Opportunities for students

I have spent 4 weeks in u-blox Italia. In this period I have learned to program on a real project. Challenges During my internship I had to improve the testing and control program of u-blox with a new tool, the plot. This tool allows the operator to see the audio signal in real time and to see the RMS (root mean square). During the implementation of the program I found out an error in the saving of the audio file in the e-Call tool and with the help of some colleagues I had the opportunity to fix it. I have always had a great support from my colleagues, they have always been very kind and ready to answer all my questions. Conclusion I’m enthusiastic of this opportunity which has been given to me, since it has cleared up some doubts I’ve recently had about my future study, at the university, moreover working to u-blox had given me the opportunity to leave something useful for everybody in the company, which is more than what I had expected. This internship has really fulfilled all my wishes and my expectations. I had a very great time at u-blox and I hope to have other work opportunities similar to this one in the future.

Short Introduction about you (where are you from, studies/university etc.), why you did your internship at u-blox and which subject were you working on:
I am a B.Sc. electronic engineering student at Università di Trieste. I discovered u-blox through an event held at my university. I did my internship in Sgonico, where I developed and tested real-time operating system functionalities for u-blox cellular modules.

Can you tell us more about the tasks and the challenges you had, and the people you worked with:
I worked with the Audio Team, which I found to be a stimulating environment. I familiarized myself with the structure of the cellular module, and I studied its components. Once I understood that, I started expanding and improving the existing code base to add the functionalities I was interested in. Finally, I tested my work on physical components and modules. Although it was challenging to work with a system that I previously did not know, I could always rely on my colleagues for explanations and resources.

Conclusion, what did you like and what did you learn:
At u-blox I found a professional environment, and friendly colleagues who were always ready to help me in case of need. I was encouraged to work autonomously, but my questions were always welcome and promptly answered. This experience has helped me get some invaluable insight into this field, and it has taught me many essential skills

Introduction: During my last year of high school (Alessandro Volta of Trieste), I decided to work for three weeks at u-blox to complete my "School-work alternation" project. In the Test and Measurement team I increased my knowledge of different programming languages, computer and problem solving skills. I've been working with 3 different types of modules during this period and my goal was to find, trace and to monitor some of these module's issues so I could later report the problem. Challenges: The main challenge was to learn all new information that has been given to me for the use of the main programs, like some of the AT commands and the module flashing procedure. Other challenges were given by the fact that I have not much competence of computer science and electronics, but nevertheless I managed to learn a lot and do the basic tasks that were given to me. Team: Despite the fact that I was new and even a bit out of place in the sector, u-blox team was always available to help me, assist me and solve my doubts. Thanks to them I archived the base knowledge to work here and I was able to resolve some issues I had been working on. Conclusion: In the end the work experience I have been doing not only gave me the opportunity to see and understand the meaning of working as an engineer, but it also gave me experience and knowledge in the cellular environment. The work space is very nice and hospitable, working here at u-Blox is surely something I would recommend to anyone that have the passion for electronics and computer science and the passion to learn new things every day.

Short Introduction about you (where are you from, studies/university etc.), why you did your internship at u-blox and which subject were you working on:

I attended both the bachelor's and the master's at the University of Trieste. Towards the end of my
MSc studies in electronics and information technology (curriculum Networks and IoT), I decided
to spend some time working on a project at u-blox Italia S.p.a.

I was really excited to work on the topics discussed during the lessons, even if the reality is more
challenging. During this experience I worked with the protocol stack team on two major topics
like security and power consumption, indeed the title of my work was:”Secure User-Plane Socket
Connectivity and Power Consumption Scenarios in Cellular LPWA Environment”.

Can you tell us more about the tasks and the challenges you had, and the people you
worked with?

As said before, the topic was about IoT security and power consumption. For what concern the
first one I have deepened how to establish a secure connection between the device under test and a
server, whereas for the second argument I measured the power consumption of the device with
different traffic profiles.

I didn’t have all the theoretical knowledge required, but thanks to the colleagues who were
always helpful and kind I could achieved my goals.

The environment in the team, despite the corona situation, was very active. Most of the time I had
the freedom and the responsibility to make my own decisions so that if I found a problem, my
colleagues were ready to help me.

Conclusion, what did you like and what did you learn?

In this experience I was able to put into practice the knowledge acquired in the classroom. To
achieve the objectives initially set it was necessary to go through others and this makes you grow
a lot. This path was facilitated by colleagues who were always available and kind.
Therefore I would suggest it to all the students that have the willing and the possibility to spend
some time on any similar project in this enterprise.

As part of my studies in computer science, I successfully completed an internship at the u-blox office in Berlin. I decided to increase the duration by choice from a minimum of eight weeks to a total of five month. The reason was simple – a period of only two month would not have been enough to finish a serious task of any kind. Additionally, I wanted to learn and experience as much as possible. In retrospect, I am very glad for this decision.

Challenges

I received the chance to work on three very different projects and had to face technologies and tools I did not know before. My main task was the creation of a testbed for host based wireless modules, then I was requested by the hardware team to assist in automating measurements and last but not least I implemented a firmware update procedure for one of the host platforms. The main challenge for me was to adapt quickly to new requirements. Fortunately, I was able to use a lot of the methods and knowledge I gained at my time at the university but still I had to get used to reading technical specifications, the general workflow in the team and the regular status meetings.

Conclusion

I experienced a warm welcome in Berlin and soon felt like a part of the team, not least because all colleagues were very collaborative and professional. Because many different disciplines come together in Berlin, I gained valuable insights regarding the Linux kernel and radio drivers as well as hardware design and measurement equipment. Overall, the time at u-blox was more valuable and rewarding than I could have wished for.

