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Summary

Electrical engineer with experience in embedded systems and power converter control.

You can reach out to me via LinkedIn.

Education

Doctoral student 08/2020 - current

RPTU University Kaiserslautern-Landau, Kaiserslautern, Germany

In my research, I proposed a different approach to grid-forming control of power converters. At a fundamental level, grid-forming is about power balancing. So instead of approaching grid-forming as a voltage control problem (the usual approach), I looked at approaching it as an energy regulation problem. It turns out that controlling the energy of some nonlinear nonminimum phase dc-dc converters is much simpler than controlling their voltage. During my research, I also:

  • Investigated real-time implementation of model predictive controllers on the Zynq-7020 SoC using hardware and software co-design
  • Designed and implemented a real-time control framework for the Zynq-7020 SoC, using one core for real-time control, one core for interfacing, and the FPGA for signal generation and acquisition
  • Created Python-based tools to parametrize and fetch data from networked real-time controllers for debugging, operation and automation purposes
  • Built several prototypes for research and teaching, including a minimal 700 V dc grid for experiments with supercapacitors, a 700 V boost converter, a four-switch buck-boost converter, and an isolated Ćuk converter
  • Supervised 7 master theses and 5 bachelor theses
  • Published 8 research papers and attended 5 international conferences

Master of Science in Electrical Engineering 09/2018 - 08/2020

Federal University of Technology - Paraná, Pato Branco, PR, Brazil

During my master's, I worked with ultrasonic imaging for nondestructive testing (NDT). I investigated frequency-domain algorithms for ultrasonic data processing, and my thesis focused on adapting an algorithm from synthetic aperture radar to ultrasonic imaging. During this time, I also:

  • Implemented classic time and frequency-domain ultrasonic imaging algorithms in Python
  • Used CIVA to simulate NDT using full-matrix capture and plane-wave imaging techniques

Undegraduate Exchange Student in Electrical Engineering 08/2015 - 05/2016

The University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, USA

During my undergraduate studies I spent two semesters as an exchange student at UVM. I had the opportunity to take courses in power electronics, power systems, and synthetic biology. I also:

  • Took the two-semester capstone design project where I worked with the UVM College of Medicine to design and prototype a device to monitor ICU patients

Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering 11/2012 - 09/2018

Federal University of Technology - Paraná, Pato Branco, PR, Brazil

I did my bachelor's in electrical engineering with a focus on embedded systems. In my thesis, I compared compressed sensing and undersampling for digital signal reconstruction. Other activities I did during my undegraduate studies were:

  • Physics teaching assistant (10/2014 - 05/2015)
  • Physics research assistant (10/2013 - 04/2015)
    • Simulation of tapered fiber optics to detect water quality
  • Tutored workshops for undegraduate students
    • Introduction to Matlab (4h, 09/2017)
    • Introduction to Python (4h, 09/2018)

Electronics technician 02/2009 - 12/2011

Technical School of Electronics (ETEL), Ipaussu, SP, Brazil

During high school, I also earned a qualification as an electronics technician.

Work experience

Developer at Tree (Startup) 10/2016 - 07/2020

Pato Branco, PR, Brazil

I took part in a project hosted by the business incubator at the Federal University of Technology - Paraná to develop a smart irrigation automation system based on soil moisture measurements. During this time, I

  • Co-authored two successful grant proposals, obtaining funding for the research and development of the smart irrigation system
  • Wrote the firmware for an irrigation controller with sectoring capabilities and moisture parametrization using C and FreeRTOS
  • Designed and prototyped a wired capacitive soil moisture sensor
  • Supervised the development of a wireless capacitive soil moisture sensor using LoRa for data transmission

Developer at Xpert Automation Technology 11/2017 - 09/2018

Pato Branco, PR, Brazil

I started at Xpert as an engineering intern and became part of the team upon completion of the internship. During my time at Xpert, I

  • Analyzed, simulated and prototyped analog circuits for magnetostrictive sensors for fuel gauging
  • Wrote firmware in C to interface NXP microcontrollers to time-of-flight ICs

Research assistant at the University of Vermont 05/2016 - 07/2016

Burlington, VT, USA

After completing my two semesters abroad at UVM, I did a 10-week summer internship at the Dunlop Lab, where I - Prototyped a platform for holding test tubes and exposing them to controlled LED illumination for optogenetics experiments - Cultured bacteria and conducted optogenetics experiments

Teaching assistant at National Service of Industrial Training 07/2013 - 12/2013 02/2015 - 06/2015

Pato Branco, PR, Brazil

  • Lectured on digital electronics and microcontrollers with C programming
  • Supervised students' final projects

Developer at Chiptronic Automotive Technology 02/2012 - 11/2012

Piraju, SP, Brazil

I started at Chiptronic as a technician intern and became part of the team upon completion of the internship. During my time at Chiptronic, I

  • Wrote firmware in Assembly to interface PIC microcontrollers to RFID key fobs and flash memories
  • Decoding seed-key algorithms to unlock RFID devices

Projects

OPiL — an Open Processor-in-the-Loop framework

OPiL is a framework that enables Processor-in-the-Loop testing independent of the simulation platform and the real-time target. I use OPiL mainly to

  • Validate and profile the firmware of controllers in a closed-loop environment
  • Profile the execution time of model predictive controllers in embedded systems
  • Validate and profile hardware and software co-design of model predictive controllers on SoCs

OCP — the Open Controller Project

OCP is a framework that I use to automate tests on embedded controllers. OCP consists of

  • A C library for the real-time target that manages the selection and parametrization of controllers, a scope functionality to store measurements and internal signals during transients, and a TCP server to provide an interface
  • A Python module to interface with the real-time target in order to write and read parameters, making it possible to automate testing at a high level

pyctl — A Python package for predictive control

pyctl is a Python package that I developed to simulate linear model predictive control of discrete-time systems. Some of the features of pyctl are

  • Capable of C code generation with the option to use a custom QP solver or OSQP
  • Contains control design functions for some dc-dc converter topologies