Electrical Years Experience

Jem Berkes

Toronto, Canada 416-***-**** www.berkes.ca abpy15@r.postjobfree.com

WORK EXPERIENCE:

Design Engineer, Advanced

Altera Corporation Toronto, ON January 2010 May 2012

Developed device models for next-generation FPGAs. Measured electrical features in the lab and

analysed power consumption of circuits. Coordinated the overall power model for a 60-nm family, a

cross-functional project involving IC Designers, Product Engineering, and Marketing.

Simulation, modeling and data analysis

Architecture design for verification automation, and CAD system enhancements

Electrical circuit and system design

PCB schematic review; board debugging; and design of some interfaces

Design and debug of customer solutions: high-speed memory interfaces, high-speed serial

interfaces (HSSI) and protocols including Gigabit Ethernet

Digital Systems Designer

Arctic Renewables Corporation Winnipeg, MB June November 2009

Performed product research & development for cost-effective electrical engineering solutions in:

digital electronics, sensors, power management, communication links.

NSERC Researcher (Masters student and Research Assistant)

University of Waterloo Waterloo, ON Sept 2005 Feb 2008

Conducted experiments on computer hardware and low-power microprocessors. Practical lab work

involved measuring electrical signals and RF from wireless commercial devices using oscilloscopes.

Designed real-time control systems with automated scripting and computer control.

Entrepreneur / small business owner

SysDesign (sole proprietorship) Canada / Australia 1997 2010

Designed solutions, mostly in security & communications, for industry and government customers

world-wide. Consulting work involved market research, team coordination, technical writing, sales.

2006 - Created a monitoring system for physical sensors. I built custom hardware to interface sensors

2007 using TTL-LS to a Linux PC, which then signals mobile phones. The design used a finite state

machine and required integration of peripherals, hardware, software, and networks.

2000 - The Florida State Government, Division of Emergency Management requested a control solution

2001 that could send emergency signals through a satellite communication network.

1999 Designed stereo audio amplifier and constructed working prototype. Integrated the prototype

into commercial A/V system by wiring electrical connectors to mix multiple inputs, speakers.

1997 Designed a real-time video camera controller for FOX 7, KTBC-TV (Texas). Controlling the

equipment required a solution based on serial I/O over RS-232 using the 16550 UART IC.

1997 Created a printer control system in assembly language for Albert Smith Signs Group,

Australia. Required a new design that interfaced with proprietary DOS-based hardware.

Jem Berkes

Toronto, Canada 416-***-**** www.berkes.ca abpy15@r.postjobfree.com

EDUCATION:

Master of Applied Science in Electrical Engineering University of Waterloo, ON 2005 2008

NSERC Julie Payette Scholarship winner, offered to 24 top ranked Masters candidates (6 in Engineering)

NSERC Andr Hamer Prize winner, offered to the most outstanding Masters candidate in Canada

Research areas: digital communications, integrated circuits, RF, security/cryptography

Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering University of Manitoba, MB 2000 2005

Awarded University Gold Medal (highest standing in Engineering) and Medal in Computer Engineering

NSERC-funded laboratory researcher; Undergraduate minors in Management and Arts (Psychology)

GENERAL SKILLS:

Strong communication and team skills; enjoy interdisciplinary environments; experienced world traveller

Broad technical experience, well-suited for analysis and cross-functional projects

Very strong research & technical writing skills; experience developing documentation, reports, presentations

Some experience in sales, marketing, accounting and financial management (credit markets & risk)

ELECTRICAL & HARDWARE SKILLS:

Experience working with electronics circuits, reading/creating schematics, digital control circuits, filtering,

optical isolation, sensors, analogue/digital conversion, PCB design

9 years experience with electronics lab equipment (oscilloscopes, interfacing/data acquisition, RF antennas)

Signal interfaces: used and debugged CMOS/TTL-LS, LVDS, I2C bus, and other digital interfaces

Electronics parts: experience with data sheets, specifications and selecting components for designs

Communications signals (wired and wireless): capture and debug of packets, radio frequency modulation

3 years experience in hardware design for security, including crypto implementation, side-channel attacks

Experience designing logic, test boards and peripheral electronics for Altera Cyclone IV, Stratix IV, Stratix V

10+ years experience programming microprocessors, 2 years with low-power embedded systems (smart cards)

Knowledge of signal integrity (eye diagrams, jitter, skew) and lab experience debugging DDR memory

Hardware design (HDL) for FPGA, including high-speed serial interfaces (HSSI) and transceiver I/O's

Intermediate/expert knowledge of communication protocols: IPv4, Ethernet

C.A.D. & SIMULATION SKILLS:

3 years experience Verilog/VHDL design, Altera Quartus II (TimeQuest for timing analysis), and Xilinx ISE

Mentor Graphics ModelSim for FPGA simulation and verification

Cadence Allegro to review and debug PCB designs

MATLAB, Maple, and Cadence OrCAD (Pspice) for circuit modeling

AutoCAD

SOFTWARE SKILLS:

Experience with many platforms, especially Linux, FreeBSD, DOS, Windows

Proficient in many languages: C, C++, Java, Unix shell script, TCL, batch files, BASIC, and some Perl

Expertise in network communication hardware and security, including TCP/IP, Ethernet, wireless, routers

Jem Berkes

Toronto, Canada 416-***-**** www.berkes.ca abpy15@r.postjobfree.com

RESEARCH / DESIGN PROJECTS:

Masters Project, Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Waterloo (2005 2008)

The research and practical experiments were carried out in an RF electronics laboratory. Power and

electromagnetic signals from security hardware (smart cards, RFID, wireless embedded systems) were

captured and analysed. I automated testing procedures using PC-controlled signal acquisition and custom

firmware code. After investigating design issues for low-power hardware, I designed a novel practical signal

analysis technique that can be used for low-power microprocessors communicating by radio.

Bachelors Design Project, Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Manitoba (2003 2004)

Our team of students designed and built a fully functioning Voice over IP (VoIP telephone) system, consisting

of independently designed components. I designed and built the hardware component, which used analog

audio circuits and digital controls interfaced to POTS (telephone system) through optical isolation, for

lightning protection. I also designed a custom PCB and built a properly functioning final prototype.

AWARDS AND RESEARCH GRANTS:

NSERC Julie Payette scholarship winner, one of 6 best PGS M candidates in Engineering, all of Canada

NSERC Andr Hamer prize winner, awarded to most outstanding students in NSERC graduate competition

University Gold Medal in Engineering and Medal in Computer Engineering, University of Manitoba (2005)

Canada Millennium Scholarship, Provincial Excellence Award (2000 through 2004)

NSERC University Undergraduate Research Award (2003)

Finalist in 2001, 2002 UM/Management s Student Entrepreneur of the Year Competition

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES, VOLUNTEER WORK:

Member of IEEE professional association for 8 years

Volunteer at Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation, reviewing scholarship applications, 2006-2007

Volunteer at Manitoba Cycling Association and civic Recreation & Transport committee, 2003-2005

Member of University of Manitoba Engineering Society (student council) and IEEE representative, 2001-2004

Volunteer at Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival, 2003-2004

HOBBIES AND RECREATION:

Enjoy world travel

Bicycling and swimming

Beach volleyball (teams: university intramural and Toronto Ashbridges League)

Surfing

Contact this candidate