When you work in a technical university as a Count (see this link for explanations), sometimes you wonder if you are a teacher, a researcher, or both. Or none.
With a previous relatively long (8 years) experience in the industry, the term “research” is a bit subtle to me. Especially in an industrial environment of global dimensions with a strong R&D history, it is not easy to see how little academic groups can make a significant difference to the community. I make a quick example: in Helsinki, Finland, approximately 1200 people at ABB were (hopefully still are) working on electrical drives. Of these 1200 people, it was estimated that roughly 1/3 were involved in some form of R&D activities. What can an academic team of a professor + some Ph.D. students do compared to that? Especially when these 400 people have multiple years of experience and are, for the most part, highly competent… those who know me also know my deep respect for Finnish expertise in electrical machines and drives.
Despite this imbalance, there is perhaps always something we can contribute to on a small scale—an idea, a vision, an initiative —something that leads us to publish a good article, which a company then picks up, and things start rolling in the right direction. It has happened, and hopefully it will continue. But that is not what I want to talk about here.
What I want to talk about is the teacher’s perspective on this game. Leaving industry for academia is not very common, but when I did, it was for a clear goal: I wanted to influence how our scientific field was taught, at least at KTH. I began by managing the base course on electrical machines and drives. Due to an unforeseen and unwanted series of events, I am now also responsible for two additional courses: one on control for electrical machines and another on the design of electrical machines. In practice, my teaching duties start in August and end in June. The students who decide to follow all the courses in our field will essentially see me for an entire year, non-stop. And if they are not tired of that, I can offer them an individual project lasting one semester the following year. And of course, you can always perform your master’s degree project with me as supervisor or examiner. In short: two years of a master’s in Electric Power Engineering at KTH, and you can potentially never get rid of me.
I could start complaining about the load this is causing on me and shout at KTH for not employing any other faculty staff to help me out. My teaching spans from the Carter factor to sensorless control with high-frequency voltage injection, passing through finite-element analysis and Simulink schematics. Any professional in this field would tell you that it is a vast scope for this scientific field – apparently, only KTH does not get it 🙂
But KTH has inadvertently given me an excellent opportunity. Total responsibility over the courses also means that I can do exactly what I think is best for the students, avoiding content overlaps and flawlessly harmonizing the material from one course to the other. It takes years, and although I started many years ago, I am not yet at the end of this process, but I am pretty far along nonetheless. And every year, there is something to change, something to improve, something to include or exclude.
Why all these efforts?
… because I want my students to be the No. 1 students in this field, no matter where they go. Being a university or a company, there should be a recognition: this guy/girl studied electrical machines and drives at KTH. It should suffice as a business card.
And look, I am not getting upset with the students who, after a while, discover that this topic is not for them. The world is big; there is space for everyone. My rage is directed towards myself: I get upset when I do not deliver a good lesson or when I fail to teach specific details I should have. This is what makes me mad: having lost the opportunity to make you the number 1.
Passion and understanding of the difficulties involved in pursuing this education are my driving forces. Lectures are sacred and a place of joy and sharing. Not a place where you feel a stone hanging on a rope by your neck. Given that I am not getting any younger, and while the students are the scientists and leaders of tomorrow, I believe I am investing in the future of this community where we live. I hope to maintain the wonderful relationships I have built with some students over the years of teaching, for the remaining years of my life.
Is there any immediate satisfaction? Well, you can say so. Look at this, for example:
“Teacher of the year 2025” from the KTH student section on Energy and Environment. I leave the rest of the text untranslated, I can’t spill it all out 🙂 But you understand that these types of awards have the opposite effect on me; instead of relaxing, I will double down to make the courses even more appealing. Because I feel it is working.
My late father used to say: “If you want to teach one thing, you need to know at least three times as much”. Message received, Dad.
Receiving the good news from Luca Peretti back in 2022, I said to myself, “Yes! I finally joined a unique environment: the postdoctoral program focusing on total loss minimization. In the coming two years, I am going to dive into a new task at KTH Royal Institute of Technology.” I even said to myself that I am going to write a book by delicately presenting my experience from the rural mountains of Ethiopia all the way to China and then to Europe: Call it a personal biography if you may.
However, Youtube videos make it unbelievably terrible, and darkness shackles you to loneliness. Thus, I was in fear of the freezing weather. I asked everyone to gain knowledge about how to survive the winter. Yes, I received particularly useful comments on how to prepare for the winter. I also remember the Game of Thrones movie “Winter is Coming!” Man, this movie is a hell of a movie! It gave me a humble time during the Corona Outbreak. Once you start the game of the throne, there is no middle ground! Either you win or you lose. Anyhow, my appreciation goes to Matt, Yixuan, and Luca for giving me a remarkably useful suggestion. Therefore, I bought a winter jacket, shoes, etc. and prepared and geared up well.
My frustration with winter didn’t last long—I actually enjoyed my first snow and winter experience. It was truly fascinating! If there’s one thing I regret, it’s not trying ice skating. That would have been an unforgettable memory. My humble advice? Don’t trust those YouTube videos! They made it look terrifying, and I still hold a grudge against them for that.That said, be prepared for winter. Investing in the right clothing is essential to surviving and enjoying the season.
Having said a bit about my experience on the dark nights of Stockholm, let me take you to our project. First thing is first, I have been able to understand the concept of semiconductor loss and ways of improving semiconductor loss, either from a PWM perspective or a technological perspective. The semiconductor switching losses are directly proportional to the switching frequency of the inverter. Thus, having a reduced switching frequency is one of the approaches that could be adopted for motor drives. However, the noise and harmonic content of the motor current are vital to be considered. Therefore, a means of optimizing the switching frequency, loss, and current harmonic content is necessary. The introduction of selective harmonic elimination, the variable switching frequency approach, synchronous optimal PWM (SOPWM), and other approaches provide an alternative mechanism without changing the semiconductor technology. These approaches are somehow computationally intensive. Therefore, a less computationally intensive approach with good performance is vital. Proper modeling of the harmonic content of the motor current as well as the semiconductor losses of the inverter is equally vital.
The second approach involves utilizing wide-bandgap semiconductor devices, which are becoming essential in modern motor drives. Advanced semiconductor technologies like Silicon Carbide (SiC) and Gallium Nitride (GaN) enable operation at exceptionally high switching frequencies (in the MHz range). This results in reduced harmonics while simultaneously minimizing switching losses. Among these, GaN stands out for its superior performance. However, its blocking voltage capability limits its practical applications. For instance, commercially available GaN devices typically have a 650V blocking voltage, while companies like Infineon have developed GaN HEMTs with a blocking voltage range of 100V to 700V. The adoption of wide-bandgap technologies also facilitates the use of computationally efficient PWM techniques, such as Space Vector PWM (SVPWM) and carrier-based sinusoidal PWM. I had the privilege of working with Aurobay on leveraging GaN technology for loss minimization, which was an incredibly rewarding experience for me.
FPGA also provides a better digital control strategy. As such, I have been reading about how to implement the FPGA, which is fun to work on. Additional knowledge is accumulated along the way! My experience with FPGA programming has been quite surprising. While understanding the basics of FPGA programming wasn’t too difficult, working with the FMC112 ADC from ABACO turned out to be far more complex than expected. The manufacturer-provided code for the device is intricate, and I spent a significant amount of time trying to understand and debug it.
Despite my efforts, I kept encountering issues. Sometimes, I could receive the signal, but other times, it was completely absent. As a result, the AXI_STREAM_FIFO remained empty. Even when the signal was present, the data read from the FIFO was often zero, leaving me frustrated and confused—how was this even happening? After extensive debugging, I discovered that the problem originated in a specific section of the system, which I refer to as the “red box” in the data processing flow as shown in Fig. 1. If the system failed at this point, everything downstream would collapse. Further investigation suggested that the issue might be related to ADC triggering.
After struggling for a long time without a clear solution—despite reaching out to the manufacturer’s support—I decided to take a different approach. I bypassed the “red box” entirely and designed my own custom FIFO. My implementation takes the 16-bit signal from the FMC112, converts it to 64-bit, and incorporates a 64-depth FIFO memory, allowing for smoother data handling.
Fig. 1. A block representation of the ADC implementation
The newly designed FIFO successfully resolved my issue, allowing me to disable the “red box” from ABACO. What a relief after spending such a long- and frustrating-time debugging FPGA programming and deciphering the inner workings of the ABACO FMC112 model! Despite the challenges, this experience turned out to be incredibly valuable. It not only deepened my understanding of FPGA programming but also sharpened my problem-solving skills. Looking back, it was a tough but rewarding journey. The following figure shows the custom designed RTL.
Fig. 2. Designed 16to64 bit FIFO with a FIFO depth of 64
One important lesson I’ve learned is that failure is valuable. You can’t fail unless you take the initiative to start something. In this sense, my repeated struggles with implementing the ADC turned out to be an opportunity—it pushed me to dive deeper into FPGA programming and expand my understanding of this powerful technology. Had I succeeded immediately, I wouldn’t have explored FPGA programming in such depth. In retrospection, the challenges were not setbacks but a new path to greater knowledge and expertise.
In conclusion, this opportunity has truly opened new avenues for progress, from sensorless control of electrical machines to drivetrain loss modeling and the development of optimized drive systems. It has been a transformative experience, expanding my knowledge and skills in advanced motor drive technology.
in the last two weeks I have been visiting two very different conferences back to back.
The first one is ICEM 2024, the international conference on electrical machines, a biannual conference on electrical machines and drives. I would dare to say that it is the most relevant conference on our field in Europe. It was this time held in Turin, Italy at the Politechnico di Torino. I went there to present preliminary results I got from an exchange stay at the University of Bologna. But this conference was more like a gathering of everyone. I met all the people I have met in all the conferences in the last five years including most of the professors from all the papers I was reading. This means that other than presenting and listening to potentially relevant presentations for my work, the breaks were times to say hello to known faces and get to know new ones.
