Summary
BBC R&D has a worldwide reputation for contributing to, and leading, the engineering, research and development of many key broadcast and media technologies. The research work is mainly on new technologies which are expected to be rolled out over a 1-to-5-year timescale and require both in-depth theoretical knowledge and a practical approach to potential deployment.
The team you’ll be working in concentrates on technologies for the delivery of the BBC’s services to people on the move – over both today’s 4G/5G mobile broadband networks and looking ahead to upcoming 6G and satellite systems – with a focus on Radio Access Network (RAN) aspects.
We research fundamental physical-layer techniques such as MIMO, emerging technologies such as Rate Splitting Multiple Access and build prototype hardware and software to evaluate and demonstrate the benefits of these in the real world. We often work with partners in collaborative projects and industry forums such as the 5G Media Action Group. We work in international standards bodies such as 3GPP to ensure emerging standards meet the BBC’s needs and requirements.
As a Senior R&D Engineer you utilise a mix of skills. Some work will involve prototyping and software development to demonstrate novel technical Radio Access Network solutions and being responsible for our cloud-based, open-source 5G Stand Alone testbed, often in collaboration with external organisations. You will also take the lead to evolve our testbed to incorporate new relevant features of 5G-Advanced and future 6G capabilities.
Key Responsibilities and Accountabilities
- Apply creative thinking, analysis and good judgement to propose innovative solutions to technical problems which may involve a range of diverse approaches and resolving conflicting issues.
- Produce and test prototype modem implementations to help answer research questions.
Transfer results of work to the wider BBC and encourage others to do so in the form of systems for operational use or advice, or to wider industry via inputs to standards bodies, open source software, or licensing to manufacturers, in order to ensure that the work has an impact. - Evaluate technology through activities such as programme trials, lab tests and user tests to determine its suitability and effectiveness.
- Document results for an audience within the department or wider BBC, including external-facing output such as conference papers and blog posts.
- Provide advice and consultancy to help the BBC and its external partners make the best decisions within own field of expertise.
- Use persuasion and facilitation skills to gain cooperation of groups across the BBC and externally, and negotiate agreements to advance collaborative projects.
- Represent the BBC at events such as exhibitions and demonstrations to explain their work and help with recruitment.
- Represent the BBC in international standards bodies and similar forums to create a smooth operating environment for the BBC.
Are you right for this role
You’ll have:
- A degree in Electronic Engineering, Computer Science, Physics, Mathematics or a closely related subject;
- In-depth knowledge of the modulation and coding schemes of LTE (4G) and New Radio (5G) Radio Access Network (RAN) mobile technologies and how these interface with the 4G and 5G system;
- Experience of implementing real-time prototype radio systems using Software Defined Radio (SDR) techniques, either from standards or to prove internally-generated ideas;
- Excellent software development skills for real-time implementation of SDR systems in Linux using C++ (or equivalent) and experience of developing and contributing to open-source software and version control (e.g. git);
- Knowledge of the practicalities of evaluating and measuring Radio Frequency (RF) systems;
- An ability to produce a high standard of documentation of your work, such as through contributions to standards, academic & conference papers or wikis;
- Experience of deploying software on cloud-computing infrastructure (e.g. OpenStack, AWS, Ansible);
- Experience of working on and leading input into collaborative projects.
