Projects
At the Center for Project-Based Learning (PBL), we offer hands-on projects that allow students to apply their knowledge, develop new skills, and collaborate on real-world challenges. Below, you’ll find our current projects open for applications. Whether you’re looking to innovate, prototype, or conduct cutting-edge research, this is your chance to get involved!
Interested in past projects? Click here to explore previous student work and get inspired.
Design of a Quadrature Sampling Detector for Low Power Wireless On-Body Communication
Wearable, wirelessly connected sensors are pushing the limits of energy efficiency and miniaturization. Traditional RF front-ends remain one of the most power-hungry blocks, challenging the realization of truly low-power and unobtrusive body area networks. In this context, the Tayloe mixer (also known as a quadrature sampling detector) emerges as a highly efficient candidate for body-coupled communication, providing low-power frequency translation with minimal analog complexity. Its passive switching principle makes it especially attractive for ultra-low power receiver designs where linearity and selectivity are critical yet power budgets are constrained. Applied to Human Body Communication (HBC), the Tayloe mixer enables efficient down conversion of signals coupled through the body into baseband with reduced hardware overhead compared to conventional Gilbert-cell mixers, especially when it comes to off-the-shelf implementation. This approach paves the way for robust, energy-efficient wireless personal body area networks (WBANs), where physiological sensors can communicate securely and reliably with a central gateway device, such as a smartwatch, while minimizing battery consumption.
Keywords
Hardware design, Firmware design, analog circuit design, digital circuit design, signal processing, field evaluation
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Energy Harvesting (PBL) , Semester Project , Bachelor Thesis , Microcontroller (PBL) , PCB Design (PBL) , Biomedical (PBL) , Wearables (PBL)
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Published since: 2025-09-30
Applications limited to Department of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering
Organization Center for Project-Based Learning D-ITET
Hosts Schulthess Lukas
Topics Engineering and Technology
Cross-Modal Distillation from DINOv3 for Self-Supervised Event-Based Representation Learning
Event cameras provide asynchronous, high-temporal resolution measurements with low latency, high dynamic range, and robustness to motion blur, making them promising for robotics and automotive applications. However, the lack of large annotated datasets limits supervised training. In contrast, RGB vision models such as DINOv3 [6] have been pretrained on massive image corpora and learn highly transferable features, Fig 1. This project aims to bridge the gap by distilling DINOv3 features from RGB inputs into a self-supervised event-based encoder, enabling the learning of rich event representations without labels.
Keywords
Computer Vision, Self-Supervised Representation, Multi-Modal Architecture, Knowledge Distillation
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Semester Project , Master Thesis , ETH Zurich (ETHZ)
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Published since: 2025-09-30 , Earliest start: 2025-09-30 , Latest end: 2026-06-30
Organization Center for Project-Based Learning D-ITET
Hosts Bonazzi Pietro
Topics Information, Computing and Communication Sciences , Engineering and Technology
Design of a Quadrature Amplitude Mixer for Low Power Wireless On-Body Communication
Wearable and body-attached sensors increasingly rely on efficient physical layer techniques to balance data rate, robustness, and power consumption. While many HBC (Human Body Communication) systems to date focus on simple modulation schemes, higher spectral efficiency becomes essential as the number of sensors and transmitted features grows. Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) offers a compact constellation design enabling higher data throughput within limited bandwidths, making it an attractive option for body-coupled communication channels. The availability of off-the-shelf QAM modulators further accelerates prototyping and evaluation, reducing the barrier for system-level demonstrations. In the context of Human Body Communication, integrating such modulators provides a practical path toward assessing trade-offs between data rate, energy efficiency, and channel robustness in real-world conditions. Leveraging ready-made hardware reduces the design overhead of RF front ends, allowing the focus to shift toward system optimization, channel characterization, and advanced signal processing for body area networks (WBANs).
