Projects | Lawrence Carslake

Rydberg Sensor

Mon, 01 Sep 2025 11:38:56 +0100

My most recent project is to develop NPL’s capability in Rydberg sensor systems. The goal for this system is develop wideband self calibrated E-field measurement capability based on quantum effects. This is expected to improve the measurement uncertainty for this measurement service 10x. Additionally, there are many applications including remote sensing, ultra-sensitive receivers and integrated demodulation functions possible for future work when these sensors are established.

Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface

Sat, 01 Mar 2025 11:38:56 +0100

Design, manufacture and testing of a 1.5 bit RIS system operating at 3.7 GHz for 5G communications. NPL have successfully completed real-world field trials of its patented Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface (RIS) technology on a commercial 5G base station at BT’s Research Centre at Adastral Park. This cutting-edge RIS technology, designed and manufactured at NPL, has demonstrated remarkable performance that promises to revolutionise the telecommunications industry.

Ultra-wideband Localisation

Sat, 01 Mar 2025 11:38:56 +0100

During covid I evaluated location sensing technologies and solutions to compare their measurement accuracy and reliability under real world conditions. This Provided design insight into prototype products to aid manufacturers design process.

Electromagnetic Simulation

Fri, 01 Mar 2024 11:38:56 +0100

Web Recipe Collection

Fri, 17 Apr 2020 11:38:56 +0100

A self hosted repository for my recipe collection. Based around an open source project. Hosted within a docker container incorportaing a nginx reverse proxy, Mariadb database and Django API. Check it out: https://recipes.carslake.me

Pluto SDR

Sun, 23 Jun 2019 14:21:25 +0100

Phased antenna array

Wed, 01 May 2019 11:38:56 +0100

A group masters project to design and build an RF direction of arrival estimation system using a linear antenna array. The device is capable of receiving signals over a range of 50MHz - 1GHz and through the use of DSP the direction of the transmitter can be calculated. The algorithm selected is Capon beamforming implemented on an Xilinx FPGA. My focus in this project is the analogue-digital interface and FPGA implementation of beamforming algorithms.

RF Sampling ADC

Tue, 01 May 2018 14:21:44 +0100

Software-defined radio is a design of radio transceivers where components traditionally in the analogue domain are moved to the software domain proving increased flexibility and reusability. Achieving the ideal SDR receiver requires high speed and power efficient ADCs, in this work, time interleaving two 200MSPS 8bit ADCs and subsequent digital signal processing is discussed as a solution to receiving FM radio broadcasts. To evaluate the effectiveness of the design, measurement of signal to noise ratio, ADC mismatches and received signal integrity are discussed.

VHF PLL Synthesiser

Thu, 01 Feb 2018 14:22:14 +0100

A project into the design, simulation and testing of a 200MHz synthesized oscillator. This design makes use of systems such as a PLL with a common-base Colpitts oscillator and 10MHz crystal oscillator. It has been undertaken as part of the 2nd Year undergraduate labs, with the aim of developing RF design skills. As an outcome of this, we have successfully built a circuit that can synthesise frequencies between 195-205MHz at powers greater than -10dBm, with a minimum step size of 100KHz.

LEO Satellite

Fri, 01 Sep 2017 14:23:04 +0100

As an entry for the “UKSEDS Small Sats” design competition 2017, we compiled a report into the design and feasibility of a small communications satellite constellation capable of providing 50 Mbps data connectivity to worldwide users. We were successful in achieving the 2nd place prize for our entry.

Digital Photo-frame

Fri, 23 Jun 2017 14:22:23 +0100

A market-leading resolution, low-cost digital photo-frame built to fit into any space.

The inspiration for this project was the sourcing a replacement iPad retina display. These displays have a pixel density (230PPI), viewing angle and resolution (2048x1536) significantly better than those used in commercial photo-frame while also having a low cost due to their abundance.

The display was paired with an appropriate driver board for converting the HDMI signal from the Raspberry PI to Embedded Display Port and for creating the required backlight voltages.

The Raspberry PI hosts a custom web interface to control the photos displayed and upload new photos. Both X11 and terminal solutions were investigated for displaying photos with window server implementation chosen for its greater speed when selecting photos.

A traditional photo-frame was modified to provide a case for these components and with an overall style that improves on the crude and cheap housing for other digital photo-frames.

Smart Lighting

Fri, 23 Jun 2017 14:22:23 +0100

Reverse engineering a consumer lighting system and then using this knowledge to create an ultra-low-cost smart lighting controller. Built around a microcontroller with integrated Wi-Fi (ESP8266) and aiming to provide an intuitive user interface.

Shockley Diode

Tue, 20 Jun 2017 14:22:51 +0100

A training exercise to learn the techniques required to operate and manufacture in a clean room. Consisted of an overview of techniques such as photolithography, vacuum deposition and silicon device characterisation.

Motor Fill Factor

Mon, 01 May 2017 14:23:04 +0100

As part of the Sheffield Industrial Partnership, I managed a team working with Rolls-Royce to create a novel solution aiming to increase the efficiency of motor-generators in the aviation industry. This concluded with the production of a technical report and a presentation to staff from the University and Rolls-Royce.

Handheld Game

Fri, 01 May 2015 14:22:43 +0100

After seeing a video on the disassembly of a 1980s child’s game, similar to the popular lane splitter genre of app. I was inspired to recreate my version using technology that was available during that era. By using only discrete logic, this project provided a greater insight into the design process compared to using a microcontroller. Breaking my design down into systems, the gameplay was created using a PRNG and multiple shift registers and a scoring system used a counter and seven segment decoder. The PCB was designed in Kicad and the schematic can be seen here.