(6A) AI-Driven Decision Support System for Smart Satellite Manufacturing and Supply Chain Optimization (CUP -)
Funding institution: Provincia Autonoma di Trento-Atto di indirizzo 2026-2028 & Thales Alenia Space S.p.A.
Doctoral site: University of Trento
Contact: Francesco Pilati [francesco.pilati@unitn.it]
Funds: Institutional Funds
Mobility abroad: compulsory, minimum 6 months
Periods in companies/research centres/public administrations: optional
This PhD project aims to develop an advanced intelligent decision-support system for satellite production. By integrating heterogeneous data from Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES), sensors, testing systems, and digital twins, the research will build comprehensive event logs and dynamic representations of Assembly, Integration, and Testing (AIT) processes. Process mining techniques will be applied to reconstruct production flows, detect bottlenecks, and predict task durations. These models will feed a hybrid decision engine combining mathematical optimization, metaheuristics, and reinforcement learning to generate adaptive and robust production plans. The system will be validated through digital twin simulations and industrial use cases, enabling “what-if” analyses and KPI evaluation. Ultimately, the project aims to improve efficiency, flexibility, and responsiveness in satellite manufacturing, reducing lead times and enhancing throughput in complex industrial environments.
(6B) Mechatronic systems for the LISA Gravitational Reference System (Accordo n.2024-36-HH.0, CUP F63C24000390001 “Attività per la fase B2/C della missione LISA”)
Funding institution: OHB Italia SrL / Department of Physics, University of Trento
Doctoral site: University of Trento
Contact: Daniele Bortoluzzi [daniele.bortoluzzi@unitn.it]
Funds: Institutional Funds / Project Funds
Mobility abroad: compulsory, minimum 6 months
Periods in companies/research centres/public administrations: optional
The PhD project aims to investigate the evolution of space mechanism performance from Beginning of Life (BOL) to End of Life (EOL), with a focus on systems developed for the LISA mission. The research combines an experimental approach, in collaboration with OHB, with modeling activities to assess the effects of environmental conditions and operational cycles on performance and reliability.
The work includes supporting functional testing and qualification of mechanisms, interpreting experimental results (including tolerance effects and degradation phenomena), and correlating them with predictive models. The final goal is to contribute to the verification of design requirements and to develop guidelines for in-flight operations, improving robustness and performance predictability over the entire mission lifetime.
(6C) Metallic additive manufacturing advancements for aerospace innovation in microsatellites (CUP -)
Funding institution: Provincia Autonoma di Trento-Atto di indirizzo 2026-2028 & Trentino Sviluppo S.p.A
Doctoral site: Trentino Sviluppo S.p.A. - ProM Facility & University of Trento
Contact: Nicola Pugno [nicola.pugno@unitn.it]; Paolo Gregori [paolo.gregori@trentinosviluppo.it]
Funds: Institutional Funds
Mobility abroad: compulsory, minimum 6 months
Periods in companies/research centres/public administrations: optional
The proposed doctoral scholarship, jointly promoted by the University of Trento and co-financed by ProM Facility of Trentino Sviluppo, focuses on advancing cutting-edge competencies in the field of metallic additive manufacturing applied to aerospace technologies. The successful candidate will have the unique opportunity to synergize generative design approaches and digital twin simulations available at the University of Trento with state-of-the-art machinery at ProM Facility. Key aspects of this PhD program include Generative Design Approach: The candidate will explore innovative design methodologies, leveraging generative algorithms to create optimised structures for additive manufacturing. Digital Twin Simulations: by harnessing digital twin technology, the candidate will simulate and validate the performance of additive-manufactured components ensuring their reliability and functionality. Advanced Manufacturing Technologies: ProM Facility offers cutting-edge resources, including 3D metal printers (for materials such as titanium, aluminium, and Inconel), X-ray tomography, reverse engineering capabilities, and integration of sensors and artificial intelligence. The research will specifically explore aerospace applications, with a specific focus on microsatellites, a frontier in future telecommunications. In summary, this industrial doctoral scholarship provides a unique blend of theoretical knowledge, practical skills, and hands-on experience, positioning the candidate at the forefront of metallic additive manufacturing advancements for aerospace innovation.
