Development / System / Network engineer for CorteXlab

Inria Villeurbanne; Villeurbanne; On-site; EUR 45,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

CorteXlab in Villeurbanne is seeking an engineer to operate and develop its SDR research platform. You will manage a Debian/Linux-based environment, automate deployment, and maintain software and hardware to support cutting-edge radio experiments.

You will contribute to the platform by coding in Python, scripting in shell, and integrating tools like Docker and Ansible, while coordinating with researchers and the technical director for ongoing platform evolution.

Qualifications

• Autonomy and ability to work in a small team on complex experimental platforms.
• Strong programming skills in Python or quick adaptation to Python development.
• Good knowledge of GNU/Linux systems, especially Debian.
• Experience with virtualization or containers is a plus.
• Networking basics (IPv4/IPv6, VLANs, DNS, DHCP, NFS, LDAP).
• DevOps practices: version control, automated deployment and configuration (Ansible or Puppet).
• Nice to have experience with Docker images and platform maintenance.

Responsibilities

• Operate the CorteXlab platform (Unix system administration) and maintain or develop software for the platform.
• Automate deployment and configuration of services using configuration tools.
• Develop and maintain platform software, with Python as primary language and shell scripting when needed.
• Interoperate with other scientific platforms and possibly other languages such as Ruby.
• Maintain or install hardware, including servers, compute nodes, switches, routers, and SDR nodes.
• Collaborate with researchers to understand needs and provide support.
• Write or maintain documentation.

Skills

Autonomy

Python

System administration

GNU/Linux

Debian

Virtual machines

Containers

Networking

DevOps

Git

Ansible

Puppet

Docker

Documentation

Teamwork

Tools

Ansible

Puppet

Docker

Git

GNU Radio

OAR Scheduler

Job description

Context

CorteXlab (https://www.cortexlab.fr) is an experimental testbed dedicated to radio communication research, specifically designed for Software Defined Radio experiments. It is hosted in the CITI lab (https://www.citi-lab.fr/), INSA Lyon.

With its 180m² EM shielded room that ensures experiment reproducibility and its 40 high-end SDR-capable radio nodes, CorteXlab provides a unique setup to experiment on new state-of-the-art radio techniques.

A major update of the platform hardware and software is planned for the following years, as well as the integration of the platform in the larger scale European SLICES-FR project (http://slices-ri.eu/), which aims at providing a large scale experimental platform in the domains of network protocols, radio technologies, Cloud, Edge and data services, as well as distributed and parallel computation.

This fixed-length contract is initially two years long, and we have the funding for renewing it two more years, so we are searching for a candidate who is willing to stay for the four years.

Assignment

The recruited engineer will be part of the CorteXlab team of four people, which gathers both radio communication and signal processing specialists, as well as development / system / network engineers.

He or she will work under the supervision of both the researchers defining the strategic orientation of the platform developments, and the technical director for the maintenance and development of the platform infrastructure.

He or she will be tasked to operate the platform (unix system administration), maintain, improve, or develop the software needed to run the platform (debugging, maintenance, evolution of custom in-house developed software, as well as deployment and configuration of off the shelf software, middlewares and services), and maintain existing hardware or install new hardware (servers, network equipments, and specific scientific devices such as software defined radio devices).

The aim of this work is to allow researchers to conduct innovating scientific experiments

Main activities

• In a GNU/Linux Debian environment, contribute to the integration, administration or development of services needed for the operation of the platform. Some of these services are of the shelf standard common components (eg. NFS, DNS, DHCP, ...), while others are more specific (eg. OAR Batch scheduler http://oar.imag.fr/) and some are custom.
• Automate the deployment and configuration of most of the platform services with configuration tools (such as Ansible, Puppet). Until now, these tasks have been done with a custom tool and our goal is to switch to an of the shelf solution such as Ansible (https://www.ansible.com/).
• Contribute to the development, integration and maintenance of the software running the platform. Programming language is mainly Python, especially for the service piloting the experiments, with parts of the code in shell scripting language. Inter operation with other scientific platforms may also require other languages, such as Ruby.
• Contribute to the maintenance or creation of Docker images providing the software stack for running experiments (in particular: GNU Radio https://www.gnuradio.org/)
• Maintain or install hardware, such as servers, compute nodes, switches, routers, as well as SDR nodes such as NI / Ettus USRP radio nodes (https://www.ettus.com/product-categories/usrp-x-series/)
• Contribute to the maintenance or evolution of the platform network
• Interact with the users of the platform (CorteXlab scientific team as well as larger scientific community using the platform) to understand their needs and provide help and support
• Write or maintain documentation

Skills

• Autonomy
• Good programming skills in Python, or alternatively very good skills in other programming languages ensuring a quick adaptation in a Python development environment
• Good skills in system administration.
• Good knowledge of GNU/Linux systems, in particular Debian. Some knowledge / experience with virtual machines or containers are a plus.
• Networking skills: basic knowledge of IPv4, IPv6, 802.1q VLans, basic network services (DNS, DHCP, NFS, LDAP, ...)
• Good practices in Devops style development: version control (git), automatic deployment and configuration (Ansible or Puppet or similar technologies)
• Good team work
• Beginner or first professional experience accepted