I have done a three weeks stage in u-blox, the topic of my project was to create a small CO sensor using one of their application board, simulating what a client would do to find out any problems or imperfections. Challenges During the stage I had to apply all my theoretical and practical knowledge, I used a lot of professional tools hardware and software with the help of an expert tutor. The first challenge was to communicate with the board and understand how it works studying the differences between the other boards I knew. I read a lot of data sheet and documentation, then I started my sensor’s planning using CAD and simulators. I upgraded my skills especially for the problem solving and at the end I realized the Monoxide sensor prototype and it works very well! Conclusions It has been a rewarding experience, very helpful from the educational point of view because I have worked with very qualified people and advanced instrumentation out of the school’s financial possibilities. Live this experience inside a company like u-blox drove me to look forward, to the engineering world, to the future world!

Short Introduction about you (where are you from, studies/university etc.), why you did your internship at u-blox and which subject were you working on:

I’m from Oderzo, a small town in the North-East Italy, near Venice. I’ve been studying in Trieste since 2016, which is the place where I did my internship this year. I had been chosen by U-Blox for a scholarship called ‘Talent Engineering’ which gave me the opportunity to work in the Audio R&D team. Since one of my favorite topic during my degree was Digital Signal Processing the object of my Internship was Echo Acoustic Cancellation and the study of Identification Algorithms.

Can you tell us more about the tasks and the challenges you had, and the people you worked with:

I’ve started with the study of Acoustic Echo Cancellation and the algorithms used in System Identification since these topics weren’t treated during the traditional courses. Then, of course, it was time to apply what I had learnt. I’ve developed a small framework to test the algorithms performances under different circumstances, such as clipping and distortion. These simulations were performed first in a Matlab environment and then using Simulink. Since these type of programs are usually not dealt with during my lessons so for me it was pretty challenging to use them in the most efficient and correct way. As I said I was in the Sgonico’s Audio R&D department and I had the pleasure to be flanked by Vojko, Stefano and Giovanna who helped me during all my Internship. They were very kind and patients taking the time to clarify every single doubt I had.

Conclusion, what did you like and what did you learn:

I liked pretty much everything of my experience from the coffee breaks to the different challenges that occurred during my Internship. One of the things that I liked most was the relationship with the team, especially the fact that they treated me as a member more than a student. I’ve had my first glance of how a workplace is and in particular I’ve learnt how important is cooperation and teamwork in such environments.

I have spent 6 months working in the Interface Test project at u‑blox AG in Thalwil. Coming from mostly academia, I have had the great opportunity to get in touch with the atmosphere inside the R&D department of this big company. Challenges What I have liked the most about my internship has been the fact that I have had the opportunity to learn about all the different layers of the embedded systems architecture: from the design of hardware sources in VHDL, going through the set up of the Linux Kernel and Linux Drivers, development of the Interface Test code in C++, all the way to the connection and incorporation of said test into the test framework, written in Perl. Thanks to these challenging tasks, I have been able to acquire a very valuable knowledge in these fields that will surely be really useful for my professional and academic career. The final aim was to get the system to work in an autonomous fashion, so that employees from different places in the world can easily run these tests. Conclusion For me, doing my internship in u‑blox AG has been, with no doubts, a great experience that I would totally recommend to anyone interested in embedded systems. I have been able to independently develop my own ideas in the project, and also ask for support to my teammates which were always very open, friendly and willing to help. All in all, I have had a very valuable and rewarding experience as an intern in u‑blox AG.

Challenges Understanding the whole structure of the program I was assigned to work on new coding techniques I was not familiar with. It turned out to be quite challenging but thanks to the mentors assisting me were patient and always available to assist me in case I needed some help. Thanks to their explanations and hints, I was able to implement and test the features I was assigned: to add to the m-Center application. I was also given the chance to be creative, to experiment and to come up with new ideas. I was amazed by the fact that I could openly discuss with my mentors. Conclusion My stage at u-blox was a very nice experience and I am really happy that my teachers chose u-blox as a company for my stage. The fact I developed a small set of tools that turned out to be useful to all the people involved in the development of the m-Center application pleased me and excites me a lot. I would highly recommend any student who’s studying IT, programming or software engineering to ask his/her teacher to contact u-blox and take advantage of a possible highly formative and nice experience like the one I had.

Short Introduction about you (where are you from, studies/university etc.), why you did your internship at u-blox and which subject were you working on:

I’m from Lucerne, a beautiful city not too far from the u-blox headquarters. After having completed my Bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering at EPFL in Lausanne, I decided to interrupt my studies for a year and gain some experience in the industry. Since I had a particular interest in Integrated Circuit (Digital) Design, I came across u-blox and got offered an interesting position as an IC validation intern. This led me to work on IC validation related topics, working mostly with FPGA’s.

Can you tell us more about the tasks and the challenges you had, and the people you worked with:

In the first phase of the internship, I was working on a Python-based validation framework which allows for automated and robust testing of a design on different hardware platforms (FPGA, Emulation, ASIC, …) for different product lines.

In the second phase, I explored and worked on a FPGA-based validation technique where data and control information can be sent in real time to a running design on an FPGA. This included writing RTL in SystemVerilog, coding corresponding software in C and setting up a simulation environment to verify each development step.

Throughout the internship I was exposed to various workflows (firmware, FPGA, …) and numerous tools. The main challenge consisted in understanding and using them in an efficient way and integrating them into my development activities. Fortunately, I was very well supported by my line manager and my supervisor from my team and could reach out any time to other team members for help and clarification.

Conclusion, what did you like and what did you learn:

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my time at u-blox, working with such innovative and open people, but also doing other activities such as sports and going for dinner with colleagues after work.

