The Big Picture

Christopher joined Nottingham Scientific Ltd (NSL) in October 2017 where he worked on a project with Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS).

“Doing a year in industry is a nice change from academia. I learnt to use and develop the skills I’d picked up in the first two years of my degree.”

The Learning Curve

Christopher acknowledged that the first month of his internship was a steep learning curve. During this time he learnt about GNSS in greater depth. He worked with specialist software to process messages from satellites to determine receiver positions. Another part of the role involved working on a project to install receivers on a drone to determine the altitude data of the plane using GNSS. 

Christopher’s Impact

A further aspect of his work involved being part of a project which looked to sort and characterise malicious signals from satellite signal jammers which are used by criminals organisations.

The Physics Connection

Christopher found the work he was involved with varied and interesting. He particularly enjoyed finding the position of a receiver and relished solving the geometric problems involved. 

“As part of my course we were taught scientific computing with MATLAB but I learnt to use Python as well at NSL”

The Professional Skills Stuff

The internship provided Christopher with a year of unique experience working in the space industry. He recognised that the industry experience was desirable to both graduate employers and to help continue his possible journey into academia. Christopher felt the skills he developed were a significant factor in being offered a positon on a Rolls Royce sponsored PhD course in Robotics at the University of Nottingham.

The Company

Nottingham Scientific Limited are pioneers of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) satellite navigation technologies working within critical markets which directly affect the safety of citizens, national strategy and business. 

The Final Word…

Christopher particularly felt that the internship helped him to develop academically due to the challenging work involved in his role. 

“My final year grade improved 11% in comparison to the year before I worked in Industry.”

… And the Next Step

After completing his internship, Christoper is currently undertaking a Rolls Royce sponsored PhD in Robotics at the University of Nottingham.