positions

Task: 1-Bit Foundation Models for Smart Farming (WP4)

Host institution: IMDEA/SFI

Country: Spain

Supervisor: Prof. D. Giustiniano [IMDEA] / D. Frometa (SFI)

Co-supervisors: Prof. J. Yang [TU Delft]; Prof. D. Giustiniano [IMDEA]; Dr. D. Pau [ST]

Objectives: 1) To design a data curation pipeline that collects farming data of different modalities and different quality (e.g., depending on local IoT sensor processors), 2) To develop a data integration pipeline that integrates farming data into highly energy-efficient 1-bit foundation models (BitFM) that can be deployed on edge devices in the farm, with a decision mechanism for the activation of data integration pipeline taking into account the network situation, the amount of harvested energy, and the frequency of tasks, 3) To design cost-efficient strategies to improve reliability of trained BitFM by augmenting its responses with output from proprietary FMs (e.g. GPT-4) when necessary.

Expected Results: 1) Definition of suitable emerging Agritech use cases to apply 1-bit foundation models; 2) System architecture of data curation and integration into BitFM for smart farming, and evaluation in different network and energy conditions; 3) Methods for fine-tuning
low-confidence responses of BitFM by integrating proprietary FMs, tested in realistic deployments in smart agriculture.

PhD enrolment: Doctoral School of UC3M

Planned secondments: 

• TU Delft (4 months, M23-M26): design of the system architecture for data integration into BitFM, with Prof. J. Yang (KPI: joint paper)

• UNIFR (4 months, M35-M38): evaluation of the complete system on UNIFR computing infrastructure (KPI: joint paper)

Candidate profile: telecommunication engineering, applied mathematics, electrical engineering, computer science (in order of preference)

Desirable skills/interests: signal processing, statistical filtering, machine learning, embedded systems, applied optimization (the applicant should be proficient in at least one or two of the skills)

Application Deadline: February 14, 2025, AoE

Descriptions of all the 18 DC Positions

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