A Lancaster engineering student has achieved a runner-up prize at a prestigious national competition.

Edward Lewis, a third year Electronic and Electrical Engineering student, received a prize of £500 at the annual RF Engineering and Communications Competition, which was organised by the UK Electronics Skills Foundation (UKESF) in partnership with the Radio Communications Foundation.

The competition highlights the work of final-year students focusing on radio frequency engineering and communications and this is the second year in a row that a Lancaster Engineering student has made the final.

Participants were assessed on posters that explained and demonstrated their final-year projects.

Mr Lewis’ work is on novel antennas for 5G networks which would enable data to be wirelessly transmitted over a wider angle and provide a more effective distribution of data traffic.

He said: “It is a great honour to have my work recognised by a great foundation and to have it presented at a brilliant conference. My project was loads of fun and the whole process has been so rewarding, developing my knowledge in the area of RF engineering.”

Mr Lewis’ project is a great example of how a European Commission Horizon2020-funded TWEETHER programme – an international research project looking at exploiting the W-band of the wireless communications spectrum for 5G, which was led by his academic supervisor Professor Claudio Paoloni - can inspire an excellent student project.

Professor Paoloni, who is also Head of Engineering at Lancaster university, said: “I am very proud of Edward for his commitment and professional attitude for succeeding in a challenging third-year project and to be awarded a runner-up prize at the prestigious UKESF RF Competition.

“It is the second year in a row that Lancaster Engineering students are selected for the final of the award. This success demonstrates the great value for students of research-led teaching at Lancaster’s Engineering Department.

“The novel antenna Edward designed, and built, is a follow-up of the successful European Commission Horizon 2020 TWEETHER I coordinate. Edward had the opportunity to work on a component for state of the art 5G wireless network at millimetre waves, with the same advanced tools of the TWEETHER design team.

“I would like to thank the UKESF and its CEO Stewart Edmondson for the great effort to promote Electronics Engineering through the RF Competition.”