(6D) Cybersecure Data Sharing Framework for Distributed Smart Satellite Manufacturing Systems (CUP E53D23002100006, E53D23004090006)
Funding institution: Thales Alenia Space S.p.A. & University of Trento, Department of Physics
Doctoral site: University of Trento & Thales Alenia Space S.p.A.
Contact: Francesco Pilati [francesco.pilati@unitn.it]
Funds: Institutional Funds & Project Funds
Mobility abroad: compulsory, minimum 6 months
Periods in companies/research centres/public administrations: optional
This PhD project aims to develop cybersecurity methods for resilient data exchange in distributed Smart Space Factory networks for satellite manufacturing. The research will focus on protecting real-time and offline industrial data flows among plants, suppliers and logistics partners against cyber threats affecting confidentiality, integrity, availability and trustworthiness of production information. The project will investigate zero-trust architectures, secure authentication and authorization mechanisms, encrypted industrial communication, tamper-evident data logging, integrity verification and cyber-resilient synchronization across heterogeneous OT/IT systems, including MES, traceability platforms, industrial sensing infrastructures, logistics systems and digital twins. Specific attention will be devoted to cyber- attack scenarios such as data manipulation, replay attacks, unauthorized access, disruption of data flows and compromised supplier nodes. The objective is to enable secure and trustworthy data flows supporting predictive analytics, scheduling, inventory management, supply chain optimization and production reconfiguration in distributed satellite manufacturing ecosystems.
(6E) Hardware Architectures and Post-Quantum Protocols for Secure Communications and Operations in Advanced Space Systems (CUP F63C26000380001)
Funding institution: Italian Space Agency - ASI
Doctoral site: University of Pisa - UNIPI
Contact: Luca Fanucci [luca.fanucci@unipi.it]
Funds: Institutional Funds
Mobility abroad: compulsory, minimum 6 months
Periods in companies/research centres/public administrations: optional
The project aims to develop a "quantum-ready" cybersecurity framework for space systems, with a specific emphasis on the research and development of hardware solutions (root of trust, accelerators, and attestation mechanisms) for future Space Cloud and Space Edge computing architectures supporting exploration missions to the Moon and Mars. The adoption of post-quantum primitives (which are typically more computationally intensive than their classical counterparts) makes the availability of hardware acceleration crucial to mitigate latency and energy consumption, especially in resource-constrained platforms.
The evolution toward increasingly software-defined, interconnected, and autonomous payloads and platforms (satellites, landers, rovers, relays, and the ground segment) enables new paradigms for data handling and on-board decision-making optimization. However, it also expands the attack surface and makes the requirements of authenticity, integrity, confidentiality, and availability of data and commands critical.
In the space environment, these requirements must also be guaranteed in the presence of radiation and strict power/area/latency constraints: single-event effects (SEUs/SETs/SELs) can alter the internal state of systems, compromise the correctness of cryptographic operations, and generate conditions similar to fault-injection attacks, with impacts on both security and safety. Therefore, the project adopts a security-and-dependability co-design approach, in which fault robustness, hardening, and controlled degradation are an integral part of the cybersecurity requirements.
