Letters / Cover letter for Research statement for PhD (SCHOLARSHIP) [4]

Hi everyone !
Im going to apply a PhD scholarship and In the introduction of PhD scholarship, they say that "please write a cover letter describing your scientific or academic expertise and experience in relevant methods and areas of study, research interests, future plans and reasons for wishing to pursue Ph.D. "

And my reseach statement is below.
Please check it to me !
Thanks alot !

I am now a researcher at Satellite Navigation Center (NAVIS) [1] located inside Hanoi University of Science and Technology. For 3 years working in this center's laboratory, I have always played an important part in projects I attended. I believe that I am an outstanding researcher, based on my knowledge background and achievements stated below.

Part I. Research results when a student.
When in University, I have participated in scientific activities both in campus and laboratory. As for good achievement of my study, I always was assigned as the team leader. My role as a leader was to set good example, enhance communication between team members, also ensure project success.

In the third year, I did research on a digital map application on Hanoi city scale. At first, based on Google Maps data and Google Maps API v3[2], I, along with my partners built up traffic apps to find way and addresses. On later upgrade, the application enabled the current traffic state on some streets to be displayed in different colors such as Red for Congestion, Yellow for Slowness, Green for Good situation. To do that, we collected traffic data from a government owned radio channel [3]. In addition, relying on collected information in reality, we were able to create traffic map of Hai Ba Trung district where our University was located. This map included various layers which covered not only streets but also places such as restaurants, schools, bus stations.

Also in this year, there was a very important assignment, that aimed to develop a hardware application using C language and a microcontroller named ATMEGA128 [4]. After about 3 months, I and my group built a traffic light system which could automatically adjust timing, configure system's operation by SMS [5]. As the traffic in Vietnam was very chaotic, we intended to develop the timing customization for road-lanes; however, the plan did not come off satisfactorily due to our limitation of timing. But, on completing the assignment, I gained lots of experience both in terms of hardware design and microcontroller programming, which would be very helpful for my research later.

In the fourth year of university, we were assigned to use sensors and a microprocessor to direct civilian devices inside an office, with a view to saving electricity and creating a smart office. In addition, the whole system could be monitored by a software and this allowed the manager to adjust parameters based on specific conditions. To do this, we made a mechanism using two laser lights that could detect and count the number of people inside, then we gave some scenarios based on that figure. If there was not anyone, unnecessary devices would be shut down by using a relay. If there was, timing condition and some other requirements would allow the turn-on or turn-off. For example, if the natural luminosity was higher than the given level, the light would be automatically out... Thanks to the background on hardware that we had gained before, it was not so difficult for us to fulfill the assignment.

Also in this year, there was a very important assignment, that aimed to develop a hardware application using C language and a microcontroller named ATMEGA128 [4]. After about 3 months, I and my group built a traffic light system which could automatically adjust timing, configure system's operation by SMS [5]. As the traffic in Vietnam was very chaotic, we intended to develop the timing customization for road-lanes; however, the plan did not come off satisfactorily due to our limitation of timing. But, on completing the assignment, I gained lots of experience both in terms of hardware design and microcontroller programming, which would be very helpful for my research later.

In the fourth year of university, we were assigned to use sensors and a microprocessor to direct civilian devices inside an office, with a view to saving electricity and creating a smart office. In addition, the whole system could be monitored by a software and this allowed the manager to adjust parameters based on specific conditions. To do this, we made a mechanism using two laser lights that could detect and count the number of people inside, then we gave some scenarios based on that figure. If there was not anyone, unnecessary devices would be shut down by using a relay. If there was, timing condition and some other requirements would allow the turn-on or turn-off. For example, if the natural luminosity was higher than the given level, the light would be automatically out... Thanks to the background on hardware that we had gained before, it was not so difficult for us to fulfill the assignment.

Engineer thesis
According to a recent statistics, there are more than twenty one million motorbikes in Vietnam. That is such a huge number of vehicles, but the management so far has been done by traditional methods only, which results in a poor degree of accuracy. Seeing the actual need, taking the advantage of modern positioning development, I decided to choose "Designing a precise positioning device, associated with radio communications for monitoring purposes" as the theme for my dissertation. The purpose was to let users know their vehicles' location and routes; stop their vehicles in case of being stolen. When the study was applied into reality, the vehicle management, especially for transportation companies and for people in need, would get more and more simple and accurate, which contributed to save cost/time and ensure safety for users and vehicles.