Keywords
Hardware design, Firmware design, analog circuit design, digital circuit design, signal processing, field evaluation
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Semester Project , Bachelor Thesis , ETH Zurich (ETHZ)
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Published since: 2025-09-30
Applications limited to Department of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering
Organization Center for Project-Based Learning D-ITET
Hosts Schulthess Lukas
Topics Engineering and Technology
Non-invasive remote tracking and vita sign monitoring with low-power and miniaturized FMCW radars
In many applications, from robotics to home and industry automation, localizing objects and people is an essential feature. Outdoor localization is generally performed using GNSS, GPS, which does not work in indoor scenarios. In this applications, systems like BLE and UWB tag-anchor system are commonly implemented. However, these systems involve the necessity of carrying a battery supplied tag together with the tracked object. This limits the applicability to human and/or animals, that are not happy to wear 24/7 electronic devices, or it can increase the system cost for industrial products.
Keywords
Radars, FMCW, Low Power, Sensors, Digital Signal Processing
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Semester Project , Master Thesis
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Published since: 2025-09-01 , Earliest start: 2025-09-07
Applications limited to ETH Zurich
Organization Center for Project-Based Learning D-ITET
Hosts Polonelli Tommaso
Topics Engineering and Technology
Ultrasound measurement of microbubble stiffness for in situ detection of protease activity in clinical settings
A new kind of gas-filled microbubble enables the detection of protease activity by using ultrasound imaging techniques. The main goal of this work is to develop a setup that can reliably be used to measure the stiffness of microbubbles, first in a microbubble solution, and then in a model built to simulate the vasculature of a mouse.
Keywords
Ultrasound imaging techniques, microbubbles, signal processing, modeling, analog and digital filter design, circuit design
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Semester Project , Master Thesis
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Published since: 2025-08-27
Applications limited to Department of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering
Organization Center for Project-Based Learning D-ITET
Hosts Villani Federico
Topics Engineering and Technology
Development Of An FPGA-Based Optoacoustic Image Reconstruction Platform for Clinical Applications
Optoacoustic (OA) imaging is a hybrid imaging method that enables deep tissue imaging with a high spatial resolution by combining optical illumination with ultrasound detection. The goal of this student project is to devise a parallel HW accelerator and explore different HLS code optimizations to achieve the best performance for OA image reconstruction on an FPGA in real-time.
Keywords
Digital design (HDL), biomedical imaging, image reconstruction, hardware acceleration, Linux
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Semester Project , Bachelor Thesis , Master Thesis
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Published since: 2025-08-27
Applications limited to ETH Zurich , Department of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering
Organization Center for Project-Based Learning D-ITET
Hosts Villani Federico
Topics Engineering and Technology
Development Of A Test Bed For Ultrasonic Transducer Characterization (1 S/B)
The main goal of this work is to develop a modular system for the characterization and tuning of ultrasonic transducers both in hard- and software Due to the intended modularity of the system in soft- and hardware, we can guarantee a high flexibility of the setup. This means that the system can be adapted in operation for a wide variety of transducer types and setups.
Keywords
Ultrasound, Flexible transducers, Mixed signal design, Network theory, Simulation
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Semester Project , Bachelor Thesis
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Published since: 2025-08-27
Applications limited to Department of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering
Organization Center for Project-Based Learning D-ITET
Hosts Villani Federico
Topics Engineering and Technology
A FPGA-based data streaming system that enables real-time monitoring of cell culture and neuroactivities
This project aims to create a FPGA-based interface capable of streaming live data from a ETH-developed CMOS biosensor and monitor neuroactivity and cell cultures in real time
Keywords
Sensing, ADC, FPGA, High-performance computing, biosensing
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Semester Project , Master Thesis
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Published since: 2025-08-27
Applications limited to Department of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering
Organization Center for Project-Based Learning D-ITET
Hosts Villani Federico
Topics Engineering and Technology
Low Power Sensor Node for Space Exploration
Current space exploration is mostly limited to the surface of celestial bodies, e.g. the moon or mars. Rovers deployed there cannot reach potentially interesting areas for future human settlements, e.g. deep craters, caves or lava tubes. To solve this issue, state of the art research looks into swarm robotics, and additional sensor nodes deploy-able by the rovers. Here, especially swarms of very small and low cost wireless sensor nodes could help mapping the environment, by recording their own movement when ejected from a rover.