Apart from all the technical aspects, I learnt a lot about how to work in an industrial environment, where tasks are done for a specific purpose, as opposed to just the purpose of learning in the case of university. This leads to different requirements and asks for a different approach, and I definitely learnt to tackle challenges with a bigger focus on scalability, simplicity and maintainability in mind.

I was particularly happy that I was given the chance to present my work in front of the whole department and get valuable feedback and recognition for my work from experienced colleagues, which made me feel even more like a regular member of the company.
 

An internship in industry is a compulsory part of my Master’s degree. My experience with u‑blox took place during winter semester 2016. I was part of the tools drivers and sample code group. The topic of my project was to create a video recording system for a satellite navigation test vehicle. After 6 months of working in an exciting environment I successfully completed the task. Together with the recording software I delivered a video replay and visualization feature for an existing evaluation software. Challenges The challenges and difficult tasks I faced during this internship offered me a great opportunity to improve my engineering skills. The recording application had to establish communication with a GNSS receiver and to save metadata information for each frame of the recorded video. I could learn how to write reliable software communicating with several devices and saving the data in real time. I had to test the system’s behavior with different types of cameras, conduct performance measurements, and verify correctness of the system during road tests. The last task of my internship was to assemble several video recording devices, which are now used at multiple u‑blox sites around the globe. With the help of my mentor and teammates I was able solve all the given tasks, some of them in unexpected ways. For example for the extrinsic calibration of the cameras I used a UAV with a GNSS receiver attached to it. This method was not only accurate but also fun! The video replaying program has several interesting features implemented, such as the possibility to overlay satellites on video frames. Using this feature it’s possible to see which satellites are occluded by buildings and which have clear line of sight. Conclusion Working with u‑blox was an amazing experience and hopefully a great opening of future career opportunities in R&D. My project resulted in a very convenient and useful product which helps the developers understanding signal propagation effects.

Short Introduction about your internship at u-blox: An internship is an optional part of my Master’s degree at the University of Aalborg, Denmark. On June 2017 I arrived at u-blox for a period of 6 months, but I am happy to say that one year after I am still at the company, employed as an Engineer in the Sensor Fusion Team. After my internship program, u-blox gave me the chance to do my master thesis, where I could carry on my own investigation with the aim to improve GNSS positioning in urban canyons. Challenges: Coming up with an idea, discuss it with superiors and colleagues, improve it and bring it down to practice was the biggest challenge I faced. I had the freedom to develop what I wanted and how I wanted within an established framework. Not only did u-blox provide me the data and the resources I needed it, but also the key knowledge. The tips from colleagues who have been years in the GNSS industry pushed me far and fast, helping me to succeed in my thesis. Conclusion: One year at u-blox as an intern and as a master thesis student gave me the best possible inside on the GNSS industry. Not only did I learn more than years at university but I also contribute on different projects. The topics in which I worked nailed the contents of my master studies, making this collaboration at u-blox the perfect spot where to start my career path.

I did my MSc thesis at u‑blox Italia. In the first part of my thesis, I analyzed the time information obtainable from an LTE modem. In the second part, I studied how to use this time information to aid GNSS system at the beginning of an acquisition activity and to assist those user applications with highly stringent accuracy of time synchronization requirements. Challenges The company experience was very intensive and interesting. How the LTE modem extracts an estimate of absolute time and how propagates this information were topics completely unknown to me. In the early days, I tried to fill my knowledge gaps about LTE cellular technologies. All the people of CellLocate team have always supported me, respected and helped to solve my problems. By sharing their knowledge and information, they have helped me to acquire gradually more autonomy. It was hard to characterize the accuracy of time information. The base station equipment and some information regard their mode of operation is confidential and operator dependent. By discussing with my colleagues the obtained results, based on Time of Arrival measurements of LTE received signals, I was able to deduce the correct conclusions. Conclusion I can proudly say that, at the conclusion of the six‑month internship, the balance of my experience has been very positive. I have grown from both the technical and human point of view, and I have gained a greater awareness of my skills. I am satisfied with the good relationship established within the company as well as the colleagues of my team, but especially with my tutor who followed throughout my activities.

Short Introduction about your internship at u-blox: I did my thesis at U-Blox. My internship started in August 2018 and ended in December 2018. I worked with the audio team and my thesis focused on the decoding of DTMF tones for CAT-M1 cellular technology. In particular, I studied the effects of AMR compression on DTMF tones. Challenges: During those months, I had to learn a lot of things. Firstly, I studied the telecommunication environment which the topic of my thesis is related to in term of cellular technology specifics and standards related to audio signaling. Secondly, I focused on the use of some software that I have never used before and that was fundamental for my research. The audio team supported me and helped me to find the best methods to achieve the results I needed to study the effects of compression on DTMF tones. Conclusion: My impression about this internship is very positive. I received more support compared to what I had imagined before starting this experience. The good mark that the professors of the University gave me for my thesis confirms that in this company I was able to achieve my professional aims. I could do a good job thanks to my effort obviously but also thanks to the availability and knowledge of engineers who work there. Since 01.02.2019 Giovanna is working at u-blox with a fixed term contract lasting until 31.01.2020 in Sgonico as an Associate Engineer in the audio software team.

An industrial thesis (master's thesis with a company) is frequently regarded as a critical stepping stone in a student's professional development. They provide a bridge between academic learning and real-world experience. I just had the honor of conducting research at u-blox, a prestigious and prominent location and wireless communication solution provider to the automotive, industrial, and consumer markets.

I was greeted warmly and friendly when I walked into the office. The vibrant culture of the organization and the team's enthusiasm for their work were obvious. The initial orientation training taught me everything I needed about the company's beliefs, goals, and expectations. It laid the groundwork for a fascinating and fruitful thesis work experience.

