Students shine in IEE paper contest

 

Once again, CityU’s young electronic engineers have proven their talent in technological innovation. Six students from the Department of Electronic Engineering (EE) have won championships and prizes in this year’s IEE (The Institution of Electrical Engineers) Hong Kong Younger Members Section Paper Contest, in both the undergraduate and postgraduate sections.

 Newly graduated from EE’s BEng (Hons) Electronic and Communication Engineering programme, Mr Anthony Cheng was top in the contest’s undergraduate section, with his innovative “Self-oscillating Sub-harmonic Mixer”. Compact, low-cost, and stable, his prototype has wide applications in high-performance wireless sensors, indoor security systems and radar communication.

 

Anthony now works as an Assistant Engineer in an electronic company in Hong Kong. He commented that in his three years' undergraduate education, the many opportunities to put what he learned from books into research practice, using CityU’s advanced laboratory setup, has given him a unique advantage in landing a job. “CityU graduates definitely have an edge over some other applicants who have less practical training,” he said. “That’s why I managed to land a job soon after graduation.”  

 

A team formed by postgraduate students Mr Kenji Yum and Mr Chiu Leung clinched the championship in the postgraduate

section. The results of their research project, “Linear Radio Frequency Amplifiers for W-CDMA Mobile Handsets”, may allow alleviation of the problems of signal distortion and short battery life in most 3G and 4G W-CDMA mobile handsets, using an anti-parallel reconfigurable transistor pair. It can reduce energy consumption by 80%.

 

 

The two students had established a rewarding mentor-mentee relationship before they paired up for the contest. Leung said that Kenji, as his mentor, helped him a lot in his undergraduate dissertation; while Kenji acknowledged that he gained a deeper perspective of what he had learned by sharing his experience with Leung. “The University has a practice of arranging experienced postgraduate students to support undergraduates,” said Leung, “I have benefited much from such a caring culture.” 

 

Postgraduate students Mr Steven Yang, Mr Chin Ching-hong and Mr Liu Yangfan obtained merit awards in the postgraduate section. Steven's “Wideband Opened Quarter Wavelength Microstrip Patch Antenna” has reduced the problem of cross polarization in patch antennas, thus enhancing signal transmission in mobile communication. It has wide application in handsets and other wireless communication products.

 

Chin and Liu won their prize as a team with their project, “Microwave Frequency Converters”, which enhances signal reception and transmission by converting microwave frequency. It can be applied in smart cards and anti-collision system in vehicles.  

 

The IEE Younger Members Section Paper Contest aims to provide an opportunity for science and engineering students at universities in Hong Kong and Macau to demonstrate their innovations through a presentation of their research papers and projects. By recognizing their efforts and achievements, the contest helps to promote local research in science and engineering.