A Short-Term Scientific Mission (STSM) is a short project that can be carried out in a hosting University in a different country. It is a grant that OpenSense provides to young researchers and early career scientists.

The period of the mission can be a few months,  usually from 1 to 3 months, and the topic is pre-arranged with the hosting institution. A Short Scientific Mission can be a good opportunity for a master student, Phd student or a Post-doc to visit another University, network with a new research group and learn new skills. It can be the basis for future collaborations, joint publications, and activities.

OpenSense will provide a STSM grant for the entire visiting period, the amount may vary based on the country of the hosting university and is limited to a maximum of 3500 Euro.
It is still possible to apply for a  STSM grant until October.

You can choose from the list of Hosting Universities the topics you prefer:

– STSM  at Czech Technical University (Prague – Czech republic)

The Urban hydrology group will welcome you at the Czech Technical University.
Their research concerns rainfall monitoring and urban rainfall-runoff modeling with commercial microwave links (CMLs).

Topic of activities:

 • Analyzing the effect of variable drop size distribution on attenuation of electromagnetic  waves at E-band frequencies using a dedicated experimental layout, where an E-band CML operated within cellular backhaul is complemented with rain-gauge and disdrometer observations.

• Country-wide analysis of E-band outages (1.5 year dataset from about 700 E-band CMLs). Evaluating the effect of outages on rainfall retrieval and testing the ability of E-band CMLs to monitor heavy and extreme events.

• Improvement of quality control and processing algorithms in the system for operational CML rainfall monitoring in the city of Olomouc with a focus on algorithms not requiring reference rainfall observations from standard sensors.

• Or alternatively a research project specified by an applicant within the  scope of the OPENSENSE Action and activities of CTU Urban Hydrology group. The applicants can gain access to i) an almost 5-year long dataset from about 250 CMLs in Prague CZ with reference rainfall observations from 23 city rain-gauges data, ii) a dataset from a dedicated campaign in the small urban catchment Prague-Letnany with 2 years of runoff observations and rainfall observations from seven rain gauges and 19 CMLs covering the catchment, iii) countrywide dataset of approx. 2500 CMLs including more than 700 CMLs operating at E-band. The proposed research can be related e.g. to long-term analysis of CML data, rainfall spatial reconstruction at high space-time resolution, or rainfall-runoff modeling with CML data.

More info here: STSM  at Czech Technical University
In case of interest contact Vojtěch Bareš (baresvoj@cvut.cz ) or Martin Fencl (martin.fencl@cvut.cz ).

– STSM  at Politecnico di Milano (Milan – Italy)

The multidisciplinary research group of Consiglio Nazionale Delle Ricerche (CNR) and Politecnico di Milano is waiting for you!  They unite skills in the fields of wireless telecommunications and hydrology.

Topic of activities:

Meteorological application:

• 2D reconstruction of rainfall fields by interpolation and/or tomography from CML data and merging of CML+RG data.
  • Detection and quantification of extreme rainfall events by CML and CML+RG and comparison with radar measurements.

Hydrological application:

• Usage of CML data for the hydrological modelling of a peri-urban area and comparison with radar-driven hydrological simulations.

More info here: STSM  at Politecnico di Milano 

In case of interest, please contact Roberto Nebuloni (roberto.nebuloni@ieiit.cnr.it) or Carlo De Michele (carlo.demichele@polimi.it).

– STSM at TU Delft (Delft – Netherlands)

The Department of Water Management of the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) and R&D Observations and Data Technology at the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) is willing to host you for a short period!

They work together on remote sensing of precipitation, and especially opportunistic sensing of precipitation.

Topics of Activities:

• Contribute to CML-based rainfall retrieval in the Global South employing large datasets. This may for instance involve optimization of parameters, improving rainfall retrieval algorithms, testing other interpolation methods, nowcasting, or merging with satellite precipitation products. Especially a comparison of the performance of other algorithms with that of our RAINLINK algorithm is highly welcomed, which can also be performed using a benchmark CML dataset from the Netherlands.

• Using PWS rain gauge data from the Netherlands or Europe, our developed quality control algorithm could be evaluated or improved, or its performance could be compared to that of other algorithms. Also merging PWS data with ground-based weather radar data could be investigated.

More info here: STSM at TU Delft (Delft – Netherlands)

In case of interest contact Remko Uijlenhoet (r.uijlenhoet@tudelft.nl) or Aart Overeem (overeem@knmi.nl).

The list of hosting universities will increase and will be updated regularly. Don’t miss it and check the most recent lists at https://opensenseaction.eu/grants/mobility-grants/

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