Offre en lien avec l’Action/le Réseau : – — –/– — –

Laboratoire/Entreprise : Laboratoire des signaux et syst`emes (L2S)
Durée : between 4 and 6 mont
Contact : stefano.fortunati@centralesupelec.fr
Date limite de publication : 2024-05-31

Contexte :
One of the key features characterizing the new generation of radio telescopes is the large number of their antenna elements. Built in 2010, the Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR) is currently the largest radio telescope in operation with 100000 antenna dipoles distributed across several European countries. Furthermore, the upcoming Square-Kilometer Array (SKA) will be made up of more than 130000 antennas. Such a large number of antennas will make it possible to acquire increasingly accurate and detailed images of the celestial vault. Such images will form the basis for promising developments in astrophysics and cosmology in the coming years.
However, as in any other remote sensing system, the signal collected by a radio telescope is affected by different sources of disturbance that will degrade the quality of the collected image. Consequently, to take full advantage of the potential of the new radio telescopes, one must first take the disturbance into account. In general, this disturbance is characterized as a zero-mean Gaussian random process with possibly unknown correlation structure.
Then, the crucial question is: is it possible to derive robust imaging algorithms, without any assumption on the specific form of the noise distribution, and that still remain accurate? If yes, which is the price to pay?

Sujet :
This internship is part of the“SIDEREAL” project. The objectives
of the internship are the following:
1. Building upon the existing works, we will adapt the array signal model to the context of radio telescopes. Particular attention will be devoted to the disturbance model to be used in astronomical data analysis and on its statistical description.
2. After these preliminary investigations, the project will focus on the development of original image reconstruction algorithms for radio astronomy by exploiting the massive number of antenna elements available in modern radio telescopes. Their performance and statistical properties will be assessed by means of simulated data.

Profil du candidat :
Master 2 or equivalent in machine learning / statistical signal processing or any related field

Formation et compétences requises :
Statistical signal processing, estimation theory, programming skills in Matlab or Python.

Adresse d’emploi :
Laboratoire des signaux et systèmes (L2S), Bât. IBM, Rue Alfred Kastler, 91400 Orsay.

Document attaché : 202311021052_Internship_proposal_SF_LB.pdf