Actually, doing research on a new field has not ever been easy, particularly on positioning in Vietnam. Furthermore, the research conditions in Vietnam were not much supported (especially device/equipment condition - for there were some we could not have in Vietnam, we had to import at high prices). However, from the first project in which I put my hands when third year student, I have got essential skills, such as software programming, hardware designing, making apps on websites... And the most important thing was I always found passion and felt interested in something new. As time passed by, with the heartful supports from my instructor, I was trying my best to overcome all the inconveniences and get problems solved.

Back to the dissertation, the main characteristics of the device when designing were:
- Being capable of continuously sending positioning news at high accuracy to server via GPRS within three seconds for each news,
- Allowing users and server to monitor the device through SMS
- Being capable of storing information into SD Card [7]
- Being capable of directing peripheral devices via relay for other purposes,
- Power saving to ensure its lifetime,
- Being capable of operating in every weather and environment condition.
To process all of positioning data, we developed a central server which includes a processing software and webservice in C# and website in ASPNET. The main role of server was to achieve and then process all requests sent via SMS from users and positioning data sent via GPRS from trackers as well. After being processed, all data would be stored in database and displayed on website interface.

After nearly one year of study, with many improvements and experiments, I could give the final design for my dissertation. A device that was small enough to stick onto a moto sized 5*7cm with full of above mentioned functions. Yet, there were still some unfinished problems remaining in the position accuracy and power consumption.

Part II. Current researching job

Working at NAVIS center :
After fulfilling the dissertation excellently, I started job at NAVIS center which is a leading one in Vietnam and Southest Asia in terms of positioning. This has given me a good chance to get more knowledge on positioning and radio communications.

Here I took part in a project about "Designing and implementing a positioning system to support the police of Hanoi city„ from 2012 to 2013 chaired by my supervisor and NAVIS, with the purpose of fully designing a positioning system for police's professionals. This was the biggest project that I have had chance to stand in. The project also included the best 20 students from Institute of Electronics and Telecommunications. And I, who has a profound understanding of this system was elected to be a team leader, which was a very challenge for me. There is an user owning a vehicle and a mobile phone; a positioning device attached onto the vehicle; and a central server to handle and forward request/information from the user and the positioning device. The architecture of this system is shown in the following figure.

Thanks to the experience on hardware in engineer thesis, our main work was to complete and get it applied into practice, in specific problems.
The most difficult problem was related to server. Because in my thesis, with one tracker, it was not a problem but now up to more than 200 ones, the server is required to be capable of settling hundreds of requests at the same time. Through trial versions, many solutions were given. At first, we used "one thread per one connection" and the problem was basically solved. But, when the number of trackers increased, the server was overloaded and led to continuous disconnections. Then, we tried ThreadPool, ThreadWorker [8] and the outcome wonderfully came up to our expectation.

Besides, in order that users find it convenient to keep track of vehicles, we have developed apps for Android [9]. To turn the connection between Android devices and central server faster, safer, simpler and more convenient, we develop a Web service. Web service plays an intermediary role: receiving, pre-processing, forwarding the request from Android devices to central server and forwarding response from central server to android devices. The software for Android has the same function as it for the website, and it supports users to get information more quickly and conveniently than using a PC.

Up to now, the project has been under final test before being applied.

Studying Master at Ha Noi University of Science and Technology
Currently, beside working at NAVIS center, i am taking part in a master course at my university to accumulate and enhance my knowledge about telecommunications engineering. Through this course, i have deep understanding about mobile communications and its applications.

In my master thesis, i am going to develop my GPS receiver with a higher accuracy. To achieve that purpose, beside choosing a better GPS module with higher sensitivity and accuracy, i pay attention on positioning support methods such as D-GPS and Cell-ID. The problem with power consumption will be solved by developing a mode named "sleep" that means if the vehicle stops for a given time, the tracker will turn on the sleep mode. Because the position information will remain unchanged when the vehicle does not move, so this solution will save a lot of redundant information and power.

Finally, I expected to finish my course at the end of 2013.

Part III. Future plan

Based on the knowledge that i have accumulated, in the near future i desire to conduct further researchs on wireless or computing applications such as moblie, satellite, software or hardware design. In my opinion, i am aware of my weaknesses but i claim that my gained experience, knowledge and passion, will help me to keep pace with studying at PhD level. With me, the chance to study and research at IMT is like a dream. I strongly believe that IMT will be the right place to promote my all abilities.