I was born and grew up in the last millennium in Bremen. In 1992 I finished school at the Hermann Böse Gymnasium with my Abitur and jointed the military service for on year.

In 1993 I started studying electrical engineering at the University of Bremen. My specialization in my main studies was “automation technology”. My studing project was carried out at the to the power converter and drive technology department IALB. The topic was the development and construction of an “intelligent” half-bridge driver circuit for IGBTs. After that, I started my student research project there, which dealt with the development of an “intelligent” CAN interface that was connected to a control computer for power converters via the synchronous serial interface. A PDF version of the thesis can be downloaded here.

I did my diploma thesis entitled “Development of a signal processing for a miniaturized Laser Doppler Anemometer” at the ZARM of the University of Bremen. Details of the work can be found here. (By the way, ZARM stands for Center for Applied Space Travel and Microgravity and is better known to all Bremen residents under the term “drop tower”.) The work was awarded the ZARM Sponsorship Prize 2001, which is awarded by the ZARM Förderverein for special work in the field of space travel.

During my basic studies, I did internships at STN and at the Telekom training center in Bremen. I did the 13-week internship during my main studies at a small electronics company called “Behrens-Elektronik” in Bremen. There I dealt with the development of microcontroller systems based on Fujitsu microcontrollers. There I was able to work on hardware and firmware development during the internship.

I also worked as a student assistant at the ZARM (drop tower) for more than three years. There I developed and built analog measuring circuits. The experiment I worked on dealt with the measurement of free convection in measurements with hot wires. In addition, I also supervised the block seminar of the basic laboratory for control engineering for two years, which is offered for the fifth semester in the electrical engineering course. A long time ago I worked as an HTML programmer for a small local company. But my HTML knowledge is rusty at the HTML 3.0 level…

Since completing my diploma thesis in 2001, I have worked as a hardware and firmware developer for Behrens Elektronik. In principle, I developed everything there that is somehow controlled by microcontrollers. Since 2006 I have been working as a development engineer at a large American company that develops and builds mass spectrometers in Bremen. My main tasks there are the development and maintenance of digital circuits based on microcontrollers and FPGAs, as well as firmware development. In addition, I also do the system definition of the vacuum control & the safety systems, the system integration with power supply & cabling, Testfield-Support etc.

In addition to school, I used to do a “few youth research projects”. Some of this projects were quite successful… My best placement was a 5th place in the field of work at the “Jugend forscht national competition 1993”.

Since I was too old for ‘Jugend forscht’, I then looked for other challenges. So I started to develop on an old “Jugend forscht” project. This project was about the development of a measurement and control system for single-family houses. I was financially supported by the “Ökofonds” of Stadtwerke Bremen. However, this system was never really finished. Although the basic functions were implemented, the network communication was not stable. It’s just not easy to design and implement a truly watertight multimaster-capable protocol. In the meantime I have started developing a house bus system again, this time based on a CAN network… But there will be more information on this once I have finished the system. (I hope… 😃)

Since 2003 I’m married to my longtime girlfriend Mira and we are the proud parents of two daughters. Unfortunately, the two aren’t that interested in technology so far… too bad, then I’ll just have to continue tinkering alone in my hobby room.