The Department of Physics is seeking a Research Fellow to contribute to our research into free-space optical communications and space situational awareness.

A candidate for the Research Fellow position will be expected to perform the following tasks:

• Analysing satellite image data, and preparing international peer-reviewed journal articles presenting these results,
• Creating a data pipeline to collect and store the images from the one or more all-sky cameras, writing or adapting existing code to estimate cloud coverage from the images, and providing time-series data of cloud cover fraction, and preparing international peer-reviewed journal articles presenting these results,
• Writing new or adapting existing mount control software as required to optimise telescope tracking of LEO satellites,
• Creating or adapting an existing database solution for collecting data from the Miratlas system, and preparing international peer-reviewed journal articles presenting these results.
• Overseeing the installation of a remotely operable observatory dome, configuring the complete observatory system to be remotely operable, installing and configuring existing mount control software to enable telescope tracking of LEO satellites,
• Performing tracking observations of Earth-orbiting satellites and collecting image data,
• Installing one or more all-sky cameras at selected sites across New Zealand,
• Overseeing the installation of a Miratlas Integrated Seeing Monitor and Long Wave Infra-Red all-sky camera at the University of Canterbury Mount John Observatory.

Tagged as: engineering, research, science