Robert Peruzzi

Mr. Peruzzi is a Licensed Professional Electrical and Electronics Engineer and Expert Witness practicing forensic and technical electrical engineering consulting. His forensic engineering practice includes forensic investigation, advising, reporting and testimony in electrical, electronic, communication, and electro-mechanical control-system matters regarding intellectual property, patents, failure analysis, product liability, injuries, product requirements and specifications. Mr. Peruzzi’s technical engineering practice includes the design, verification, measurement and testing of electronic signal processing hardware circuits and systems, both integrated circuits and electrical modules, which are used for communication and electro-mechanical control.

Examples of communication and control systems are:

  • Internet of Things (IOT) systems
  • Audio amplifiers
  • Audio recording/play-back systems
  • Telephones, mobile phones, and cell phones
  • Voltage regulators and battery chargers
  • Data transmitting/receiving systems such as serializer/de-serializers (SERDES)
  • Power-management devices including switch-mode power converters
  • Lithium-ion battery management systems
  • Data recording/retrieving systems for magnetic media such as disk drives or magnetic tape
  • Video systems, such as television and webcams making use of CCDs
  • Radio transmitters/receivers and their building blocks such as low noise amplifiers, filters, automatic gain control, oscillators, frequency synthesizers and phase-locked loops, and frequency mixers (down-converters, up-converters)
  • Heat, ventilation, and air conditioning controllers (HVAC)
  • Traffic light control and emergency preemption systems
  • Remote control systems for hobbyist aircraft and vehicles
  • Pressure sensors for reading depth of fluid column
  • Electrical equipment power and grounding

Professional Summary

R. PERUZZI CONSULTING, INC., 2008-Present President and Independent Consultant

As an expert witness, I offer the following services:

  • Analysis of patents and advise on validity and/or infringement
  • Forensic investigation regarding Circuits and Systems, Communications and Control, and Electrically related Personal Injury matters
  • Litigation support including deposition and testimony

Notable projects for clients:

Patents and Intellectual Property

  • Review and Analysis of Mass Storage Hard Disk Drive Patents
  • Patent Infringement Case regarding High-Speed SERDES
  • Patent Infringement Case regarding IC Packaging Parasitic Mitigation
  • Patent Infringement Case regarding Automatically Self-Adjusting Audio Equipment
  • Patent Infringement Case regarding Geo-Location of Mobile Phone Devices
  • Patent Review and Analysis relating to
    • Electronic Design Automation (EDA) software programs
    • A/D, D/A converters and their calibration
    • Electronic control systems for HVAC systems

Circuits and Systems

  • Business Sale/Purchase Dispute over Semiconductor Test Equipment Manufacturing Capability
  • Dispute over Product Requirements, Specifications, and Quality for Video Screens

Communications and Control Systems

  • Business Dispute over Repeated Failures of Packaging Equipment
  • Business Dispute over Design of Two-Way Communication System for Drive-Through Restaurants
  • Person Injured when the Control System of the Rod Handler of a Construction Drill Rig Malfunctioned
  • Fatal Collision between a Police Vehicle and a Civilian Vehicle
  • Person Injured by Hot Cleaning Solution when Pressure Sensor Was Removed from Tank
  • Person Injured by Remote Control Hobbyist Drone
  • Wirelessly-Remote-Controlled Drilling Equipment Tragic Failure
  • Electronic Toll Collection and Traffic Control Lane Accident Investigation

Electrically Related Personal Injury

  • Person Injured Because of Industrial Communication/Control System Failure
  • Person Injured by Electric Shock while Servicing MRI Main Disconnect Panel
  • Person Injured by Electric Shock while Swimming in Recreation Center Pool
  • Investigated Remains of Electrical Equipment Recovered from Fatal Hotel Fire
  • Person Injured by Explosion of Lithium-Ion Batteries in Pocket
  • Person Injured by Electrical Shock in Bathroom of Rented Beach Unit
  • Home Electrical Fire Investigation

Specialized Continuing Education:

  • Expert Witness SEAK Seminars, including patent-specific training
  • Advanced Fire Investigation for Professional Engineers, NAFE educational seminar
  • Fundamentals of Lightning Protection Systems, by CED Engineering
  • Interior Electrical Distribution Systems
  • Grounding and Bonding of Electrical Systems

As a technical consultant, I have broad and deep understanding of analog/mixed-signal (AMS) circuits and systems, as well as strong experience with design verification, especially for chip-level analog and mixed-signal ICs. I independently review and verify digital and analog/mixed-signal ICs using electronic design automation (EDA) software before funds are committed to manufacturing the design. My services:

  • Advise and provide solutions for top-down design methodologies, and the analysis, design, modeling and verification of RF, analog and digital circuits. For design verification (DV) of Systems-on-Chip (SOC) with embedded AMS sub-systems I develop DV strategies, verification plans, create behavioral models and test-cases to execute the verification-plan (V-Plan)
  • Create behavioral models of electrical circuits, wireless system components and electro- mechanical units to be used for DV. DV languages include universal verification methodology (UVM), System Verilog (SV) using real-number modeling (RNM) of analog signals and systems, Verilog, Verilog- AMS, VHDL, VHDL-AMS, Verilog-A, Spice, Spectre and others
  • IC Circuit-Design and DV tools include those by Cadence and Mentor Graphics
  • Design algorithms, software, and hardware for system self-tuning and calibration

Client products include:

  • Lithium-Ion Battery Management Systems
  • Single-chip Transceivers for Products with Antenna Diversity
  • Hard-Disk-Drive READ-Channel integrated circuits
  • Single-Chip RF Television Receivers
  • High Speed Serializer/De-serializer (SERDES) Circuits
  • Mixed-signal Power management ICs comprising low drop-out (LDO) and switch-mode step- up (boost) and step-down (buck) converters intended for medical or general applications
  • Magnetometers (for sensing magnetic field intensity and angle)
  • Analog/Mixed-Signal Computer-Aided Design (CAD) Tools

Notable projects for clients:

  • Examined Lithium-Ion Battery schematics and algorithms, and advised on design process and methodology
  • Taught in-house class “An Introduction to Mixed-Signal Behavioral Modeling and Verification” for engineering and engineering management staff of client company
  • Designed electronic system components for a high-accuracy magnetic field sensor
  • Created and validated Matlab/Simulink models for top-down design and verification of that complete magnetometer system
  • Designed an optimal self-tuning algorithm for a local-oscillator generator’s phase-locked-loop
  • Designed a self-calibration mechanism for poly-phase filters used in a Television Receiver RF front end

Award:

  • 2017 Engineer of the Year by the Pennsylvania Society of Professional Engineers – Lehigh Valley Chapter

Professional Experience

XtremeEDA, 2015-2016
Principal Consultant

INFINEON TECHNOLOGIES (LSI, Agere Systems, Lucent, AT&T Bell Labs), 1990-2008

LTX CORPORATION
Hardware Engineer, 1988-1990

UNITED STATES AIR FORCE, 1977-1984
Honorably discharged as E-5 (Staff Sergeant)

BOB PERUZZI ORCHESTRAS, 1974-1977
Professional Musician

Disciplines

Technologies

Integrated Circuits
Circuits and Systems
Control Systems
Communication Systems.

Industries

Mass Storage (Hard Disk Drives)
Mobile Communications

Patents

Patent Number 7498876: Amplifier having half-wave tracking power rails. March 3, 2009

Patent Number 20090275322: Prevention of audio pop in a digital audio device. July 9, 2009

Education

PhD, Electrical Engineering, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, 2005
Dissertation: “A Novel Amplifier System Combining Class D D/A Conversion and Low-Power Class AB Operation”

MS, Electrical Engineering, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, 1996
Thesis: “A Continuous-Time Analog Adaptive Bi-quadratic Filter – Design, Construction and Characterization”

BS, Electrical Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, 1988 Summa cum Laude: GPA: 3.94/4.0

Awards and Honors:

  • Phi Kappa Phi award for outstanding Engineering freshman, 1985
  • Elected to Tau Beta Pi Electrical Engineering Honor Fraternity in junior year, 1987
  • Academic distinction award from the Boston chapter of the IEEE Power Engineering Society in 1986

Bachelor of Music in Music Education, Boston Conservatory of Music, Boston, MA, 1974

  • Dean’s List, 1974

Publications and Lectures

“FE Analysis of Communications Systems for Drive-Thru Restaurants in a Business Dispute Over Specifications and Design Process.” Journal of the National Academy of Forensic Engineers, Vol. 38 No. 1, July 2021

“Forensic Engineering Analysis of Video Screens for a Dispute Over Requirements and Specifications.” Journal of the National Academy of Forensic Engineers, Vol. 38 No. 1, July 2021

“Forensic Engineering Analysis of a Swimming Pool Electric Shock Injury.” Journal of the National Academy of Forensic Engineers, Vol. 38 No. 1, July 2021

“Forensic Engineering Analysis of the Alleged Failure of an Emergency Vehicle Traffic Light Preemption System.” Journal of the National Academy of Forensic Engineers, Vol. 36 No. 1, June 2019

“Forensic Engineering Analysis of Test Equipment Manufacturing Capability in a Business Purchase Dispute.” Journal of the National Academy of Forensic Engineers, Vol. 35 No. 1, June 2018