A major part of research is collaboration since nobody can do everything. So, running around and find out what other people are working on is an integral part of attending a conference. Of course, it is also a good chance to meet people from industry and see which problems they are trying to solve. If you want, to break out from the academic bubble.
As you can imagine, such a conference day can be very exhausting. Luckily, the social dinner was held at MAUTO, the italian museum of automobiles. Since Turin is the city of the car manufacturer FIAT, there is a long tradition this industry. While receiving a fancy italian dinner with local dishes, it is a great opportunity to unwind and chat with the fellows.
Social Dinner at ICEM 2024
Porjus hydro-power plant original 1910 station.
After this week, I needed a break and spend the weekend in north Italy for some relaxing days before continuing to the STandUP academy in Luleå. STandUP for energy is an organization in Sweden funding research in energy related topics. On this annual gathering, researchers from KTH, Uppsala Universitet, Svenska Landbruks Universitet and Luleå Tekiska Universitet gather and discuss their results. As part of this, we visited the newly constructed hydro-power plant in Rengård, the wind-power plant in Markbygden and the larger hydro-power plant in Porjus.
I was very impressed by the implications of our energy production on the landscape and the environment but also by the technology and current questions.
A big misconception in the academic world is that working hard and working smart are the same. Well, they are not.
You could also entitle this post “Save yourself before it is too late.” It is a message to those falling into the spiral of death in academia.
We need to go back in time: it is the winter 2008-2009, and I am a doctoral student at the University of Padova, temporarily dispatched to ABB Corporate Research in Västerås, Sweden, for five months. This is the same place where I got my first employment in 2010 and where I stayed for eight years of my professional life.
During that period, ABB advertised a researcher position in the team. Many candidates came to Västerås for the interview. In one case, the team manager asked me to join the candidate’s technical presentation and then asked me to talk privately to this person to understand him more from a personality standpoint. I was culturally closer to this person than the manager, so he relied on that to know more about the candidate.
The manager and I discussed my conversation with the candidate afterward. He asked me what I thought of the candidate. I said, “Well, he knows his technical part and is a hard-working guy.”
The manager looked at me and said, “I do not want hard workers; I want smart workers. I want someone who does the job excellently and then leaves the premises to do something else at home.” He was not joking.
When I terminated my period at ABB and returned to Italy to complete my studies, I was involved in a workshop where the local industry and the university met to discuss the future of electrical machines and drives. My former supervisor, prof. Zigliotto, was with me, too. I remember him talking to one of the CEOs of the participating industry. This CEO told him: “Look, when I receive a CV from a student of your university, I look at the grade the student has received from you. I know that your grades are a summary of the person’s technical skills, personality, and humanity. If the student has low grades in your course, I exclude it immediately even if the other grades are excellent.”
These two examples have permanently shaped my professional life. Needless to say, I have an enormous amount of respect for people who carry on their work in such a way that technical achievements are just a part of a well-rounded, healthy, and happy life, inside and outside the office.
It is sad to see how these simple concepts of life are neglected everywhere. You do not need to go far to see people working 24/7 and being “socially incompetent”… and for what? A name on an article? Glory? But who is giving you glory? Other 24/7 monkeys?
My stand is this:
If you need to work 24/7 to make a career, you are not smart. You are evidently missing the technical skills to do your job and go home.
If you work 24/7 because you have collected too many different tasks, you cannot envision a clear path for your career. Think smart and eliminate unnecessary tasks.
If you work 24/7 because you want to publish more than everyone else, question yourself if your publications have an impact. And I do not mean the number of references from other 24/7 monkey articles. I mean impact as a change in society or industry. Are you contributing to a better future for everyone?
If you work 24/7 because you think that everyone else does it and therefore you should do it too, then you are a 24/7 monkey. Too late.
Every person I recruit goes through an adjustment period when they realize the way I work. I bring the challenge to them immediately from the start:
I want your work to have an impact in society or industry.
Publications will follow your impact. Quality over quantity.
Be smart and have a life outside the office. Take days off and vacations to cool down.
If you reflect on it, these three points are the most challenging job task ever. I ask you to change the world with breakthrough solutions in an 8-hour working day, excluding weekends and vacations.
If you manage to do that, you will have my respect. If you don’t, well, we tried. But at least you are not a 24/7 monkey.
now in July Sweden goes into some form of hibernation and with it KTH as well. July is the month where most Swedish work places take summer vacation, including KTH. The reason to this is likely the climate here. With the long and dark winter behind, now is the time of (moderately) warm weather and long sunny days, with only four hours of night in Stockholm.
All teaching end by the end of May, examinations take place in the first half of June. In the second half of June falls “Midsommar”, the most important celebration in Sweden. People celebrate the summer and life outside. Just have a look yourself:
Midsommar pole, but one of the rings fell down.
The summer is a time to relax and recharge the batteries. While many Swedish families have a summer house in a remote area, others go into the mountainous areas to get a change of tapestry. A big portion of the students use this time to do some work for earning some income for the rest of the year or conduct a paid internship at a company to gain some experience.
With august, people are coming back to work with the new semester starting usually at the end of it, hopefully well rested and full of energy.
Author
Fig. 1. A block representation of the ADC implementation