While at u-blox, I worked on improving the security of u-blox's IoT modules using machine learning algorithms. I was entrusted with challenging and impactful assignments of investigating how machine learning can be embedded in resource-constrained IoT modules for anomaly and intrusion detection. My work included using generated u-blox datasets to train and build ML models for anomaly and intrusion detection and finding ways these models can be converted into compact C code and implemented in embedded devices with limited memory and computing power. Despite a challenging start with data collection from IoT devices due to a lack of experience in embedded devices. The guidance and support I received during my thesis work were exceptional. I had a supervisor and two other senior engineers who became invaluable resources throughout my journey. They provided regular feedback, answered my questions, and helped me navigate complex tasks, including helping set up the testbeds for data collection. The mentorship enhanced my technical abilities and instilled in me a sense of confidence and self-belief.

At u-blox, collaboration is ingrained in the company culture. The work environment fostered open communication and encouraged collaboration across teams. I worked with professionals from diverse backgrounds, each bringing their unique perspectives to the table. The collaborative nature of the workplace not only enriched my understanding but also reinforced the importance of teamwork in achieving collective goals.

The master's thesis work at u-blox has been a life-changing learning opportunity. In addition to the skills I learned, I was exposed to various industry tools, technologies, and best practices. Weekly seminars about project progress fostered my professional development. These learning experiences extended my views and gave me the abilities I needed to succeed in the industry.

During my time at u-blox, I got to network with experts from all departments and levels of the firm. This experience allowed me to broaden my professional network and get insight into other career choices. Engaging in dialogues with experienced persons proved invaluable, opening the door to potential future partnerships and mentorship opportunities.

My master's thesis work at u-blox was a fantastic adventure full of growth, learning, and significant friendships. It was a transformative experience because of the supportive environment, tough tasks, and the opportunity to work alongside dedicated experts. This thesis work not only improved my technical skills but also gave me professional confidence and self-belief. I am grateful for the chance and its long-term influence on my personal and professional growth.

University: Linnaeus University

Faculty of Technology, Department of Informatics

Program: Information Systems

I was for five month part of the sensor fusion team in Thalwil. This team works on navigation algorithms that combine satellite information with additional sensor data. I worked on different tasks related to that topic. First, I enhanced and verified a device used to log data from road journeys with a test car. Afterwards, I designed and developed the software of a tool that allows to automatically identity sensor fusion issues in logged data. Challenges Throughout the entire internship I had to familiarize myself with new topics that required a profound understanding and creativity to be solved. I mostly worked and planned the next steps to be taken independently, but I always had great support from my colleagues in Thalwil and when needed also from other offices. For example, when I encountered latency issues on the logging device and got stuck, I got together with embedded systems experts in Thalwil and had support from other colleagues in UK to solve them. This open‑door policy (that I was able to call anybody to ask for help) was much appreciated. The road tests with the logging device were tricky, too. Many processes that work without any problems on the office desk are potential issues on the road that might totally screw up whole measurement sequences. Sometimes things did not work out well during the first or second run, but I was advised by experienced testing engineers and my colleagues that were waiting for road journey data showed understanding and supported my learning process. Conclusion These five months at u‑blox have been a great time as I got deep insights into various aspects of the R&D work that is done in Thalwil. All my expectations as deepening my knowledge in embedded systems and in software development were fulfilled and I gained a lot of hands‑on experience in real testing environments. The work was very interesting and enjoyable thanks to my colleagues that rapidly integrated me into their team. I can recommend an internship at u‑blox to anybody with similar background and interest.

Short introduction about our thesis: We performed our Bachelor thesis at the u-blox office in Malmö. For the ten weeks we worked with implementation of the Indoor Positioning system based on the Bluetooth Low Energy technology and mesh topology using hardware provided by u-blox. This work included an investigation of systems performance in terms of accuracy in different scenarios. Our work was concluded with a working prototype of the tracking system. Challenges: We did not have much experience with Bluetooth technology or positioning methods from our studies and so for the first part of our thesis we studied different filtering algorithms and positioning techniques. For the second part we built a prototype of the system and tested it in office environment. We had limited time to conduct out thesis but could plan and work independently with our project. During those ten weeks, we taught us a lot of new things. The system was implemented using Java-script that we did not study previously, and we used software like Visual Studio and Node-Red that we have not used before. Assignment was challenging but also fun, it gave us new knowledge that surely will prove useful in the future. Our colleagues at u-blox supported us and helped us to get started with the current firmware and begin work with our prototype system. We were always welcome to ask questions, and everyone showed great interest for our project. Conclusion: For us, doing our Bachelor thesis at u-blox has been a great experience that we would recommend to anyone studying computer science, IoT or embedded systems. It was a great time and valuable opportunity to work with the project in a company and test our ideas. We received much support, everyone in the office were very open and friendly, that made it very enjoyable experience. See more about our Bachelor Thesis 2019,”Using BLE mesh network for indoor tracking” (Malmo, Sweden) https://muep.mau.se/handle/2043/28787

Towards the end of my BSc studies of Information engineering at the University of Trieste, I decided to spend some time working on a project at u‑blox Italia S.p.a. The issues I addressed during these 3 months of internship also gave me the arguments on which I could develop my bachelor’s thesis. I have been working with the protocol stack team as well as following some tests and trace analysis performed by the tests and measurement sector. I learned a lot in this period, as I upgraded the basic knowledge of CS and PS solutions I gained at the University with practical examples of it. Team Despite the autonomy that was given to me, the u‑blox team has always been available for clearing doubts up, for cooperation, for solving some problems together. The arguments that I was dealing with were very recent, some u‑blox products implementing these features in the process of development, so I was given the opportunity to see the progress in the work really day by day. Being part of a team where everybody has different qualities and finding a way to cooperate in such a way to resolve big projects is really motivating. Conclusion The most gratifying feeling during this work was the awareness that even if a problem instance was completely new to me, previous work and studies of different arguments turned out to suggest which approach to choose and how to solve it. This is why I am most thankful to the u‑blox team, for showing me the way in which this company works, for giving me a lot of new knowledge, for helping me to develop a critical and useful attitude in solving real problems. Therefore I would suggest it to all the students that have the willing and the possibility to spend some time on any similar project. I am sure this experience will make my further work more rewarding and will help me to see the topics I will face during further studies from a different and more focused point of view.

