Riccardo Maestri, Developer in Dubai, United Arab Emirates
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Riccardo Maestri

Verified Expert  in Engineering

Embedded Systems Developer

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Toptal member since July 7, 2022

Bio

Riccardo is an expert in embedded systems, specializing in smart products. Through his work, he also authored patents, and his latest project is now the flagship thermostat of a leading company in the hospitality industry. Riccardo has over a decade of hands-on experience developing firmware for microcontrollers, including hardware and software design.

Portfolio

INTEREL
Python, Debugging, Digital Electronics, Rapid Prototyping, Sensors & Actuators...
Domo Hydros SRL
Sensors & Actuators, Mechanical Design, Digital Electronics, Touchscreens...

Experience

  • C - 20 years
  • Firmware - 20 years
  • Debugging - 15 years
  • C++ - 7 years
  • Digital Electronics - 7 years
  • Sensors & Actuators - 7 years
  • AWS IoT Core - 3 years
  • ESP32 - 2 years

Availability

Part-time

Preferred Environment

Jira, Confluence, Bitbucket, Windows, Linux, Rhinoceros 3D, Autodesk Inventor, EAGLE, Slack, Ozone

The most amazing...

...product I've worked on is a smart IoT thermostat, a flagship product of a leading company in luxury hospitality. It's awarded the prestigious Red Dot Award.

Work Experience

Project Lead

2017 - 2022
INTEREL
  • Designed and hands-on built the whole proof of concept (POC) of a thermostat, giving all the required guidelines to the internal team and outsourced manufacturers on how to successfully prepare the product for mass production.
  • Managed the project proof of concept completion, creating Gantt charts, keeping track of the progress, following up with problematic tasks, solving problems, and doing proper risk management planning alternatives beforehand.
  • Designed and implemented an embedded filesystem and upgrade process for downloading over the wire (OTW) or over the air (OTA), with a rollback feature and flexible flash memory partitioning structure to make the product easily and safely upgradable.
  • Created and implemented a mechanical solution that could adapt to most used worldwide wall mount hooks for thermostats. It was crucial to simplify the design of the patented product. Named as one of the authors of the patent.
  • Designed and implemented a custom capacitive touch interface with multitouch functionalities using transparent touch film technology (ITO). The solution reduced the thickness and cost of the product, improving touch reliability and UI/UX experience.
  • Implemented an algorithm to compensate for the environmental temperature reading errors induced by internal heating, such as relay triggerings or radio module communications, giving a simple software solution to an otherwise complex hardware problem.
  • Designed mechanical solutions for casing and PCB boards using a 3D drawing CAD and fast integration with rapid prototyping and an in-house 3D printer. This approach helped solve and test most of the design changes and optimizations in a short time.
  • Developed and implemented a backlighting system of user interface icons able to show any color and adapt to different icon layouts. The design was flexible, required little space, low CPU usage, and low-cost components.
  • Created Git repositories and Confluence structures for the project, including guidelines on the proper branch, build, test, and release, and documented the development iterations. Guided the team to follow this practice.
  • Designed manufacturing tests and processes, implemented them in firmware, and collaborated with manufacturers to integrate with their systems, simplifying the testing steps and saving time while improving production quality.
Technologies: Python, Debugging, Digital Electronics, Rapid Prototyping, Sensors & Actuators, Firmware over the Air (FOTA), Device Firmware Updates (DFU), Real-time Embedded Systems, Agile, Embedded C, Git, Touchscreens, C++, Embedded Systems, Mechanical Design, 3D CAD, C, Embedded System Design (ESD)

Project Lead

2013 - 2017
Domo Hydros SRL
  • Created the proof of concept of an electronic water tap for home usage with waterproof touch controls. It included an electronic mixing valve with actuators, position encoders, and temperature sensors.
  • Designed and co-authored a PID algorithm to maintain a stable temperature and react to sudden changes using only output sensor reading. Kept the system simple and functional, and the solution was patented.
  • Managed the patent filing process collaborating with the patent office in writing the documentation and defining the goals, succeeding in getting three patents approved, where I was listed as the author.
  • Designed the mixing valve mechanical parts for long-term usage, selecting proper materials, and running endurance tests. Reached appropriate endurance levels for a consumer product to be applied to water outlets.
  • Managed the European CE certification process, including materials, EMC, and safety compliance. Led the certification process for the Israeli market while partnering with local companies and succeeding in enabling sales in the region.
  • Designed a waterproof touch display with a waterproof wall mount solution. It was easy to manufacture, used fewer components, showed reliability in harsh conditions like showers, and complied with safety regulations for electric devices in bathrooms.
Technologies: Sensors & Actuators, Mechanical Design, Digital Electronics, Touchscreens, Embedded C, Embedded Systems, Real-time Embedded Systems, Device Firmware Updates (DFU), Rapid Prototyping, 3D CAD, C, Embedded System Design (ESD)

EOS Thermostat

http://www.interel.com/eos/
EOS is a thermostat with a core function as a configurable I/Os that can match most customer scenarios. Collection of requirements and design of proper electronics architecture was fundamental to achieving this.

The UI had to be simple, flexible, and give great UX. To achieve this, I chose a graphic OLED coupled with a capacitive touch interface smartphone, simplified to match the product use case.

A safe FOTA process was implemented, including an automatic rollback function as a safe recovery mechanism. The MCU could buffer FOTA operations for its radio or actuator submodules, safely storing the firmware image and performing the upgrade offline once the whole firmware was completely stored in the buffer, ensuring a safe process.

The project also included environmental sensors such as barometric pressure, humidity, temperature, and presence detection through PIR motion and proximity sensors. For all these sensors, among their drivers, I implemented a specific signal processing to generate an event only when required, filtering out all possible noises and false triggering.

N-Touch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7igP4r4GW8Y
N-Touch is a set of electronic water taps for residential and hospitality use. It consists of a waterproof touch panel, where the UI permits to choose temperature and water flow, while a remote mixing valve outputs the requested water temperature and flowrate.

A critical mission was finding a solution for a waterproof touch panel and a mechanical design for the mixing valve showing sufficient endurance. It was achieved through mechanical design iterations and collaboration with manufacturers.

From a software perspective, the touch panel had to be able to work in stressful conditions such as steam, water drops, or completely underwater, which was achieved through signal filtering and processing.

The mixing valve had to work for years, even resume working if not used for a long time. It was achieved using a self-cleaning solution implemented by software, supported by a specific mechanical design allowing for cleaning of the mixing actuator.

An advanced feature of the electronic tap, especially for the shower, was keeping the temperature stable, matching the user's request. It was achieved using a PID coupled with some solutions covered by a patent.
MAY 2020 - MAY 2022

Certified Scrum Master

Scrum Alliance

Tools

Git

Languages

Embedded C, C++, C, Python

Platforms

Embedded System Design (ESD), AWS IoT Core

Paradigms

Agile, Rapid Prototyping, Mechanical Design

Other

Debugging, Firmware over the Air (FOTA), Device Firmware Updates (DFU), 3D CAD, ESP32, Firmware, Digital Electronics, Sensors & Actuators, Real-time Embedded Systems, Embedded Systems, Touchscreens

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