rf
Last Day of Summer Co-op
Today marks the end of my co-op at the David Florida Laboratories. The experience was nothing less than incredible. I was so fortunate to work alongside professionals with decades of experience in the RF qualification field, people who were so very helpful and willing to share their knowledge with me. It is going to be hard leaving this.
However, I’ve learnt so much about a field I knew so little of going in. I spent 2 hours one night reading some chapters marked in my professor’s RF textbook, and explored some Wikipedia pages – that was the extent of my training. Over the course of the summer, I was exposed to tools I will likely never personally own, and that will be hard to come by even in school: spectrum analyzers, network analyzers, high power RF amplifiers, e-field probes. It was incredible.
Here is a picture of me at my test station, in front of a 1kW amplifier, the probe monitor, the signal generator and the test software. I’ve greyed out anything I’m not allowed to share:
Yeah, I know, it sucks. I wish I could, too.
Summer Co-op: Canadian Space Agency
Heritage College’s Electronics program offers two summer co-op terms, which are recognized on the diploma received at graduation.
Last summer, I was employed at the very same college, officially preparing equipment for next year’s classes, making an inventory of electronics components and materials, and making a database with search and checkout functionality to keep track of components. Unofficially, I also assisted the computer services guys, setting up computers for the Jeux du Quebec 2010, then quickly dismantling and putting them back in classrooms and offices.
This year, I’m working at the Canadian Space Agency.