Keywords
Wireless Communication, UWB (Ultra-Wide-Band) Localization, Hardware/Firmware design
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Semester Project , Master Thesis , Microcontroller (PBL) , PCB Design (PBL) , Firmware (PBL) , Robotics (PBL)
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Published since: 2025-08-23 , Earliest start: 2025-09-01 , Latest end: 2026-05-31
Applications limited to ETH Zurich
Organization Center for Project-Based Learning D-ITET
Hosts Vogt Christian
Topics Engineering and Technology
Low Power Wireless On-Body Communication for Body-attached Sensor Nodes
Wearable, wirelessly connected sensors have become a common part of daily life, evolving step by step from their roots in sports and fitness to play a pivotal role in shaping the future of personalized healthcare. A key challenge in this evolution is designing devices that are unobtrusive, highly integrated, and energy efficient. These design requirements inherently demand smaller batteries, which must also support the significant power consumption of wireless communication interfaces. Capacitive Human Body Communication (HBC) offers a promising, power-efficient alternative to traditional RF-based communication, enabling point-to-multipoint data and energy exchange. By using the conductive properties of the human body, a privacy-preserving wireless personal body area network (WBAN) can be created. Several low-power sensors such as ECG-tracker and insulin pumps can act as leaf devices, sending personal data to a body-central gateway, such as a smartwatch that further processes the data and establishes a connection to the cloud. .
Keywords
Hardware design, Firmware design, analog circuit design, digital circuit design, signal processing, field evaluation
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Energy Harvesting (PBL) , Semester Project , Master Thesis , Microcontroller (PBL) , PCB Design (PBL) , Software (PBL) , Firmware (PBL) , Machine Learning (PBL) , Biomedical (PBL) , Wearables (PBL)
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Published since: 2025-08-21
Applications limited to Department of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering
Organization Center for Project-Based Learning D-ITET
Hosts Schulthess Lukas
Topics Engineering and Technology
Ultrasound Radar Based anonymized People Counting and Detection in a Smart City Application
In a smart city environment, monitoring the number of people in specific locations is becoming increasingly important. Such information provides valuable insights into how various infrastructures are utilized. However, addressing privacy concerns is critical when implementing these monitoring systems. To consider privacy considerations with energy efficiency, we propose the use of radar technology to detect individuals in both open and enclosed environments. This approach fills a crucial gap by enabling anonymized people monitoring while determining infrastructure usage in a smart city context. Radar-based solutions ensure data privacy while minimizing energy consumption, making them an ideal choice for sustainable and ethical smart city initiatives.
Keywords
Smart Citiy, Firmware Development, Data Analyzing, Algorithm, Sensors
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Semester Project , Bachelor Thesis , Microcontroller (PBL) , Software (PBL) , Firmware (PBL) , Radars (PBL)
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Published since: 2025-08-04 , Earliest start: 2025-09-01 , Latest end: 2025-10-20
Organization Center for Project-Based Learning D-ITET
Hosts Luder Victor
Topics Engineering and Technology
Design for an Ultra-Low Power Air Quality and Occupancy Monitoring Node
We are developing a cutting-edge, battery-powered, and energy-harvesting monitoring system to provide real-time data on indoor air quality (AQ) and occupancy. This data is crucial for smart building automation, enabling intelligent adjustments to ventilation, heating, and cooling systems to reduce energy waste without compromising occupant comfort. Smart building technologies have the potential to cut energy consumption by up to 30%.