Short Introduction about your internship at u-blox: During my internship at u-blox in Thalwil in 2019, I worked on a GNSS visualization tool for multipath detection. This tool enables quick visual troubleshooting of GNSS signal reception quality in the receiver. In those 6 months, I not only gained a very interesting insight into GNSS technology (a new domain for me as a mechanical engineer), but was also able to substantially improve my C++ programming skills. Challenges: An interesting aspect of my internship consisted of formally analyzing and deriving the theory underlying the signal processing in GNSS. This taught me to always validate my implementation with theoretical assumptions. With steady support from my mentor, I was always challenged to learn new aspects about GNSS technology and the underlying signals. The internal codebase’s quality expectations set a high bar, which taught me a lot about professional C++ programming. Starting off with a simple GNSS receiver in MATLAB, I was able to go through many interesting stages to reduce my code’s execution time, from a pure C++ implementation to multithreading and vectorization. I was also able to write a file-format parser program in C++ for the testing team, which included the development of many unit tests for different cases. Overall, the internship offered me a very good preparation for my future career. Conclusion: The internship at u-blox has been a great experience and I would recommend it to everyone interested in GNSS and signal processing, which is not limited to people with an electrical engineering/telecommunications background. The environment was very friendly and you could always count on support from your colleagues when needed.

In my Internship at u‑blox in Thalwil I got different tasks in multiple directions of IC design. In the first part I checked some existing reused digital IPs for possible issues. Afterwards I worked on different aspects of the characterization and power estimation in the latest 28 nm project. In the end I was able to get a small insight into the backend. Challenges Changing the task multiple times means I had to familiarize myself over and over again with new topics and new tools. For example, for the checks of the IPs I needed to understand the behavior of the IPs and the theory behind the checked rules to be able to decide how to fix appearing problems. In another task I had to understand parts of the firmware to be able to debug a faulty HDL test simulation. Besides the reading and trying out part, my colleagues always tried to help with any questions or problems I had. Even though my questions were sometimes more based on my curiosity than on my actual task they were always very open to give me answers or even show me real‑life applications. Conclusion For me the internship at u‑blox fulfilled all my goals and wishes I had for my internship. I could get an insight in multiple parts of the IC design and gained a lot of experience. Additionally, all the colleagues were very helpful, friendly and open. So all in all I just had a great time at u‑blox.

Short Introduction about your internship at u-blox: My internship was finalized to the writing of my master thesis. The focus was on the management and optimization of strategic sourcing processes. The project led to the development of a methodology for the classification of sourcing categories and to the creation of a purchasing portfolio model called the Kraljic’s matrix. Challenges: The activities allowed me to analyse data and obtain information regarding the sourcing office in u-blox. The main objective was to optimize sourcing category management. To do so, the project has been divided into three main phases. The first regarded the analysis of the actual state in the sourcing office. The second was about the construction of a model for the classification of sourcing categories. The main challenge was to differentiate categories and understand how their differences could help in optimizing their management. The model developed is called the Kraljic’s matrix (Kraljic P, 1983). The third phase allowed me to outline new actions and to propose some solutions for the improvement of sourcing category management. Conclusion: During my internship I have been able to analyse the actual state of the sourcing office and to propose new actions for improvement. Writing my thesis here allowed me to put in practice my theoretical knowledge and to take the front line in the project. It has been a great experience and a complex journey from which I have learnt a lot, thanks to u-blox employee, who have been very collaborative.

During the internship at u‑blox Italia for my MSc degree, I worked on the characterization and optimization of an M2M application with the point of view of current consumption. The study involved gaining knowledge on how UMTS and LTE cellular technologies work, especially the protocol stack, and how to use instruments such as system simulators, power supplies and multimeters. Challenges The topics I was going to investigate were completely new to me. The first challenge had been to gain knowledge of UMTS and LTE cellular technologies, in order to understand which network parameters can affect the cellular module’s current consumption. In order to do so, I was in contact with people from the protocol stack team; moreover, I spent a lot of time reading books and articles on previous works. Then, with the help of the hardware team I was able to set up the measurement test system, which was used to characterize the current consumption of a u‑blox cellular module in UMTS and LTE. In the final part of my work, I had to suggest techniques to minimize the current consumption of an M2M application running on a u‑blox cellular module. I think that this part was the most challenging, but discussing it with colleagues helped me to go through it and achieve the goals. Conclusion All in all, I enjoyed working on my thesis at u‑blox Italia because my colleagues were always very collaborative and I was in a position that has let me use my theoretical knowledge in real‑world scenarios.

