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Master Thesis (f/m/x) - Analysing Ionospheric Disturbances in Airborne GNSS Data
Job Description
Req ID:  2116
Place of work:  Neustrelitz
Starting date:  01.10.2025
Career level:  Student employment
Type of employment:  Part time
Duration of contract:  initially 6 months

Remuneration: Remuneration is in accordance with the Collective Agreement for the Public Sector - Federal Government (TVöD-Bund)

Enter the fascinating world of the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e. V.; DLR) and help shape the future through research and innovation! We offer an exciting and inspiring working environment driven by the expertise and curiosity of our 11,000 employees from 100 nations and our unique infrastructure. Together, we develop sustainable technologies and thus contribute to finding solutions to global challenges. Would you like to join us in addressing this major future challenge? Then this is your place!

The Institute for Solar-Terrestrial Physics focusses on the properties and interactions of the coupled ionosphere-thermosphere-magnetosphere (ITM) system and how it is driven by energy inputs from the sun and the underlying atmosphere. Within this field of research, the Institute for Solar-Terrestrial Physics at the Neustrelitz site in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania focusses on research into space weather. The term space weather refers to the time-varying conditions on the sun and in the solar wind and their effect on the ITM system.

 

What to expect

The Space Weather Observation department is investigating new ways to gain observation data for modeling the ionosphere and its irregularities. Improvement of models is important for the detection of potential disturbances to airborne navigation, for example. The rate-of-TEC index (ROTI) is an important indicator of disturbances, which can also be derived from data of global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) but has so far been generated primarily from ground-based observations. The main task of this project is to derive ROTI from airborne GNSS observations. A data set of flight measurement of the GEOHALO mission is available for this purpose. The location of the observations, the ionospheric conditions and the aircraft parameters (speed and attitude) will be taken into account when evaluating the results.

 

Your tasks

  • Literature research and familiarization with the dataset and the generation of ionospheric indices
  • Implementation of the ROTI derivation for comprehensive data analysis
  • Reference of data: location of the observations, ionospheric/space weather conditions, and aircraft velocity/attitude
  • Statistical analysis of referenced data and presentation of the results

 

Your profile

  • completed scientific university degree (Bachelor's degree / University diploma) in natural sciences (e.g. physics) or engineering (e.g. geodesy, computer science) or other degree programmes relevant to the job
  • Strong interest in radio navigation and ionospheric factors
  • Experience in analyzing GNSS data and the necessary programming (e.g., MATLAB or Python)
  • Fluent written and spoken German and English
  • Ability to work independently and in a team

 

Remuneration is up to the German TVöD 05 depending on qualifications and assigned tasks.

 

We offer

DLR stands for diversity, appreciation and equality for all people. We promote independent work and the individual development of our employees both personally and professionally. To this end, we offer numerous training and development opportunities. Equal opportunities are of particular importance to us, which is why we want to increase the proportion of women in science and management in particular. Applicants with severe disabilities will be given preference if they are qualified.

We look forward to getting to know you!

If you have any questions about this position (Vacancy-ID 2116) please contact:

 

Maximilian Semmling 
Tel.: +49 3981 480 203
Apply now