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Internship / Master Thesis Student Multi-Path Transport Protocols (m/f/d)
Job Description
Req ID:  6495
Place of work:  Oberpfaffenhofen
Starting date:  01.12.2026
Career level:  Internship, Student research project and final thesis
Type of employment:  Full-time, Part time
Duration of contract:  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 12,000 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 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

One area of work within the Satellite Networks Division is the Integrated Satellite Systems Research Group, which focuses on the design and development of new concepts for secure, satellite-based communication systems and their integration with other systems, adopting an application-oriented approach. In particular, the systems under consideration cover the entire spectrum of satellite communication applications within the context of integrating Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTNs) into 5G and 6G networks. These include mobile and broadband satellite systems, systems for commercial or government applications, as well as IoT and edge computing applications.

The internship/thesis focuses on the performance evaluation of multi-path transport protocols such as MPTCP and MPQUIC for 6G integrated terrestrial and non-terrestrial networks (NTNs), as well as the design of AI/ML algorithms (e.g. Deep Reinforcement Learning, Q-Learning) for traffic scheduling across these networks. The work will be based on reference implementations of the two protocols, which may be extended and tested using Linux systems.

Your tasks

  • Conducting a fundamental literature review on the state of the art
  • Setting up the reference transport protocols (MPTCP/MPQUIC)
  • Designing and implementation of an AI/ML solution for path selection
  • Conducting performance tests in a Linux environment with emulated NTN and terrestrial networks
  • Analyzing the results obtained

Your profile

  • A completed bachelor’s degree in engineering (e.g., electrical engineering, information technology, or telecommunications) or a related degree programme
  • Knowledge in the field of telecommunications engineering, particularly in the area of communications networks
  • Strong software engineering skills, as well as knowledge of communication protocols and network/system simulation
  • Practical experience with the Linux operating system
  • Excellent English skills
  • Desirable: A good understanding of satellite communications and experience in the Go programming language

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 6495) please contact:

Benjamin Barth

Tel.: +49 (0) 8153 28 4259