2025-08-13
Harvard University
Other
/yr
employee
contract
Cambridge
Massachusetts
02163
United States
Harvard University
Title: Postdoctoral Fellow in On-Premise Computing for Autonomous Vehicles (Computer Architecture, Machine Learning and Runtime Systems)
School: Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Department_Area: Electrical Engineering/Computer Engineering/Computer Science
Position Description: Project
Deep learning plays an essential role in the operation of an autonomous vehicle (AV), allowing for automated detection, prediction, mapping, and planning. During the vehicle's operation, data is obtained through a myriad of sensors in an AV-including RADAR , LIDAR , cameras, and other advanced driver assistance systems ( ADAS ) sensors. These sensors generate a vast amount of data concurrently, which need real-time processing (latency-bound throughput) for vehicle safety. A crucial challenge meeting this requirement is the simultaneous need for low-power consumption.
The main objective of the project is to develop a complete end-to-end high-performance DNN system for on-premise computing applications-mainly for a SWaP-constrained AV-using hybrid electro-photonic accelerators. We propose to design and prototype a complete electro-photonic computing (EPiC) system (CPUs + accelerators), integrate it with the sensors in AV, and demonstrate its capability to perform perception, mapping, and planning while overcoming the power and performance limitations of CMOS -only computers. As our end goal, we plan to demonstrate a fully autonomous buggy that uses our EPiC system.
This project is a collaboration among Lightmatter, Boston University, and Harvard University. The Lightmatter team is led by Dr. Darius Bunandar, the Boston University team is led by Prof. Ajay Joshi, and the Harvard University team is led by Prof. Vijay Janapa Reddi.
Role
Our team has two postdoctoral researcher openings. The postdoctoral researchers will be jointly supervised by Prof. Joshi at Boston University and Prof. Reddi at Harvard University. The appointment is for one year with an optional second year, subject to performance and availability of funds. The expected start date is January 1, 2022.
Responsibilities
The responsibilities of the postdoctoral researcher include:
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