I’ve spent the first half of 2020 working with Angle of Arrival at u-blox Malmö. A subject that I had no previous experience with but had all knowledge needed in order to understand. Challenges I feel like I really understood how much work goes into these kinds of projects where so many people with different specialties are involved in order to together come up with a new product. This is something that university can never teach or show with the same end result. One has to experience it. More specifically I worked with antennas that should be used in an antenna array in order to measure Angle of Arrival. The goal was to reduce the size of the antenna array whilst still keeping the same performance. I got to simulate their performance as well as measuring the manufactured prototype to see if it performed as well as the simulated results. Measuring on my prototype and comparing the results with the simulated values and drawing conclusions about the design has been very useful for future projects. Conclusion My time at u-blox has been a great experience as I got to solve a problem that I had no experience with but had all the knowledge needed in order to solve. I got to solve the issues my own way with the guidance of my supervisors. There was no idea that was too stupid, as long as my ideas stayed on the path of solving the issue there was no hindrance from the supervisors. This is a really nice feeling as I truly felt like I came up with the idea to progress through the problem and I didn’t follow an already established path laid down by the supervisors. All in all I feel like the university’s goal of having us students complete a master thesis is to give us an experience of how an engineering workspace operates which I feel like I experienced during my time at u-blox.

I did both the BSc and the MSc internships and thesis at u‑blox. During my MSc thesis I studied models for controlled power reduction by data puncturing during a CS voice call and its impact on voice quality in UMTS. The most promising model was integrated in the Protocol Stack in one of our UMTS M2M radio products and empirically tested. Continuous challenge Putting the theoretical knowledge into a real‑world practice requires a lot of learning and experimenting. The knowledge of the colleagues I’m privileged to work with, and the possibility to simply approach them to discuss pros and cons in order to find the most optimal real‑world solution is priceless. Most of the time I had the freedom and the responsibility to make my own decisions on how to do things and then to discuss them with my colleagues that are very specialized in it. Apart from continuous learning and improving, the most important experience I gained was how to work in a very dynamic environment inside a team where everyone has a chance and the responsibility to give their best and to contribute to an immense project. Conclusion The valuable experience gained during internship and thesis was crucial when I joined u‑blox. Being a member of the company that designs and implements its own cutting edge technology in positioning and wireless communication is very challenging, but professionally also a very rewarding task.

As a part of our studies in Wireless Communication, we did our master thesis work in ‘V2X Communications’ at the u-blox office, Malmö. In our thesis work, we investigated the performance of V2X Communications using IEEE signal models and channel models. In this work, we also made a comparison between 802.11p and 802.11bd protocols. Our work was concluded with a comparison of both (.11p and .11bd) using the ubx-V2x simulator. Challenges The topic which we chose was new to us and the software which is the UNITY game engine was the first time which we used was really challenging for us. Our first challenge was to build a 3D environment using vehicles. But we thank Lund University where they gave already built LTH environment. Using that environment we built cars in UNITY. Our next challenge is to do the movement of cars which we performed by building an object and reflection coefficient. Later we took reflection coefficient data from UNITY to the simulator and compared the performance of both IEEE signal models in the ubx-V2x simulator. We will be thankful to u-blox for giving an already built ubx-V2x simulator. It could have been challenging for us without the simulator. During our time at u-blox, we were given a lot of responsibilities and we were allowed to work independently. We were always welcomed for any help from colleagues and supervisors at u-blox. Conclusion Our work at u-blox was a great experience, and both of us are very happy we choose to work with u-blox for our master thesis work. Our work in V2x Communications where we made a comparison between 802.11p and NGV signal models will be helpful for the company in the development of NGV signal models. We both recommend any student who is interested in V2x communications and planning to do master thesis work to get in touch with u-blox, Malmö.

From January 2013 to December 2015 I worked at the University of Trieste towards my PhD in Information Engineering. The research project was undertaken in close collaboration with u‑blox, who financed the PhD scholarship and reviewed the signal processing of downlink LTE signals for positioning purposes. A fascinating challenge The topic of the PhD was agreed together with the R&D heads of the u‑blox cellular positioning group. At that time, u‑blox was interested in developing precise positioning solutions that exploited the signals of the terrestrial cellular networks. They asked me to join their research on the signal processing techniques needed to exploit all the properties of the LTE OFDM signals that could be exploited for time measurements in a localization system. This was a quite un‑explored topic, both in the industry and in academia, and I loved to work on such a leading edge aspect of positioning, with several challenges to face. Research in a company Industry and academia are often seen as two opposite poles, but in these three years with u‑blox I understood how powerful can be their interaction. Thanks to u‑blox, I met a large network of people spread in different countries and working on different aspects of the same problem I was facing for my PhD project. This network included u‑blox employees, and external collaborators, such as the ICOM team of the Hochschule für Technik Rapperswil. Thanks to this, I had the chance to travel a lot and to visit some different offices of u‑blox in UK and Switzerland. Being in contact and working with all these people made me learn a lot, from both the technical and human point of view. Finally, the thing I liked most is the chance I had to see the results of my research becoming something tangible and concrete, which is something that does not happen often if you work exclusively in academia. The results The research project on which I worked together with u‑blox gave exciting results. Together with all the people involved, we published several papers on what we achieved, and we also filed a patent application. This permitted to me to pursue successfully the PhD title. Nowadays, I am a u‑blox employee in Sgonico, Italy, where I am continuing to work as an engineer on cellular positioning topics. Here I have the chance to continue contributing to the growth of the project I’ve been part of and to face every day new fascinating challenges.

