Interview with Massimo Merenda

Featured Engineer

Massimo Merenda

Massimo Merenda - Contract Professor, University “Mediterranea” of Reggio Calabria, Italy

Additional Title: Design Engineer of Embedded System and VLSI Circuits; Co-founder and Project Manager, Magiant s.r.l.

How did you get into electronics/ engineering and when did you start?

I first started to get interested in electronics at about 14 years old. I started with a collection of electronic journals, like those that promise to teach you everything in 10 pages… I didn’t learn anything from the magazine, but it sparked something inside me.

Why did you get involved in electronics/engineering?

I have always wanted to find the answers to all my questions about working principle of electronic objects, that is the reason I decided to become an electronics engineer.

I started experimenting with my own custom circuits as well as hacking toys and other electronic devices. The first working circuit was an automotive battery checker with a uA741. It still works!

What are your favorite hardware tools that you use?

One of my current research topics involves a massive use of microcontroller. Because I’m a fan of Microchip products, my favorite tools are those produced by Microchip Technology Inc., including programmers, debuggers and development tools.
For test purposes, my preferred instruments are Lecroy Oscilloscopes.
For the characterization of RF integrated circuits I usually perform measurements in an anechoic chamber using spectrum analyzer (Advantest R3131). For sensors characterization I use semiconductor’s parameter analyzer (Agilent 4155C)

What are your favorite software tools that you use?

I deals with Cadence EDA (for IC design), in particular with the Virtuoso Platform which includes schematic entry, circuit simulation, full custom layout and physical verification, in order to design full-custom integrated circuits.
For microcontroller programming I use C compilers released for Microchip products.
Altium Designer, Eagle for simple circuits, Matlab and Simulink, what else?

What is on your bookshelf?

Not only books of electronics. So on my desk “Purple Cow” of Seth Godin is a few inches beyond Digital Integrated Circuits from Rabaey. And the last copy of Wired magazine…

Do you have any tricks up your sleeve?

Every experience in the professional life of an electronic engineer is or could be useful in the future. Every circuit, every knowledge of a trick, every piece of code.

Most of the time, when I dream about a visionary project, I realize that time and resources are not enough to get straight to the objective in a very short time. For that reason, I optimize every time the available resources on the projects currently under development so that, with minimal effort, I can develop small pieces of works for my visionary project without losing sight of the short-term goals. The reuse of circuits blocks already completed and the merge of new pieces of work is always done fast enough and can be done in the background.

What has been your favorite project?

It’s a project of few years ago. I was designing an RF IC. The idea of using the higher metal layers to achieve an integrated on-chip antenna (OCA) seemed to be a little crazy, but with my team we were able to run our circuit and to transmit the signal to a few tens of centimeters, for the first time. I still remember the thrill of seeing the signal on the spectrum analyzer.

What are you currently working on?

Actually I’m working on nanoMEB. Nanomeb is a user friendly microcontroller-based circuit. Despite it is similar to other development boards; it’s unique for the concept behind his growth. The configuration of the board doesn’t require any knowledge of programming language: an intuitive GUI allows you to configure, manage and control every function. Signal acquisition, output control and external devices interfaces are just some of the features available with nanoMEB. NanoMEB’s software sends a simple configuration files created via USB in a few seconds and then nanoMEB is ready to be used!

What is the innovation of nanoMEB?

NanoMEB brings an absolute innovation into the world of electronics and DIY: no knowledge of programming languages is requested for using it, so every user can integrate it in his project. We strongly believe that nanoMEB has the potential to be the most intuitive way to create all the electronics objects that user can imagine. NanoMEB has a goal: to simplify that which would be otherwise complicated.