RF Interviews
Read our interviews with a UKESF sponsor and a Scholar about their work in RF below…
David Freeborough is Group Leader of the RF Group at Cambridge Consultants, a UKESF sponsor company. He has a BSc in Electronics and a MSc in Instrument Design and Application, both from the University of Manchester.
How did you become interested in RF?
I got into RF through an interest in learning about far away peoples and places via shortwave radio.
What appeals to you about RF?
I like the complex analogue nature of RF and the way that it can be looked at on many different levels: the communications link in a network of connected equipment, the physical layer carrying voice/data, the architectural block level design of the RF sections, the board level circuit design of the RF sections and the physics of the individual RF components.
What does your RF role involve?
I manage a team of RF Systems engineers and act as technical authority on a number of satellite phone and other RF-related projects (examples here and here).
Loek was a UKESF Scholar from 2012 to 2014 and studied for a MEng in Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Imperial College London. Upon graduation Loek accepted a job offer from his UKESF sponsor company, Plextek, who specialise in RF.
How did you become interested in RF?
Going into the field straight from university was eye opening, not only to just how interesting and broad the area is, but also how, despite its importance in the modern world, how we are not exposed to enough at university. Communication systems are prevalent the world over, with 4G and Wifi just the beginning of layers of communication systems keeping the world running, while radar is growing in importance, in particular with the rise of self-driving cars. Beyond that RF runs through most electronics in the modern world, GPS, quantum clocks, IOT etc. It is a field that is not only fun to work in, but continues to grow in importance in the modern world.
What appeals to you about RF?
Creating devices which can communicate across rooms or spot objects miles away is a great feeling. Detecting signals that you know only you are sending from across the room is like magic, especially when you have built it yourself.
What does your RF role involve?
Plextek designs electronics with a specialism in RF engineering. My job involves the designing and testing of mainly RF electronics circuits, dealing with all the parts of radar and communication systems, from a top level getting the complete systems to work, all the way to the nitty gritty design of oscillators, transceivers and other components.