Working Student (f/m/x) - Embedded Software Development for Swarm Navigation and Communications

The DLR Institute of Communications and Navigation is dedicated to mission-oriented research in selected areas of communications and navigation. Its work ranges from the theoretical foundations to the demonstration of new procedures and systems in a real environment and is embedded in DLR's Space, Aeronautics, Transport, Security and Digitalization programmes.

What to expect

In decentralized swarm systems, achieving reliable navigation in GNSS-denied environments remains a critical challenge. The DLR's swarm navigation framework addresses this by leveraging inter-agent ranging to establish a self-organizing localization network. However, running these real-time algorithms requires efficient execution on resource-constrained hardware. Working in close collaboration with the team, you will support the practical implementation and architectural design of the DLR swarm navigation system for microcontrollers and single-board computers.

Your tasks

• contribute to the design of a hardware-independent, modular software architecture to enable flexible deployment across various hardware platforms
• implement and test software modules to execute the DLR swarm navigation algorithms on microcontrollers and single-board computers
• jointly design and conduct practical system tests
• document the developed software architecture and code structures

Your profile

• student in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Mechatronics, or a related field
• strong programming skills in C++ or Rust for hardware-near development
• experience with embedded systems (e.g., ESP32, Raspberry Pi)
• good knowledge of software engineering, including Clean Code, Design Patterns, and Software Architectures
• familiarity with modern development tools like Git and CI/CD pipelines

We look forward to getting to know you!

If you have any questions about this position (Vacancy-ID 5994) please contact:

Dr. Christian Gentner

Tel.: +49 8153 28 2890