Final Rotation at Phase 1 Engineering
Andrew
Experience Information
Employer: Phase 1 Engineering
Job Title: Engineering Co-op
Major: Electrical Engineering
Received Credit: Yes
Paid: Yes
Abroad: No
Description of the Organization
Phase 1 is an engineering contracting house consisting of less than 15 individuals including HR/Accounting. Customers who are in need of RF and other Engineering Solutions Hire Phase 1 Engineering for RF/Electrical/Computer designs. Phase 1 specializes in RF technology and design; low-power microcontrollers with radio communication systems; IoT; and much more. They have performed services in most industries including Automotive, Aerospace, Consumer, Medical, IoT. Phase 1 also conducts engineering research for the benefit of their customers. Phase 1 produces "around 11-12" patents a year for their customers and provides patent support when needed.
Description of the Tasks/Projects Completed
During my third co-op rotation, I designed and built a test fixture used to test multiple device radio communication. I aided in the analysis of the data collected with this test fixture. Performed medical grade stainless steel welding on an expensive RF prototype. Upgraded existing testing module prototype to have use a stepper motor. Wrote controller code and installed stepper motor in place of existing motor configuration. Aided in the design and development of a photo-voltaic solar harvester for use in energy intake analysis. Built and tested all working prototypes. Created data analysis tool using java to store data in the database and then analyze data based upon user input parameters. Performed data collection with Thermo-Electric generators to determine energy output versus temperature drop across several devices.
Skills/Knowledge Gained Through The Experience
Data Analysis using statistics. Mathematical data modeling to help inform engineering design parameters. Exposure to full-stack java development. Exposure to full-stack python scripting. Data analysis using java-tools and python tools. Exposure to electronic design and RF designs and uses.
Favorite Part of the Experience
Getting exposure to some RF and BLE electronic designs. Seeing statistical modeling being used in practice. Seeing projects go through all stages, from proposal to final built solutions.
How the Experience Influenced Future Career Goals
Confirmed desire to gain specialty in RF engineering and to learn to use research as a means of furthering solutions using current techniques.