“Forensic Engineering Analysis of Quadcopter Drone Personal Injury.” Journal of the National Academy of Forensic Engineers, Vol. 34, No. 2, December 2017

“Professional & Forensic Engineering and Expert Witness Career Progression.” IEEE AICN Newsletter, 2nd Quarter, 2017

“Professional Engineer: Rigorous Threshold but Often a Rewarding Career Will Result.” Lehigh Valley Business Journal, February 20, 2017

“A Systematic Approach to Creating Behavioral Models.” White paper to accompany lecture of the same name, CDNLive, March 10, 2015. http://tinyurl.com/Xtreme-EDA-Customer- Resources

“Efficient Verification and Virtual Prototyping of Analog and Mixed-Signal IP and SOCs Using Behavioral Models.” http://www.design-reuse.com/articles/23018/verification-virtual- prototyping-ams-behavioral-model.html

“High-level RF Behavioral Models with Transient Noise.” Infineon Technologies Communication Tech Days Conference, 2008

“Verification of Digitally calibrated analog systems with Verilog-AMS Behavioral Models.” IEEE Behavioral Modeling and Simulation (BMAS) Conference, 2006

“A Novel Amplifier System Combining Class D D/A Conversion and Low-Power Class AB Operation.” Audio Engineering Society Conference, 2004

“A 200 Mb/s CMOS EPRML channel with integrated servo demodulator for magnetic hard disks.” Proc. Int. Solid-State Circuits Conf., San Francisco, CA, February 1997. Co-author

“A Median Peak Detecting Analog Signal Processor for Hard Disk Drive Servo,” IEEE Journal of Solid- State Circuits, Vol. 30, No. 4, April 1995. Co-author

“A high-speed, low-power PRML read channel device.” IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, Vol. 31, No. 2, pp. 1186-1195, March 1995. Co-author

LECTURES

“Forensic Investigation of Electrical and Electronic Causes of an Industrial Equipment Failure.” National Academy of Forensic Engineers (NAFE) Conference, Providence, RI, July, 2021

Invited Lecture “Professional & Forensic Engineering and Expert Witness Career Progression.” IEEE, Region 6, Foothill Section, CA, January 2020

Forensic Engineering Analysis of a Swimming Pool Electric Shock Injury.” National Academy of Forensic Engineers (NAFE) Conference, San Diego, CA, January 2020

“Forensic Engineering Analysis of Video Screens for a Business Dispute over Requirements and Specifications.” National Academy of Forensic Engineers (NAFE) Conference, Buffalo, NY, July 2018

“Forensic Engineering Analysis of the Alleged Failure of an Emergency Vehicle Traffic Light Preemption System.” National Academy of Forensic Engineers (NAFE) Conference, Phoenix, AZ, January 2018

“Forensic Engineering Analysis of Test Equipment Manufacturing Capability in a Business Purchase Dispute.” National Academy of Forensic Engineers (NAFE) Conference, Atlanta, GA, July 2017

“Forensic Engineering Analysis of Quadcopter Drone Personal Injury.” National Academy of Forensic Engineers (NAFE) Conference, New Orleans, LA, January 2017

“Introduction to Intellectual Property and Patents.” Guest lecturer for Lehigh University Senior Project Class, Bethlehem, PA, September 2016

“Mixed-Signal UVM Demonstration using Real-Number Models and System Verilog.” CDNLive Conference, Boston, MA, September 2015

“A Systematic Approach to Creating Behavioral Models.” CDNLive Conference, Silicon Valley, CA March 2015

Invited Lecture “Consulting as a Solid-State Circuits Electrical Engineer – Panel Discussion.” IEEE Lehigh Valley Section Solid State Circuits Society Technical Meeting, November 2013

Invited Lecture “Reducing the Risk of Human Error in Digitally Calibrated Analog Circuits with Mixed-Signal Simulation Techniques.” IEEE Philadelphia Section Technical Meeting, October 2011

Invited Lecture “An Overview of Mixed-Signal IC Verification with Behavioral Models.” IEEE Princeton Section, Solid-State Circuits Society Chapter Technical Meeting, December 2010

Lecture in conjunction with poster exhibit: “High-level RF Behavioral Models with Time- Domain Noise.” Infineon Technologies Communication Tech Days Conference, 2008

Lecture to accompany slideshow and paper presentation: “Verification of Digitally calibrated analog systems with Verilog-AMS Behavioral Models.” IEEE Behavioral Modeling and Simulation (BMAS) Conference, 2006

Lecture in conjunction with poster exhibit: “Using Class D digital to analog conversion to create signal-tracking power rails for a Class AB audio amplifier.” Audio Engineering Society Conference, 2004