I’m happy to share that I recently completed a 12-week summer internship with the HDD SSW team at Toshiba America Electronic Components (TAEC) in San Jose. As someone new to the HDD industry, it was an eye-opening experience that offered me both personal and professional growth.
The HDD industry has a rich history rooted in control systems research, and it was fascinating to see how these theories have been applied in real-world scenarios. My role focused on improving the accuracy of system identification methods for actuators within a multi-rate system during the Self-Servo Writing (SSW) process. With guidance and support from the TAEC HDD team, I was able to develop enhancements using MATLAB.
One of the most rewarding parts of this internship was getting hands-on with embedded systems. I had the chance to implement the improved method into the HDD control firmware and the manufacturing process firmware. It was a remarkable journey to witness an idea take shape from initial testing in MATLAB to becoming part of a real product. The level of attention to detail required for ensuring product robustness was particularly inspiring.
I’m grateful for the experience and knowledge I gained this summer. I’d like to thank everyone at TAEC HDD for their support. A special thanks to Gary, whose exceptional management and thoughtful guidance made navigating new challenges much smoother. I also want to express my deep appreciation to Gabor for his mentorship. His patience in answering every question, and his detailed code reviews significantly enhanced my understanding.
This summer has been a great learning experience, and I’m excited to apply what I’ve learned in the future.
Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc.