Master Thesis “Liquid Lenses for Inline Inspection”

As Austria's largest research and technology organization for applied research, we are dedicated to making substantial contributions to solving the major challenges of our time, climate change, and digitization. To achieve our goals, we rely on our specific research, development, and technology competencies, which are the basis of our commitment to excellence in all areas. With our open culture of innovation and our motivated, international teams, we are working to position AIT as Austria's leading research institution at the highest international level and to make a positive contribution to the economy and society.

Our Center for Vision, Automation & Control located in Vienna invites applications for a master's thesis position.

The objective of this Master’s thesis project is to evaluate the potential of liquid lens technology for industrial inspection, particularly for two industrially relevant use cases, including fast optical line-scanning and 3D inline computational imaging. Several industries are facing the challenge of becoming more sustainable by enhancing their production processes to use energy and material resources more efficiently. This can be supported by vision-based quality inspection systems avoiding/reducing waste during production. However, for fast optical inspection systems, required for high-throughput production processes, the limited depth of field of view of conventional optical imaging systems becomes a major obstacle. It is possible to overcome this limitation with liquid lenses, which are mature enough to be used in industrially relevant scenarios.

Your tasks:

• In this Master's thesis you will e valuate the potential of liquid lens technology for industrial inspection  and will acquire basic skills of fast line-scan imaging & precise area-scan imaging for optical 2D & 3D measurements.
• You will  review the principles & state of liquid lenses  in the industry.
• You will  determine the requirements of liquid lenses f or industrially relevant use cases.
• You will use our vision labs to  characterize liquid lenses  in terms of calibration accuracy, stability, and focus changing speed, as well as to  test the reproducibility of image acquisition  and measures derived from  2D & 3D reconstructed image data .
• Under the guidance of our team, you will  identify and propose  necessary  changes  and new additions  to the design of existing technology demonstrators  for fast line-scanning and optical 3D inline computational imaging.
• A liquid lens will be integrated into at least one technology demonstrator to  explore  these  possibilities and examine the benefits and drawbacks of liquid lenses . More particularly, you will support the  integration of the liquid lens into the demonstrator system , generate test images in the lab, and develop software to extract the experimental data for evaluation.
  
  Please note that  the integration you will address will primarily be software-related , while mechanical integration will be handled by colleagues at HVS.

• You will get familiar with cutting-edge imaging technologies that are at the forefront of application-driven research in the field.

Your qualifications as an Ingenious Partner:

• Ongoing Master’s studies in Computer Vision/Image Processing, Computer Science, Physics, Mathematics or similar
• Basic skills in computer vision and/or image processing are required
• Hands-on lab work experience with image acquisition using industrial/digital imaging is advantageous
• Programming skills in Python and C++ are advantageous
• You should have an interest in machine vision, camera calibration, optics, optical measurement, real-time communication for control tasks, and a sound background in computer vision and/or image processing
• Interest in laboratory work, as you are expected to work in the lab and learn from experienced researchers in the field of high-performance vision systems
• Interest in technology development and applied research driven by real-world problems is expected
• Good communication skills and the ability to work in a multidisciplinary team are necessary
• Very good command of English (in writing)

What to expect:

• Duration of the master’s thesis project: 6 months
• EUR 968,-- gross per month for 20 hours/week based on the collective agreement. There will be additional company benefits. As a research institution, we are familiar with the supervision and execution of master theses, and we are looking forward to supporting you accordingly!

TOMORROW TODAY - WITH YOU?

At AIT diversity and inclusion are of great importance. This is why we strive to inspire women to join our teams in the field of technology. We welcome applications from women, who will be given preference in case of equal qualifications after taking into account all relevant facts and circumstances of all applications.
 
Please submit your application documents including your CV, cover letter, and relevant certificates (transcript of records) online: https://jobs.ait.ac.at/Job/235866