EW BrightSpark 2020, In the spotlight: James Zaremba, Swansea University

Now in its fourth year, the EW BrightSparks programme sees Electronics Weekly partner with RS Components to highlight the brightest and most talented young electronic engineers in the UK today.

It was back in the summer that we first announced the class of 2020, but we also want to put the spotlight again on the individual winners.

Today, taking it alphabetically, we’re highlighting James Zaremba, who is studying Electronic and Electrical Engineering (BEng) at Swansea University.

Achievements

His academic supervisor nominated James due to the excellent and forward looking nature of his course work producing an electronic design, the judges learned. His task was to design a small portable computer that would be suitable for use in rural areas.

“While there have been many previous attempts at this, what James designed truly amazed me. His decision to use Raspberry Pi as the key component was predictable, but the key innovative aspect James proposed was to use a micro-projector instead of attaching an LCD display as one might expect.

The resulting prototype, which was built in only 4.5 months, is very compact, its size is 6x4x10cm. It runs a Raspberry Pi OS with enough memory capacity. The micro-projector provides a screen size of about 40x30cm clearly visible in daylight. There is WiFi Internet connectivity, and Bluetooth to connect an external keyboard. The current energy consumption is about 12W. The energy consumption as well as overall dimensions of the device can be optimised further, for instance, to operate the computer from a small portable renewable energy charger, and to easily fit the whole device into a pocket!”

The future aim is to make the design modular, so that every component can be independently replaced in case of its failure.

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Read the full profile here.

See all the profiles of the EW BrightSparks 2020 below.

And you can read more about the EW BrightSparks programme, at electronicsweekly.com/brightsparks/

EW BrightSparks 2020

Here is the full list of 2020 EW BrightSparks.

Jordan Albutt, Manufacturing Leadership Engineering Degree Apprentice, Rolls-Royce / University of Warwick
Aakash Bansal, PhD Electrical Electronic and System Engineering, Loughborough University
Ben Cartwright, Spacecraft Electronics/Systems Engineer, STFC and Citadel Space Systems
Rodosthenis Charalampous, Industrial PhD Researcher / Electrical and Electronic Engineering, National Nuclear Laboratory / The University of Manchester
Nicole Cox, Graduate Engineer, Siemens Rail Infrastructure
Yanislav Donchev, MSc Artificial Intelligence, University of Southampton
Lauren Gray, Development Scientist, Peratech
Anna Hart, Graduate Electronics Engineer, Leonardo
James Imber, Senior Research Engineer, Imagination Technologies
Dominic Lane, PhD student, Lancaster University
Cheng Hao Lim, MEng Electronics and Electrical Engineering, University of Edinburgh
Marnie McKay, Graduate Engineer, Atkins
James Morris, CEO, Intelliroller
Grant Mullen, Founder, Managing Director, Ai Automation
Zain Nazar, Digital & Technological Solutions Degree Apprentice (Software Developer/Engineer), BT
Tom O’Brien, TV and Digital Media Apprentice, BT
Amber O’Connor, Equipment Health Monitoring & Performance Engineer and Remote Diagnostic Services Programme Manager, Siemens Aeroderivative Gas Turbines
Olivia Ojuroye, Product Specialist, The Wearable Tech Hub
Gethn Pickard, Graduate Engineer, Plessey Semiconductors
Luke Richards, MEng Mechanical Engineering, University of South Wales
K atherine Scott, TV & Digital Media Degree Apprentice, BT
Andy Tay Kah Ping, Research Fellow, Imperial College London
Elvis Tinago, Student / MEng Aerospace Engineering, University of West of England Bristol
Alexander Tomlinson, Lead Analytical Measurement and Equipment Engineer, Jaguar Land Rover
James Veale, Mechanical Engineer (Ice Core Drilling), British Antarctic Survey
Kyle Walker, Phd Student Underwater Robotics, University of Edinburgh
Ying Wan Loh, Manufacturing engineer, Rolls-Royce, University of Cambridge
Tyler Ward, Senior Engineer, Audioscenic
Adam Wilson, Embedded Electronics Engineer, Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) UK
James Zaremba, BEng Electronic and Electrical Engineering, Swansea University

Thank you to everyone who entered for the EW BrightSparks programme, including those not listed here. The standard for 2020 was exceptionally high this year, so many excellent candidates did not make this shortlist.