Summary of my thesis work I did my master’s at Lund University. As a student in the wireless communication program, I did my master’s thesis at u-blox. My thesis was about “Link performance measurement and improvement of Bluetooth mesh network. We took the measurements of the real-world Bluetooth mesh network and with the obtained results and parameters like time to live, round trip time, and Throughput a MATLAB simulation model is created. This model will help customers to know the link performance and the optimal output of different types of nodes and the Bluetooth mesh network in a given area. Challenges In my work, I have learned many things about wireless communication especially in Bluetooth 5.0 and Bluetooth mesh networks. The first part of our thesis is to take measurements of the real world Bluetooth mesh network using the c# in visual studio which was something new to me. The real-world model contains several Bluetooth nodes and testpoints to calculate the parameters like Time to live, Round trip time, and Throughput. From the obtained data a MATLAB model is simulated by considering all the stacks of Bluetooth to match with the real-world model. The supervisors were supportive and helped me in each aspect of this journey by giving ideas, clearing doubts, and boosting with motivational words. The atmosphere at the office and the team I worked in was amiable, which helped me to achieve my goal in my project. Conclusion Eight months as a master thesis student at u-blox was a dream come true, it was a very good exposure to the corporate world, the best opportunity to explore different technologies. This was a great step for my career as a wireless communication engineer. My project came out as suitable and neat to developers and costumers of u-box to understand the blink performance of the Bluetooth mesh network.

We have done our MSc thesis at u‑blox in Malmö. For the first part of our thesis, we studied a set of time synchronization methods for short range networks connected with Bluetooth Low Energy. The second part of the thesis was to conduct a case study; implement such a synchronization algorithm using u‑blox products. Independent work u‑blox gave us a description of what they wanted the thesis to be about, but still, they left a lot of decisions for us. In the beginning of our study, we had to allocate time to catch up with the latest research on the subject. We built a solid foundation which we were able to base our case study upon. To implement applications for both energy and memory constrained devices, it requires you to make thought‑out design decisions. If we ever felt that we couldn't make the decision by ourselves, our colleagues, who have a wide experience in this area, was always willing to help. During our study, we have learned that it is hard to compare performance between different time synchronization methods, because, when it comes to precision, the hardware really matter. See more about our Master Thesis Short Range 2016 (Malmo, Sweden). Conclusion We have had a wonderful time at u‑blox. Everyone has been very helpful and has shown much interest in our work.

Short Introduction about your internship at u-blox: To validate my MSc. Studies at ENAC, France, I carried out a six-month internship at u-blox, Thalwil on the topic “Characterization of GNSS measurement errors under jamming conditions”. I was working with the tec-pos department under the guidance of Dr. Thomas Kaufmann. The increase in the threat of jamming devices affecting GNSS receivers has turned out to be a major concern. This work deals with understanding some aspects of the behavior of u-blox ZED-F9P receiver under strong jamming scenarios. Detailed analysis on the offsets, biases and measurement deviations was performed. Challenges: Since the project work required deep knowledge about the receiver architecture and signal flow implementation, a deep literature review had to been performed. It took several weeks to characterize and build a permanent setup for conducting the jamming measurements. Due to automation of the jamming tests, conducting them on time was a big challenge as the jam site was busy with other projects as well. Discussing the difficulties faced at the receiver architecture with the right experts from different departments was an interesting hurdle and I received unconditional help from them. Conclusion: In the end of the six months, a clear understanding of the receiver behavior was presented and it was noticed that the receiver is not able to deal well with the chirp jamming signals as compared to the other types of jamming signals. The novelty of this project was the conceptualization of the measurement setup which had a receiver with jamming signals clock synchronized with another identical receiver having only fed with GNSS signals. This enabled us to analyze the offsets and deviations of the measurements precisely. Overall, these six months has given me a great experience and exposure to the GNSS industry and I am grateful to each and every one who helped me in this journey.

As part of our studies in computer science, we performed our MSc thesis at the u‑blox office in Malmö. For our thesis, we investigated how a Bluetooth Automation IO service could be used in u‑blox products. This work included an investigation of what use cases there could be for such a profile, how to best integrate it in the existing firmware, as well as how it would interact with the remaining functionality of the module. Our work was concluded with a fully functional prototype solution. Challenges Working with a previously unknown technology, on a vast existing code‑base could be a daunting task. Our first challenge was to get to know the existing system, and fortunately for us we had plenty of great colleagues, always happy to help when they could. This allowed us to quickly get up to speed with the current firmware and how Bluetooth LE worked, and begin work with our prototype solution. During our time at u‑blox we were given a lot of responsibilities and were allowed to plan and work independently with our project. With that said we were always welcome to come to our colleagues for help or to simply discuss our project. For instance, when trying to figure out how to evaluate our prototype, we were able to get input from the application engineers, software developers, and our mentor. Conclusion Our work at u‑blox was a great experience, and both of us are very happy we chose to work with u‑blox for our master’s thesis. Our work resulted in a prototype that could soon be part of the standard connectivity software of u‑blox’ Bluetooth LE modules, which we find very exciting. We would both highly recommend any student interested in embedded systems that is planning to perform their master's thesis to get in touch with u‑blox Malmö!

Short Introduction about your internship at u-blox: Commencing with comprehensive literature reviews, I build up a TBS ranging simulator based on realistic log data, and then access the PVT solution from one refined offline engine. In the end, the crash of this internship is to deliver thorough and robust performance analysis on GNSS+TBS hybridization, and provide future perspective on roadmap for this innovative technology. Challenges: First, I need to give the best appreciation to my tutor, David Bartlett, who always be patient to my questions and solve my doubts with full kinship. He does cultivate me how to engage in brand-new research and support me lots of space to realize my unfurnished idea. Secondly, Thomas and Srujita are affable colleges who give me most helps, and I am really glad to know them (even with the limited contact under COVID pandemic). Conclusion: It is definitely a precious experience to deliver my internship in u-blox, out of the helps from friendly colleges, professional materials, and innovative working environment. I learn so much from it, and this six-month-lasting internship will be the most eminent nutrition for my kick-off professional career.

