ElectronicsEngineer

The work

Before a flight computer can fuse an inertial measurement with a GPS fix, something has to design the actual circuit boards: the sensor front-ends, the signal conditioning, the radios, the boards that turn a physical signal into a number the software can use. Electronics engineers design and test that hardware, working closely with the software side but responsible for a different set of problems entirely, noise, power, thermal and electromagnetic interference among them.

A typical day

• 01Design and simulate sensor and avionics circuits
• 02Build and test prototype hardware on the bench
• 03Diagnose noise, power or interference problems in a working design
• 04Support certification and environmental testing

How people get in

• Electrical or electronics engineering degree

  The standard route. Real hands-on board design experience, in a lab or a club project, stands out.

How it unfolds

1. DegreeElectrical or electronics engineering, with real circuit design and signal processing coursework.
2. Years 1-3Board-level design and test under a senior engineer, learning why the datasheet is never quite the whole story.
3. Years 4-8Owning a sensor or avionics board from schematic through certification testing.
4. LaterHardware lead, or across into systems engineering.

Is there a job in it

The hard parts

A board that works on the bench can still fail in flight, from vibration, temperature extremes or electromagnetic interference nobody reproduced in the lab, and finding that failure after the fact is slow, careful detective work. Certification testing for flight hardware is exacting and unforgiving of shortcuts, and a redesign this late costs real schedule.

What you would need

• Circuit design
• Signal processing
• Electromagnetic compatibility
• Test and measurement