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Master student / Internship (m/f/d) in Information Technology or Physics
Job Description
Req ID:  6412
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 month

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

Optical free space communications are an exciting technology under intense development to provide secure high bandwidth communications to all areas of the world. In order to provide reliable light reception at the Optical Ground Station, Adaptive Optics is used to sense wave-front aberrations in the light and correct it in real-time. This requires high optical precision, high performance control systems and accurate calibration procedures.

Your tasks

In this role, you will be responsible for implementing suitable real time approaches to our adaptive optics software.
Your duties will include:

  • Defining the real-time requirements of the adaptive optics control loop
  • Evaluating suitable solutions. E.g. Linux-based real-time solutions, such as Ubuntu with the PREEMPT_RT real-time kernel
  • Introducing real-time thread scheduling, thread priorities and CPU affinity
  • Evaluating memory locking, preallocation and other techniques for avoiding unpredictable delays
  • Optimising communication between the camera, wavefront-processing, controller and deformable-mirror components
  • Investigating the influence of network and middleware communication on control-loop timing
  • Developing a reproducible configuration and deployment procedure for the real-time system

Your profile

Familiarity with some of the following is desirable:

  • C++,
  • Git
  • CMake
  • Linux Environment
  • Python
  • Docker containers
  • Real time systems

 

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 6412) please contact:

Dr. Douglas Laidlaw

Tel.: +49 (0) 8153 28 4522