Company: Photon-IV Inc. Location: Ottawa, ON — on-site at CENGN (Bayview Yards) with lab access to the Ericsson RIC testbed Term: Fall 2026 (4 or 8 months) — specify start date on application Job setting: On-site Compensation: Paid co-op, competitive with UW/CEWIL Waterloo-region bands About Photon-IV Photon-IV is a Waterloo-based (Velocity, University of Waterloo) defence-tech startup building AI-driven predictive software for satellite-terrestrial network integration. Our core product ships as O-RAN that predict link degradation and drive pre-emptive handover between terrestrial and non-terrestrial networks (NTN). We're currently under a DND IDEaS contract and will be running an active CENGN Living Lab engagement.

The role

We're bringing our O-RAN stack to CENGN's Living Lab for end-to-end testing against a live Ericsson RIC. This role is the on-the-ground engineer in Ottawa who keeps that testbed running and gets us real, measured results. You'll work directly with our technical leads and existing co-op team (currently based in Waterloo) but be the primary presence at the CENGN facility day to day.

What you'll do

Stand up and maintain our test environment against the Ericsson RIC over the E2 interface, including E2AP subscription setup and troubleshooting Run structured test procedures across CENGN's two-zone testbed architecture (terrestrial and NTN-emulated segments) and log results against defined pass/fail criteria Debug interface and protocol-version mismatches between our xApp's RMR-based subscription path and the RIC's E2 stack this is real, unresolved integration work, not a scripted lab exercise Collect and structure link-performance data (RSRP, latency, handover timing) for comparison against our simulation-trained model Document test procedures, results, and defect reports clearly enough that our Waterloo team can act on them without being in the room Coordinate logistics with CENGN facility staff and Ericsson technical contacts for lab access, scheduling, and equipment What we're looking for Currently enrolled in a Canadian co-op program in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a closely related field Comfortable with Linux, command-line tooling, and scripting (Python required; C/C++ an asset) Some exposure to networking fundamentals (TCP/IP, sockets) — telecom-specific knowledge (O-RAN, 3GPP, RAN protocols) is a strong asset but not required; we'll teach the domain if you bring the fundamentals Comfortable working independently at a facility separate from the rest of the team, with good written communication back to Waterloo Based in or able to relocate to Ottawa for the term Canadian citizen or permanent resident preferred given the defence-program context; please indicate your status on application Why this role Hands-on with a live O-RAN RIC deployment and real satellite-terrestrial network testing — not a simulated sandbox Small team, direct access to the technical leads, real ownership of the Ottawa testbed