Skills: RF Design and simulation (ADS & CST), Schematic and PCB design (Altium Designer)
Work on various discrete RF designs to sharpen my knowledge, and experiment with the 3D simulator. I also purchased a LibreVNA which allow me to make small-signal RF measurement up to 6GHz. I use it to caracterize my designs and close the gaps between simulation and measurement.
Skills: Schematic and PCB design (Altium Designer)
This is a 4-port USB type A and type C charger. It has fast-charge capabilities on the USB type C ports, as well as dual-role feature on 1 of the 2 ports. This allows connecting a tablet or smartphone to charge the device, but also to use the charger as a USB hub for file transfer.
The circuit is equipped with high-voltage protection and a 7-segment display to read the input voltage. This circuit has been manufactured and sold in >300 units/year.
Skills: Schematic and PCB design (Altium Designer)
This is a handheld GPS tracking system, battery-powered, for high-precision data recording. It is using the GPS module uBlox NEO-F10N paired with the Bluetooth uBlox NINA-B111 to send the GNSS data to a remote device using Bluetooth v5.0 technology.
One of the design challenges was making sure the GPS input SMA port was well-matched and isolated to provide the best performance for weak GPS signals. This circuit has been manufactured and sold in >200 units/year.
Skills: C++ with Qt Framework (Visual Studio)
I developed a fully custom Windows software in C++ for strain and crack detector sensors. The sensors use the serial port at a rate of 921,600 baud. The software does thread and memory management.
Real-time data display on multiple graphs, FFT calculation, cryptographic data decypher.
The software has been used by many companies including QuakeLogic, Airbus, and more.
Skills: Analog RF IC Design (Cadence Virtuoso with EMX), RF simulation (ADS & HFSS), Schematic and PCB design (Altium Designer)
As part of my master’s degree, I designed a two-stage differential RFIC PA (Radio Frequency Integrated Circuit Power Amplifier) working at 5.4 GHz for 5G applications. The die is 1.3 mm by 1.75 mm, and it integrates an envelope detector for embedded closed-loop linearization with the PEF (Positive Envelope Feedback) technique.
The die was mounted on a custom-made PCB with wire bonding for lab characterization.
Skills: Filming, Editing
Since my first video in March 2011, I have published more than 275+ videos in total; an average of 2 videos per month. I share my projects, my knowledge, as well as my soldering techniques.
In 2022, I signed a partnership with Altium LLC.
Skills: PCB design (Kicad), Python, STM32 microcontrollers, Embedded C programming, Assembly programming, Communication, Mentorship
Various consultation work involving microcontrollers, PCB design, embedded programming, and GUI interface development with Qt for Python. Also provided guidance on LTSpice simulation of light-sensing circuit with photodiode and active filters.
Skills: Web development with Joomla, Writing articles
Along with my YouTube channel, I started my personal electronic website to give back to the community. As a self-learner, I want to help more people get into electronics and understand how it works. I share more details of my project, I give the schematics and source code for all my projects.
Skills: Schematic and PCB design, Soldering, Embedded C Programming, 3D Modeling, and 3D Printing, Python
This is the second revision of the weather station located at my home in Quebec, Canada. It runs since 2021. It has all the weather sensors (temperature, humidity, pressure, and wind speed) connected to an ESP32 microcontroller. The ESP32 sends the data wirelessly to our private server for data logging. The data are displayed in real-time on a tablet with a custom-made Android app. A Python script is used to produce a yearly report with a moving average weather trend analysis.
Skills: Python, Brain power
As a weekend (or two) project, I made a Sudoku solver in Python 3. It solves all easy and medium-level Sudoku online in less than 40 ms. More work would be needed to review the algorithm to solve hard and expert-level Sudoku.
Skills: Schematic and PCB design, Soldering, Embedded C Programming, Project Management, 3D Printing
I designed and build hockey scoreboard for a friend of mine. The scoreboard has 3×15 dual 7-segment displays to show local, visitor, and period. The scores can be updated wirelessly with 3D printed remotes. The motherboard and the remotes were programmed in C on a PIC18F65K40.
Skills: Schematic and PCB design, Soldering, Linux Programming, Project Management
As a university project, we had to design, assemble and run our own mini-PC running on Linux. The peripherals include MicroSD, Ethernet, HDMI, Bluetooth, Serial Debug port, and 4 USB 2.0 ports. The processor is the OSD3358-512M from Octavo Systems in a BGA-256 format.
Skills: C++ and Python programming on Raspberry Pi, System integration, 3D Modeling with Solidworks, Cloud server with Microsoft Azure
Part of a university course, we had to design and build a custom solution to solve an industrial problem. The goal was to come up with a safety device that would detect human presence around an automated robot arm. Our device was able to detect someone within a 3 meters radius and stop the robot if the person gets too close. The project is based on a Raspberry Pi with a LiDAR module from Slamtec.
Skills: Schematic and PCB design, Soldering, Embedded C Programming, Project Management, 3D Modeling, Mechanical Assembly
As a final project for my technical degree, I built my own 3D printer from scratch. From the mechanical design and assembly to the PCB and embedded firmware.
Skills:
What is more boring than flipping a switch? The IR detection sensor works well is something is in movement in the room. But for me soldering at my desk, the light would turn off at any moment.
I developed a system that counts the number of people in the room and turns the light on when there’s at least one person. It also closes the light as soon as everyone leaves. It really looks like magic and everyone who visit my lab has the “wow” moment when the light turn-off when they leave the room. The system works great, and it is still running in my basement to this day.
Skills: Hands-on build, Soldering, Debugging (alot) and Lot of fun
The Tesla Coil measured about 4 feet high, and the arcs were about 30 cm long. Obviously, the school wasn’t fully aware of the danger.
Fun facts, the projector nearby was flickering each time the Tesla Coil was turned on due to the huge EM field. Also, we could smell ozone due to the oxygen molecule breaking down in the air during arc formation.
We didn’t have an oscilloscope to fine the resonant frequency and tune the primary to the secondary coils. I bought my first digital oscilloscope (DS1052E from Rigol) shortly after that.
We won 1st place at our school’s Science Fair.
Skills: Hands-on build, Soldering, Debugging
That was years before I learned about multiplexing! Each pixel contained 4 LED, 4 infrared photodiodes, and 1 infrared LED. One attiny85 microcontroller was used to control 2 pixels. So I used 25 attiny85 to sense the light reflection from an object and adjust the intensity of the LED for the whole board. And then, I learned about multiplexing…
Skills: Hands-on build, Soldering, Debugging
This was one of the first projects I built. I made 5 iterations, each time with more capacitors (and more powerful). With the latest version, I was able to pierce an aluminum can. It was definitely a trial-and-error process. Nothing was calculated, nothing was measured other than DC voltage with a multimeter, but it worked!