Keywords
IoT, PCB, Firmware, MCU, sensors
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Semester Project , Bachelor Thesis , Master Thesis
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Published since: 2025-07-28
Applications limited to ETH Zurich
Organization Center for Project-Based Learning D-ITET
Hosts Polonelli Tommaso
Topics Information, Computing and Communication Sciences , Engineering and Technology
Enhancing Wind Turbine Operation Using Machine Learning
Do you want to develop your skills while helping to solve the climate change problem? Are you willing to work on cutting edge technology with multidisciplinary experts in an international context and test the outputs of your labor on the field (on one of the world’s largest wind tunnel or a wind turbine)? Look no further, MISTERY is the right project for you. From novel sensors to machine learning on the edge, including ultra-low power IoT systems, MISTERY packs all the essential tools for becoming an embedded system expert.
Keywords
Wind turbine, monitoring, machine learning, python
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Semester Project , Bachelor Thesis , Master Thesis
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Published since: 2025-07-28
Applications limited to ETH Zurich
Organization Center for Project-Based Learning D-ITET
Hosts Polonelli Tommaso
Topics Information, Computing and Communication Sciences , Engineering and Technology
Resident underwater autonomy
This project focuses on resident autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) for shallow water inspection and monitoring missions. They are designed to be deployed for long durations (up to a year) without recovery, operating in challenging, GPS-denied offshore environments.
Keywords
UAV, Robots, Underwater, SLAM
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Semester Project , Master Thesis
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Published since: 2025-07-08 , Earliest start: 2025-09-01
Applications limited to ETH Zurich
Organization Center for Project-Based Learning D-ITET
Hosts Polonelli Tommaso
Topics Engineering and Technology
Pushing Ultrasound to the Limit: 100 Gbit Ethernet Interface for Imaging at the Edge of Physics
Next-generation ultrasound (US) imaging demands exceptionally high data throughput, exceeding 90 Gbps for ultrafast applications. This project harnesses datacenter networking techniques—100G Ethernet, RDMA, and HPC-grade storage—to enable real-time streaming of raw US data at minimal latency. By integrating advanced optical interfaces and bypassing conventional CPU-intensive workflows, this project aims to achieve sustained multi-gigabit performance, paving the way for cutting-edge imaging analytics and machine learning within modern datacenter environments
Keywords
Datacenter networking, 100G Ethernet, HPC, RDMA, Infiniband, high-speed streaming, ultrasound, Linux kernel programming
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Semester Project , Master Thesis , FPGA (PBL) , Software (PBL) , Firmware (PBL) , Biomedical (PBL)
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Published since: 2025-07-08 , Earliest start: 2025-07-01
Applications limited to Department of Computer Science , Department of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering
Organization Center for Project-Based Learning D-ITET
Hosts Villani Federico
Topics Engineering and Technology
Embedded Firmware development for high performance PTU
Join an exciting opportunity to develop and extend low-level firmware for a high-performance pan-tilt unit (PTU) powered by an STM32 microcontroller. This open-source project focuses on enhancing existing motor control firmware with modern networking and remote-control capabilities to create a modular, low-latency control system. Ideal for students looking to make meaningful contributions to embedded systems in robotics or automation.
Keywords
ptu,embedded,c,firmware,low-level,tcp,udp,protocol
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Semester Project , Master Thesis , ETH Zurich (ETHZ)
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Published since: 2025-05-20 , Earliest start: 2025-05-20 , Latest end: 2026-03-31
Applications limited to ETH Zurich
Organization Center for Project-Based Learning D-ITET
Hosts Mandula Jakub
Topics Information, Computing and Communication Sciences , Engineering and Technology
Text2Video: Fast Text-Driven Video Generation
This project aims to leverage existing text-to-video generative models [1, 2] to produce video content based on textual prompts. Unlike conventional approaches that prioritize high quality, the main objective of this project is low-latency efficient video generation
Keywords
Video Generation, Efficient Inference, Real-Time Synthesis
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Semester Project , Bachelor Thesis , Master Thesis , ETH Zurich (ETHZ)
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Published since: 2025-05-14 , Earliest start: 2025-06-02 , Latest end: 2026-10-05
Organization Center for Project-Based Learning D-ITET
Hosts Bonazzi Pietro
Topics Information, Computing and Communication Sciences , Engineering and Technology