Gustavo A.

Hardware & PCB Design Engineer | High-Speed, RF, Signal Integrity

I help companies design, debug, and optimize complex electronic hardware, particularly PCB systems involving high-speed interfaces, RF, signal integrity, power architecture, and difficult manufacturing or validation problems. My work ranges from focused PCB design reviews and troubleshooting to complete hardware development, including system architecture, component selection, schematic capture, multilayer PCB layout, simulation, prototype bring-up, validation, and manufacturing release. I have five years of industrial, freelance, and academic engineering experience, including two years in R&D at Furukawa Electric. My background spans hardware development, validation, QA, and test engineering, giving me practical experience with the problems that appear not only during PCB design, but also during fabrication, assembly, bring-up, environmental testing, and field operation. A recent project involved the electromagnetic simulation and optimization of a GMSL2 serializer-to-FAKRA PCB interconnect up to 6 GHz. I developed a reproducible KiCad-to-openEMS workflow and evaluated transmission-line geometry, connector launches, vias, anti-pads, reference-plane transitions, S-parameters, impedance, and return loss to identify practical improvements before hardware validation. My main areas of work include: — RF, high-speed, and controlled-impedance PCB design — Signal integrity and electromagnetic simulation — PCB design review and troubleshooting — RF interconnect and connector-launch optimization — Multilayer, BGA, and mixed-signal hardware — Power architecture and low-power electronics — Prototype bring-up, debugging, and validation — DFM, DFA, DFT, and manufacturing release I also develop embedded and IoT hardware involving STM32 and ESP32 platforms, cellular and wireless connectivity, industrial communication interfaces, sensors, battery-powered systems, and mixed-signal circuitry. My project experience includes GMSL2, LTE/NB-IoT, GNSS, LoRaWAN, CAN, RS-485, Ethernet, I²C, SPI, UART, BLE, Wi-Fi, industrial telemetry, RF gateways, sensor interfaces, analog audio electronics, and embedded control systems. Depending on the project, I can deliver: — System architecture and engineering recommendations — Schematics and multilayer PCB layouts — Stackup and controlled-impedance requirements — PCB design reviews and technical risk assessments — BOMs and component sourcing alternatives — Gerber, drill, pick-and-place, and manufacturing files — Electromagnetic simulation models — S-parameter and Touchstone files — Prototype bring-up and debugging support — Test procedures and validation plans — Engineering reports and manufacturing documentation My designs consider return-current paths, grounding, impedance discontinuities, EMI/EMC risks, power integrity, thermal behavior, component availability, assembly limitations, test access, and practical debugging from the beginning. The objective is not simply to produce a PCB that passes design-rule checks. It is to reduce board revisions, manufacturing problems, and unexpected behavior during validation. My main engineering tools include KiCad, Altium Designer, openEMS, Python, EasyEDA Pro, and ParaView. I maintain my own electronics laboratory with an oscilloscope, spectrum analyzer, bench equipment, soldering and rework tools for prototype assembly, bring-up, troubleshooting, and validation. I am based in Brazil and maintain strong working-hour overlap with clients in the United States and Europe. If you have a new hardware design, a PCB approaching fabrication, or an existing board that is not performing as expected, send me the schematics, PCB files, requirements, or current test results. I can review the design, identify the main technical risks, and recommend the most effective path forward.