RF Competition Finalists Awarded at CWIC

On 26^th June the UKESF celebrated the three finalists of the 2019 RF Engineering & Communications Competition as part of the Cambridge Wireless International Conference in Hinxton, Cambridgeshire.

This annual competition, run in partnership with the Radio Communications Foundation (RCF) and with support from Leonardo, highlights the work of students at UKESF partner universities who are focusing on RF engineering and communications in their final year. Entrants are required to submit a poster summarising their major individual project.

The first place prize of £1,000 was awarded to Andrey Miroshnikov for his outstanding project: ‘Exploration of Under-Sampling PA Output for Efficient Digital Pre-Distortion’, a unanimous decision by the judges. Andrey is a UKESF Scholar who studies at the University of Bristol and is sponsored by Dialog Semiconductor.

Andrey said, “Electronics is something I started studying long before university and I’m glad for the opportunities I’ve been given. During my level 2 BTEC and A-levels I was introduced to real, practical applications of Electronics. At university I learned how to apply physics and maths to solve real-world problems efficiently.

“UKESF is an organisation that helped a great deal during my degree by connecting me with an employer who I’ve had three successful internships with, providing me with annual bursaries, as well as connecting me with fellow graduates and people in the industry during the UKESF Workshop.

“This RF award was an incredible surprise, and I am ecstatic to have won. It’s great to know that the time I have spent researching and writing lead me to conclusions that other people may use in the future. This wouldn’t be possible without the guidance of my supervisor, feedback from my assessors and fellow class mates, moral support of my friends and parents.

“What happens next? I will use the award prize to upgrade my lab at home and continue tinkering with personal projects during my spare time!”

The two runners-up each received £500: Edward Lewis (Lancaster University) for his ‘Variable Aperture Horn Antennae for Millimetre wave Wireless Communications’ project and Calum Bolland (University of Edinburgh) for his ‘Transmit Receive Module Testing Using Radome Bounce’ project.

UKESF CEO Stew Edmondson said, “With entries from undergraduates studying at twelve of our partner universities this year, it is clear that the RF competition is growing stature.  It was great to be able to present the finalists with their prizes at the prestigious CWIC.”

Many thanks to our judging panel: Trevor Gill of RCF, Dr Merv Haynes of Leonardo and Prof Kevin Morris of University of Bristol, and to CW for kindly inviting us to be part of their conference.

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