Research Assistant

QUICast is a research and development project that explores a new paradigm for scalable live video delivery by combining IP multicast with modern transport protocols such as QUIC. The goal is to significantly improve the efficiency and scalability of large-scale live streaming compared to traditional unicast-based approaches.

The project is funded within the xG-Incubator program and runs for an initial 12-month development phase, during which a functional demonstrator will be implemented and evaluated in a real-world environment.

QUICast brings together expertise in network protocols, distributed systems, video streaming, and client applications. If the project is successful, a startup spin-off is planned in a second phase to further develop and deploy the technology.

We are building a small, highly technical team to design and implement the core components of this system.

The work builds on the IETF Internet-Draft “QUIC Multicast”, co-authored within the project, and aims to develop a prototype implementation and experimental evaluation.

The position is initially limited until 31/05/2027; if the project successfully leads to a startup spin-off, there will be if necessary an opportunity to continue working on the technology within the new company.

To strengthen our team, we are looking for a Transport Protocol Engineer who will focus on extending existing QUIC implementations to support multicast-based transport mechanisms.
Your work will involve designing and implementing extensions to existing QUIC stacks and evaluating how multicast transport can be integrated with existing QUIC reliability, congestion control, and flow control mechanisms.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Extending existing QUIC implementations to support the proposed multicast transport extensions
• Designing and implementing new QUIC frame types and protocol extensions
• Evaluating how multicast transport interacts with QUIC congestion control and flow control
• Implementing prototype mechanisms for reliability and loss handling in multicast environments
• Ensuring compatibility between client and server implementations
• Collaborating with backend and client developers to integrate the modified protocol stack into the system
• Evaluating performance and scalability of the protocol implementation
• Contributing to technical documentation and reference implementations
• Supporting standardization-related work, such as preparing technical contributions or prototype implementations that may inform future IETF or similar standards discussions

Expected Outcomes After One Year
At the end of the first project phase, the protocol work should achieve the following milestones:

• A complete prototype implementation of MCQUIC, extending an existing QUIC implementation
• Documented design considerations and prototype mechanisms for congestion control and flow control
• A scalable implementation capable of supporting up to 1000 clients
• Public documentation and publication of the source code as a reference implementation

• Successfully completed univrsity degree (Master, Diplom or equivalent) in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related field
• Strong understanding of transport protocols and networking fundamentals
• Familiarity with QUIC protocol internals
• Experience with low-level network programming
• Experience working with protocol implementations or network stacks
• Ability to work independently in a small, focused development team desirable
• Interest in developing new transport protocol mechanisms desirable
• Good knowledge of German and/or English required; willingness to acquire the respective missing language skills
• Experience working with QUIC implementations (e.g., quiche, msquic, picoquic) desirable
• Experience implementing transport protocols or protocol extensions desirable
• Knowledge of congestion control mechanisms desirable
• Experience with Rust, C, or C++ desirable
• Experience contributing to open-source networking projects desirable
• Familiarity with IETF processes or Internet standards development desirable

• Opportunity to work on cutting-edge transport protocol research
• The chance to help design a new protocol extension for large-scale media delivery
• A small, highly technical engineering team
• Opportunity to contribute to public reference implementations and potential standardization efforts

Please send your application, including the reference number and the usual supporting documents, by email to m.franke@tu-berlin.de.

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To ensure equal opportunities between women and men, applications by women with the required qualifications are explicitly desired. Qualified individuals with disabilities will be favored. The TU Berlin values the diversity of its members and is committed to the goals of equal opportunities. Applications from people of all nationalities and with a migration background are very welcome.