I believe that most of us have heard of Airbus A380, the largest commercial aircraft in the world. The giant plane is one of the many technological advanced products that resulted from large investments and years of intensive research work by one of the largest and most respected European conglomerates, the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company, commonly known as EADS.

Anh Vu and I started our four-month attachment in August 2008 at EADS Innovation Works Singapore as part of the SMA internship programme. We were privileged to be part of the company’s flagship research centre outside Europe.

SMA CE students Phu Thi Vu (1st row, 3rd from left) and
Huynh Anh Vu (1st row, 4th from left) with EADS research staff

We were assigned to work on a project on developing a new framework for in-flight entertainment systems. The framework was supposed to make use of advanced networking technology and optimal resource utilization methods. It was meant to enhance the quality and stability of services provided to passengers on long-haul flights. Throughout the internship, we worked with the Real Time Embedded Systems Team and received extraordinary guidance and supervision from senior experts and experienced research engineers from EADS. The company provides a friendly environment where we can exchange ideas freely and receive regular feedback on the work done.

Working at EADS Innovation Works was not all work and no play. During the four months with the company, we were invited to join EADS staff in many social events and gatherings such as the Oktoberfest (an annual festival in Germany) where we have the chance to enjoy German beer and taste the famous German sausage, Frankfurter Wistchen. They were delicious!

At the end of the internship, we were honoured to participate in a video conference with senior experts from the EADS headquarters for the final presentation of the internship project. We were grateful to receive feedback from the evaluation as the comments were made by some of the top scientists and engineers in the industry.

It was an eye-opening and memorable experience working at EADS Innovation Works. The internship has helped us to gain valuable industrial experience and provided us with opportunities to apply the knowledge and skills we gained from SMA. It was meaningful to know that we played a part in solving research problems that may eventually become innovative industrial products.