My program adds to an existing one which takes data from their satellite, TechDemoSat1, and plots it onto the Earth’s surface using Google Earth. - James

The STEM placement students are sending us weekly blogs all about their experience in the world of work! 

Work experience is great and it provides students with many benefits whilst gaining skills and helping choose the right future career path for pupils. Having work experience on a Curriculum Vitae will make a person stand out to employers as they will notice they have motivation and a real passion for work. It will also help to boost a students confidence in themselves!

See how James is getting on at SSTL! 

Week one - 

"This week, I learnt to program with the MATLAB computer language in order to write a piece of software for the team that I am working in. My program adds to an existing one which takes data from their satellite, TechDemoSat1, and plots it onto the Earth’s surface using Google Earth. 

My program makes it so the data tracks are only loaded when the camera comes close to them, which allows large data sets to be displayed, which previously would have crashed Google Earth. With this, I have been able to detect soil moisture."

Week two - 

"This week, I continued to work on my MATLAB program and got it to stage where it works effectively. I have had to solve numerous problems involving the program, including making special cases for data crossing the antimeridian, as this would break Google Earth. 

My supervisor uploaded it to the main computer server, and we let it run over the weekend to process a backlog of data. Next week we will be using it to analyse things like seasonal variation in rainfall in certain areas."

                                                                                                                            - James

Understanding the role of P-N junctions and the use of semiconductors. - Joshi

The STEM placement students are sending us weekly blogs all about their experience in the world of work! 

Work experience is great and it provides students with many benefits whilst gaining skills and helping choose the right future career path for pupils. Having work experience on a Curriculum Vitae will make a person stand out to employers as they will notice they have motivation and a real passion for work. It will also help to boost a students confidence in themselves!

See how Joshi's getting on at the University of Surrey! 

Week one - 

"Over the last week, I have researched the background for my project. This involved looking at the structure of solar cells and how they work, especially by understanding the role of P-N junctions and the use of semiconductors. 

I have researched different types of solar cells and the use of doping to create an electric field at the junction. My project involves the use of the SILVACO Atlas software to model the cross-section of solar cells so for the last few days, I have also been looking at some example codes to understand how the program works." 

Week two -  
"Over the last week, I have looked further into the different parameters in ATLAS as I need to make changes in some existing code to optimize it, so that it gives the same results as experimental data. 

This involved plotting the results from the existing code, figuring out what was wrong with it and trying to find ways to make the results better. 

To get familiar with the program, I also tried to map the structure of the solar cell into the code using sample code. This solar cell model is organic, so I have looked into the basics of how organic solar cells work. "

                                                                                         

                                                                                                                                              - Joshi