Inspiring new generations of engineers and entrepreneurs in Brazil
by Elizabeth Persico, Keysight Technologies*
For those who’ve spent more than 15 years in and around the test equipment business, it may be hard to imagine Hewlett-Packard as four separate companies: HP Inc.; Hewlett-Packard Enterprise; Agilent Technologies; and Keysight Technologies, the keepers of the flame in test and measurement.
Looking back, many of the best lessons come from The HP Way and the many things the company did really, really well. As an example, whenever HP created a new product division, one of the selection criteria was proximity to good universities: Stanford, UC-Berkeley, and UC-Davis; Colorado State University and the University of Colorado; Gonzaga University, the University of Washington, and Washington State University; and others in Germany, Japan, the UK, and beyond. The result was often a climate that would spawn new companies born of HP, the schools, or both.
Such is the case in Brazil. The Instituto Nacional de Telecommunições, or INATEL, has formed relationships with many of the 150 nearby high-tech companies. One is Embraer, the aircraft manufacturer; many of the others are startups formed from work begun at INATEL. These firms appreciate the quality education provided by INATEL and look to the school for qualified students as interns and full-time employees.
One reason: the school is serious about inspiring and challenging its students, using activities such as an annual design event for students in electrical engineering (EE). Blending real-world requirements, team competition, and plain old fun, the goal is to design an antenna. Working in groups of three or four, the students can select from 26 sets of design specifications from areas such as mobile communications, wireless connectivity, and terrestrial television.
Project teams design, simulate, and build their antennas. Using an RF analyzer, they also test each design to prove that it meets the target specifications. Each project is evaluated by the engineering faculty, and the resulting score factors into the students’ grade for the semester.
To enable testing with industry-grade instrumentation, INATEL’s EE labs are equipped with nine Keysight FieldFox RF analyzers. These durable handheld units operate up to 4 or 6 GHz, providing precise antenna measurements and a wealth of additional capabilities.
INATEL also sponsors a technical tradeshow initiative, which is open to a broader set of students. Reaching beyond telecommunications, this program lets students define and create their own projects in areas such as computing, networking, and automation.
It’s easy to imagine a motivated pair of students pairing up and launching a world-changing startup in a garage in Brazil. It’s even easier to imagine Bill and Dave smiling at the prospect.
For more information, get the full story here.
*Keysight Technologies Inc., formerly Agilent Technologies Electronic Measurement Business