As part of our studies in computer science, we performed our MSc thesis at the u‑blox office in Malmö. For our thesis, we investigated how a Bluetooth Automation IO service could be used in u‑blox products. This work included an investigation of what use cases there could be for such a profile, how to best integrate it in the existing firmware, as well as how it would interact with the remaining functionality of the module. Our work was concluded with a fully functional prototype solution. Challenges Working with a previously unknown technology, on a vast existing code‑base could be a daunting task. Our first challenge was to get to know the existing system, and fortunately for us we had plenty of great colleagues, always happy to help when they could. This allowed us to quickly get up to speed with the current firmware and how Bluetooth LE worked, and begin work with our prototype solution. During our time at u‑blox we were given a lot of responsibilities and were allowed to plan and work independently with our project. With that said we were always welcome to come to our colleagues for help or to simply discuss our project. For instance, when trying to figure out how to evaluate our prototype, we were able to get input from the application engineers, software developers, and our mentor. Conclusion Our work at u‑blox was a great experience, and both of us are very happy we chose to work with u‑blox for our master’s thesis. Our work resulted in a prototype that could soon be part of the standard connectivity software of u‑blox’ Bluetooth LE modules, which we find very exciting. We would both highly recommend any student interested in embedded systems that is planning to perform their master's thesis to get in touch with u‑blox Malmö!

Short Introduction about your internship at u-blox: I am Lorenzo Maraspin, born in Trieste in Italy on 30/09/1999, I graduated from ITIS Alessandro Volta with specialization in IT and telecommunications. After high school I chose to attend a 2-year specialization course at ITS Kennedy in Pordenone, specifically I followed the IIoT (Industrial internet of things) course. At the end of the second year of study I asked the university tutor if I could carry out the internship period at U-blox because it seemed to me a suitable company based on the study path I was attending. Challenges: The internship period at U-blox I did in the "modem-sg-cel-team", my company tutor was Lia Deotto who was also the team leader. The first phase of the internship consisted of a training period, I was given some documents to study regarding telecommunications topics, the technologies used by the team and finally a document describing the cellular naming convention Then I did a series of exercises / tests on Sara R422 and Toby L4 products also thanks to many technical data sheets and documentation, these exercises were used to become familiar with the devices and understand how to interact with them. In the second phase of the internship, I was commissioned to create a software with the aim of automating the testing phase of a product and subsequently to format in a simple and clear way the report files that were generated at the end of the tests. The software was written in python and through specific libraries I run perl tests on shell. Conclusion: The internship period was certainly very informative and at the same time very complex because my skills and knowledge were and are mainly focused on the IT field instead of telecommunications. The thing I liked the most about the internship was the software development phase, because after defining the objective and functional requirements together with Lia, I did the rest of the work autonomously, thus having responsibilities and deadlines to be met. In this internship I grew more personally than professionally, I understood what it means to work in a team, what it means to organize the work and finally I improved a lot in problem solving. On the professional side, however, I deepened my knowledge of Python and I learned and used Perl programming language used to carry out tests.

Short Introduction about your internship at u-blox: After my Bachelor’s at ETH I was eager to get some practical experience to see how I could use the theoretical knowledge I had gotten. Doing an internship at u-blox before starting with my Master’s was a great choice. I worked on the interface tests project for GNSS modules that previous interns had been working on. The fact that I was working with GNSS products that help improve people’s daily lives, was always a great motivation for me. Challenges: The goal of my internship was to implement new tests for GNSS receivers. The results of these tests are going to be used to acquire information which is important for the data sheets of the receivers. The most challenging about my internship was, that I was working on a standalone project that only other interns had been working on before me. So my colleagues were not familiar with the details of this project. Although I was working on my own, I never felt unsupported. Due to the openness of the u-blox employees, there was always someone willing and able to help if I had questions. We could discuss problems and find solutions together. On the one hand I worked very autonomously and on the other I was well integrated to a team of international engineers. During the internship I gained knowledge in areas that were unknown to me. I learned a lot about communication on different interfaces and GNSS receivers. Also I was able to improve my programming skills and learn new programming languages. Mainly I was working with C++ and Perl. Conclusion: Looking back I can say that I would not hesitate to do this internship again. I warmly recommend doing an internship at u-blox for anyone interested in embedded systems, communication and GNSS. I am very thankful for all the new things I’ve learned and happy to have met so many lovely people. The opportunity to work in such a kind/friendly team of international engineers who always supported me, was a great experience. At the end of my internship I was able to do a presentation of the project for everybody interested which was also a great highlight for me. In summary I can say that this internship was an amazing experience for me.

During my internship at u‑blox AG in Thalwil I implemented a new test system for interfaces of the GNSS modules. To do so I was able to gain valuable skills about FPGAs, the Linux Kernel, Linux Drivers, C++ and how to integrate a test into a big framework. Team What I liked most about the internship was that I was free to decide on how to implement the system. On the other hand, when I needed to discuss the approach on how to implement a certain subsystem, I was always allowed to simply approach a colleague who had specialized in it. During those discussions we always tried to find the pros and cons of the different ways of how to implement the solution, but in the end I was still able to decide on my own which way was best for the project. I appreciated the freedom and responsibility that were given to me. Focus on Learning The focus was not only on how to get the test system to work as fast as possible, but also to look deeper into different fields and get familiar with them. I was able to spend a lot of time reading documentation and books in order to find the best solutions. There was little repetitive work to do, the focus was much more on gaining knowledge and skills. Conclusion It was a great and valuable experience for me to work at u‑blox AG not only because of the interesting technical challenges I had to tackle, but also because of my colleagues who integrated me very well into the team.