Description

I am a DSP algorithm-to-silicon engineer and senior digital IC design and verification engineer, with a PhD from Ghent University / imec and 11+ years of experience bridging high-speed DSP algorithms and silicon implementation.

My background spans wireless and optical communications (massive MIMO, sigma-delta modulation, PAM-4), image sensor ICs (MIPI D-PHY/C-PHY, gate-level simulation), FPGA prototyping, and full ASIC flow from RTL to silicon bring-up. I have delivered 6 successful tapeouts (TSMC 28nm & 90nm) and achieved a real-time 100 GS/s sigma-delta modulator — a world record at publication time.

I offer freelance services in:

- FPGA design & DSP implementation (Xilinx/AMD, SystemVerilog, VHDL, MATLAB-to-RTL)

- Digital IC design (SystemVerilog, Verilog, RTL, Synthesis, Linting, LEC etc.)

- Digital IC verification (UVM full flow, Regmap, regression and coverage, Cadence Xcelium/IMC, Synopsys VCS/Verdi)

- Algorithm-to-hardware implementation (sigma-delta, MIMO, high-speed filters (FIR, IIR), equalization etc.)

Available remotely worldwide and on-site in Belgium and the Netherlands. Belgian citizen based in Ghent. Fluent in English and Dutch.

Industry field of expertise

Languages

English
Native or bilingual
Dutch
Fluent
Chinese
Native or bilingual

Workplace preferences

Remote only

Primarily works remotely

Gpixel,
Senior Digital Design & Verification Engineer
December 2024 - June 2026 (1 year and 6 months)
Antwerp, Belgium
• • Digital verification of high-resolution image sensor ICs; 2 successful tapeouts in 90nm
• • Full UVM verification flow: coverage plan, testbench architecture, test case development, regression, coverage holes analysis and closure (Cadence Xcelium / IMC)
• • Gate-level simulation with SDF timing annotation
• • MIPI D-PHY and C-PHY protocol verification (high-speed serial interface for camera-to-SoC data transmission)
• • Conformal LEC (Logical Equivalence Checking) for RTL vs netlist sign-off
• • RTL design of digital modules in VHDL
Conformal LEC Cadence Xcelium Cadence IMC UVM verification Post-layout gate-level simulation with SDF
iCana BV,
Senior Digital IC Architect
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
October 2022 - October 2024 (2 years)
Leuven, Belgium
• • 3 successful tapeouts in TSMC 28nm (mmWave beamforming and up-/down-converter ICs)
• • Captured design requirements from RF/system teams; proposed system architecture and digital design specifications
• • RTL design, simulation, and modeling in SystemVerilog, MATLAB, and C
• • Full UVM verification ownership: verification plan, RAL register model, functional test cases, regression, coverage (Synopsys VCS/Verdi/URG), C reference model
• • Register map automation: Excel to RTL, RALF, C header, HTML documentation
• • Third-party IP (eFuse, SRAM, PoR) integration and UVM verification
• • Synthesis, LEC, and post-synthesis/layout simulation with SDF (20 corners), X-propagation
• • Digital mixed-signal UVM environment setup; AMS team collaboration
• • Backend coordination: floorplan, UPF, DFT, MBIST, IDDQ, ATPG, ECO
• • Silicon bring-up: register/SRAM/eFuse regression, functional test vs UVM reference model
• • Python demo UI development for customer demonstrations
Verdi Formality LEC SpyGlass Lint VCS SystemVerilog
imec - Ghent University (IDLab),
Senior Researcher
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
September 2014 - October 2022 (8 years and 1 month)
Belgium
• • 1 successful ASIC tapeout in TSMC 28nm: mixed-signal CDR and high-speed DSP chip for 28 GBaud PAM-4 optical links
◦ - 1.75 GHz digital clock (equivalent 7/14 GHz)
◦ - key blocks: preamble synchronisation, high-speed FIR filter, IIR filter pipelining (zero-poles insertion), 14 GS/s sigma-delta modulator (baseband and passband), async FIFO for CDC
◦ - post-synthesis/layout sim with SDF and jittered clocks, SDC constraints, X-propagation
◦ - Synthesis flow, floorpan, partitioning, timing/congestion optimization
◦ - Silicon bring-up test and performance measurement with FPGA platform
• • Bridged algorithm and silicon: translated massive MIMO precoding, sigma-delta modulation, and synchronisation algorithms from MATLAB specification to real-time FPGA/ASIC implementation for UGent imec cell-free massive MIMO testbed (EU ERC ATTO / Horizon 2020 Int5Gent)
• • Achieved real-time 100 GS/s sigma-delta modulator (world record at publication, 2019 OFC Top Scored); implemented timing recovery, fractional-delay interpolation, high-speed IIR/FIR filter design on FPGA/ASIC
• • Developed MATLAB/Python reference models for MIMO antenna calibration, MIMO precoding, and self interference cancellation; used as golden reference for ASIC and FPGA validation
• • 8 years FPGA/RTL design in Vivado and Cadence Xcelium/Genus; Xilinx IPs (PCIe, GTY, MicroBlaze, AXI4, DDR4); SystemVerilog
• • Supervised 4 master theses; demonstrated real-time optical/wireless communication systems live at OFC and ECOC international conferences
DSP FPGA Cadence Xcelium Cadence Genus Digital IC design