From January 15 to 28, 2026, the 2026 Winter Training Camp for the Electronic Design Contest was successfully held across various laboratories in the College of Electronics and Information Engineering. Under the comprehensive guidance of Professor Zhang Xiao's team, and spearheaded by senior students Zhang Yuming and Zheng Runkai from the 2023 cohort, the camp catered to 79 teams comprising nearly 240 students eager to compete in the National Undergraduate Electronics Design Contest. By establishing a systematic development platform with topics in high-frequency and power supply, this year's training camp achieved the largest scale in recent years.
The opening ceremony was held on January 15 at the college auditorium. Professor Zhang Xiao delivered a mobilization speech, sharing his personal journey from having no prior background in electronic design contests to being recommended for postgraduate admission and eventually dedicating himself to teaching and research. He elaborated on the profound significance of these competitions in honing professional expertise and cultivating engineering mindsets, while outlining specific requirements for safety protocols and learning methodologies. Subsequently, senior students Zhang Yuming and Zheng Runkai provided in-depth briefings on the core challenges, training workflows, and assessment standards for the high-frequency and power supply topics, respectively, providing students with a clear roadmap for their preparation.
To address challenges such as limited offline training time and the steep learning curve for beginners, the instructional team began preparations several months in advance. They recorded over 100 minutes of modular instructional videos for the two topics and established an online learning platform on Bilibili. This initiative allowed students to engage in pre-class preparation and post-class reinforcement, effectively overcoming the constraints of time and space in traditional teaching. To ensure a safe and efficient learning environment for the nearly 240 participants, the team led by Professor Zhang Xiao initiated logistics a month early, completing curriculum design, venue coordination, the debugging of hundreds of instruments, and the packaging of electronic components and consumables. During the camp, Professor Zhang Xiao conducted daily site inspections, while the two student mentors provided full-cycle support both online and offline, often conducting reviews and answering queries late into the night. Additionally, two volunteers were stationed on-site throughout the period to manage safety inspections and logistical support, providing a solid foundation for the smooth execution of the training camp.
As the National Undergraduate Electronics Design Contest stands as one of the most prestigious competitions for electronics and information engineering majors in higher education, this training camp adopted a progressive pedagogical model: "module deconstruction – targeted breakthroughs – system integration – and comprehensive assessment." The high-frequency track focused on the implementation of an AM broadband superheterodyne receiver, while the power supply track centered around the design of a DC-DC testing system. The first week emphasized consolidating foundational competencies; starting with theoretical simulations and core modules, students steadily acclimated to the process under the practical guidance and troubleshooting expertise of their student mentors. The second week transitioned into the system integration and joint debugging phase, facilitating a crucial leap from "module debugging" to "comprehensive system design." Throughout the two weeks, the laboratories operated at full capacity. Students dedicated themselves to iterative debugging at their workstations. Upon encountering technical bottlenecks, they proactively formed discussion groups and consulted their mentors. Ultimately, all participants successfully completed project designs that met the rigorous requirements, thereby laying a solid foundation for their upcoming competition preparation.
Participating students universally noted that the training camp not only facilitated a critical leap from having "zero foundation" to achieving "practical readiness," but also honed their problem-solving mindsets and perseverance through continuous trial and error. Zhong Shaoxiao, an undergraduate from the 2024 cohort majoring in Microelectronics Science and Engineering, shared: "Going from feeling the project was out of reach to systematically implementing the automatic mode, this progressive self-breakthrough stemmed from the confidence built upon successive increments of positive feedback. What we perceive as 'difficult' is often merely an unknown that has yet to be deconstructed." Zhang Ruitao, a 2024 cohort student majoring in Electronic Information Engineering, remarked that the greatest takeaway from the camp was his enhanced problem-solving capacity; through repeated module adjustments and design iterations, he learned how to effectively navigate unforeseen challenges. Wu Sitong, a 2024 cohort student majoring in Communication Engineering, stated that the profound surprise and emotion of overcoming a final bottleneck on the last night remain vividly in her memory. This experience provided her with an immense sense of accomplishment and the enduring confidence to advance in her studies.
The successful conclusion of this Winter Training Camp for the Electronic Design Contest not only established a solid foundation for students preparing for the 2026 National Undergraduate Electronics Design Contest, but also fully demonstrated the college's educational outcomes in "promoting learning through competition and cultivating talent through practice." Moving forward, the college will continue to organize advanced, specialized training programs. By providing full-cycle technical support and preparation guidance for aspiring participants, the college aims to empower more students to achieve excellence in the forthcoming electronic design contests.