Scientific and Technological Objectives
- Define requirements, reference architectures, and threat models for Space Cloud/Space Edge and surface cyber-physical systems, including a realistic fault model for radiation (SEU/SET) and an analysis of how such faults can be exploited in fault-based attacks;
- Design and validate post-quantum cryptographic (PQC) primitives and protocols for communications and storage, including secure key management, strong authentication, secure boot, and remote attestation, with optimizations for intermittent links and high latency;
- Design, implement, and optimize PQC hardware accelerators and/or RISC-V ISA extensions (tightly/loosely-coupled) with measurable performance/energy/area targets, prioritizing reusable IPs; the technology will be prototyped and characterized on FPGA/SoC and, where appropriate, ported to "radiation-aware" standard-cell flows (RHBD) for feasibility and transferability analysis toward ASICs;
- Integrate countermeasures against side-channel and fault-injection attacks and, in parallel, rad-tolerance and reliability techniques (ECC, selective redundancy/TMR, scrubbing/refresh where applicable, hardened state elements, error monitors, and recovery), defining graceful degradation and fail-secure/fail-safe strategies;
- Demonstrate and measure results on a representative demonstrator platform (Space Cloud node + "flight-like" OBC + communication link) using reproducible metrics (throughput, latency, energy, leakage, fault coverage, availability) and requirement traceability.
Methodologies
The project will employ a comprehensive methodological framework including: threat & fault modeling (e.g., STRIDE/ATT&CK adapted for space + FTA/fault trees and SEU models), HW/SW co-design, RTL and micro-architectural design, firmware and middleware development, functional and security verification (vector testing, fuzzing, fault-injection/SEU emulation campaigns, side-channel and robustness analysis), and experimental evaluation (performance/energy benchmarking, reliability and fault-sensitivity analysis).
An interdisciplinary approach will be adopted, combining cryptography, hardware security, embedded systems, space networks and protocols, reliability, and mission engineering. The PhD candidate will be embedded in an active research environment focused on space technologies and hardware security, with access to FPGA/embedded laboratories and collaborations with agencies and industry to validate real-world use cases (distributed data handling, command/telemetry protection, security of digital twins, and supply chains for critical components).
Positions reserved for candidates of Kenyan nationality
(6KA) Formal Methods for Automated Reasoning and Reliability Analysis of Autonomous Space Systems (CUP F63C26000230005)
Funding institution: Italian Space Agency - ASI
Doctoral site: Fondazione Bruno Kessler - FBK
Contact: Stefano Tonetta [tonettas@fbk.eu]
Funds: Institutional Funds
Mobility abroad: compulsory, minimum 6 months
Periods in companies/research centres/public administrations: optional
This research focuses on the application of formal methods and automated reasoning to ensure the reliability and safety of autonomous space systems. As satellite platforms transition toward higher levels of autonomy, there is a critical need for rigorous analysis techniques that can handle complex system behaviors. The research will investigate integrated frameworks for automated safety and reliability assessment, enabling the formal validation of system-level properties. Specifically, the project will leverage contract-based design to manage architectural complexity, automated generation of safety artifacts (such as Fault Trees and FMEA), and formal verification of FDIR strategies. Furthermore, the research will explore the use of formal monitors and safety cages to provide dependability guarantees for components using AI. By building on state-of-the-art tools like OCRA and xSAP, the goal is to develop a robust MBSE flow that supports the design and certification of next-generation autonomous missions.
(6KB) Mechatronics systems and instruments for space applications (CUP F63C26000230005)
Funding institution: Italian Space Agency - ASI
Doctoral site: University of Trento
Contact: Daniele Bortoluzzi [daniele.bortoluzzi@unitn.it]
Funds: Institutional Funds
Mobility abroad: compulsory, minimum 6 months
Periods in companies/research centres/public administrations: optional
The PhD project aims to develop enabling technologies for mechatronic systems in the space sector, with a focus on Earth observation applications. The program combines advanced training in modeling, estimation, and control of mechatronic systems, along with hands-on experience in innovative manufacturing, sensors, and actuators. The research includes participation in prototype development, system qualification, and testing, in collaboration with academic and industrial partners. Inspired by major scientific missions, the project explores innovative solutions for space applications in Earth orbit, particularly for geodetic instruments supporting water resource and cycle analysis. The main focus is on the mechatronic system design of satellite payloads, including sensing, actuation, and control, as well as their modeling, prototyping, and validation. Expected outcomes include scientific publications, conference participation, and the development of guidelines and requirements for future space missions.