPI wired communication protocols. The design will incorporate a custom LPWAN wireless implementation, enabling the opening of communication options across frequency bands within the 700–2200 MHz range, thus ensuring flexibility across different regulatory and application contexts. Furthermore, the board will include GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) capabilities for geolocation using systems such as GPS (Global Positioning System), Galileo, QZSS (Quasi‐Zenith Satellite System), and GLONASS (Globalnaya Navigatsionnaya Sputnikovaya Sistema), with power‐optimized operation to support energy‐constrained deployments. Specifically, the custom LPWAN board will target an idle power consumption of 20 mW, making it well‐suited for large‐scale, battery‐powered LPWAN IoT deployments. The electronic architecture will also be designed to ensure broad compatibility with a wide range of embedded platforms and microcontrollers, facilitating seamless integration and scalability within diverse IoT environments.
A non‐cellular, decentralized protocol implementation will be developed to enable LPWAN networks with 5G‐grade performance. This implementation will be specifically optimized for seamless integration with the custom low‐power electronic device developed in Task T1.2. The protocol will support two types of multi‐hop topologies, advanced tree‐based and full mesh, ensuring adaptability to a wide range of deployment scenarios. These topologies will allow self‐discovery algorithms for new terminals, enabling dynamic routing and an autonomous management system with the ability to adapt radio, channel, and network characteristics. This network architecture also enables extended coverage, making it suitable for large‐scale and remote applications. Support for both random and scheduled access procedures will allow the network to accommodate a diverse set of use cases, including telemetry, voice, and video transmission. Although the network is designed to operate in fully private deployments, to thus extend coverage area, adjust multi‐hop routing schemes between nodes, and to facilitate traffic redistribution, connectivity with the broader internet will be possible through a custom bridge device offering Ethernet, 5G, or Wi‐Fi backhaul options. A key feature of this LPWAN implementation is its adaptive solution including AI‐based network resource management, which enables dynamic network reconfiguration in response to node mobility, new devices, degradation, or failure. This capability significantly enhances the resilience and continuity of service, making the network well‐suited for demanding and mission‐critical IoT environments.
POSITION SUSCEPTIBLE TO TELEWORKING: no.
MERITS TO BE ASSESSED AND EVALUATION CRITERIA:
Academic background (20%): The academic record corresponding to the degree required for admission to the position will be assessed, as well as the Master's Degree in Telecommunications Engineering.
Specific training (20%): Knowledge of embedded firmware (ARM Cortex‐M, ESP32, STM32, nRF, etc.).
Knowledge of RTOS (FreeRTOS, Zephyr).
Knowledge of communications buses (UART, SPI, I2C).
Knowledge of embedded Linux.
Knowledge of development tools and version control (Git).
Knowledge of FrontEnd (Grafana, Flutter).
Knowledge of cybersecurity.
Knowledge of IoT.
Professional experience (20%): Having worked on university research projects in the field of telecommunications/computer engineering.
Experience in industrial engineering, IoT or telecommunications products/projects.
Experience in communications layer programming, especially low layers, synchronisation, PHY/MAC or related systems.
Languages (10%): B2 or higher.
Other merits (10%): Industrial communications: CAN, Modbus, Profibus, Development of multimedia/streaming services, Low‐level knowledge: memory management, interrupts, timers, power management.
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