Master Thesis - Realtime Evaluation of Occupant Building Interactions using Modelica Building Models

At the Institute of Climate and Energy Systems - Energy Systems Engineering (ICE-1), we develop advanced models and algorithms for the simulation and optimization of integrated multi-energy systems. Within the Living Lab Energy Campus (LLEC) project, large office buildings are equipped with many IoT devices. These devices transmit real-time data such as the opening state of windows, doors as well as room air quality and luminance measurements to a cloud infrastructure. Additionally, through a user-facing energy dashboard with a desk booking system called JuControl, building occupants can interact bidirectionally with the building systems to e.g. determine heating schedules and improve indoor air quality. As part of our team, you will contribute to improvements in occupant behavior within buildings by deploying building models to estimate and optimize energy use in offices, as well as support better indoor air quality in a real-world setting.

Your Job

• Refine available building models (digital twins) in Modelica and export as FMU
• Set up the building models online to be run on demand
• Extend JuControl app to exchange data with the online building models and trigger model execution
• Extend JuControl app to present the data to the user in an understandable way
• Test and report on the effectiveness of the interventions on building users

Your Profile

• Ongoing masters degree studies in computer science, engineering, or other closely related field
• Excellent programming skills in Python
• Familiarity with web development (including backend frameworks like Django / FastAPI, and frontend frameworks like ReactJS)
• Knowledge of mathematical modeling of energy / building systems
• Good analytical skills, initiative, and self motivation
• Good command of the English language
• Excellent teamwork and communication skills

Our Benefits for You

We work on the very latest issues that impact our society and are offering you the chance to actively help in shaping the change! We support you in your work with:

• Meaningful Tasks: Your thesis deals with a future-oriented, socially relevant topic with direct practical relevance in an international environment
• Practical relevance: Hands-on as well as theoretical work in a Living Lab setup with existing tools and supporting frameworks.
• Scientific environment: You can expect excellent scientific equipment, modern technologies, and qualified support from experienced colleagues
• Personal responsibility: You organize your tasks independently—from preparation to implementation
• Onboarding & teamwork: You can look forward to working in a dedicated, international, and collegial team. It is important to us that you quickly settle into the team and are given structured training for your tasks. We also support you from the very beginning and make your start easier with our Welcome Days and Welcome Guide
• Work-life balance: We offer flexible working hours to help you balance your professional and personal life. You also have the option of flexible working (in terms of location), which is generally possible after consultation and in line with upcoming tasks and (on-site) appointments
• Flexibility: Flexible working hours make it easier for you to balance work and study
• Fair remuneration: We will pay you a reasonable remuneration for your thesis

In addition to exciting tasks and a collegial working environment, we offer you much more: https://go.fzj.de/benefits

We welcome applications from people with diverse backgrounds, e.g. in terms of age, gender, disability, sexual orientation / identity, and social, ethnic and religious origin. A diverse and inclusive working environment with equal opportunities in which everyone can realize their potential is important to us.

The following links provide further information on diversity and equal opportunities: https://go.fzj.de/equality and on specific support options: https://go.fzj.de/womens-job-journey

Place of Employment: Jülich

Start Date: To the next possible date

Salary: We will pay you a appropriate remunerationfor your thesis

Application Deadline: The vacancy will remain open until the position is filled

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