Ryan Corbin

Skills

Firmware/Software

• Languages: C/C++, Python, Java, C# .NET 

• Processors: Cypress PSOC 4, STM32 (ARM Cortex-M Series), PIC24 and PIC16, RabbitCore Modules

• Embedded Linux Platforms: Freescale i.MX 6UL, ASUS RT-AC68U (Broadcom ARM), ASUS RT-N66U (Broadcom MIPS), Gumstix COM (ARM Cortex-A8)

Source Control: Git and SVN, Gerrit, Atlassian Bitbucket, Github

Project Management Tools: Atlassian Jira, Microsoft Devops Boards, Redmine

Hardware

• Circuit Design and Layout (USB, Bluetooth, Ethernet)

• Eagle CAD and gEDA CAD

Work Experience

Team Leader, Software Engineering

Garmin, Cary, NC 07/2023 – Present

Lead a Core Networking Technology team of four direct reports. The team supported a WiFi technology platform that was common across several business segments. This included developing and maintaining WiFi software libraries, third-party and open source networking stacks, and integrating vendor supplied Linux kernel and bare-metal microcontroller drivers for connectivity chipsets.

Delivered a C++ software library for controlling WiFi that replaced the legacy library used company-wide. Coordinated with product stakeholders to implement a migration path and technology owners to refine use-case requirements. Established modern code quality standards such as unit testing, continuous integration, and automated functional testing using labgrid.

Served as the technical scrum master for the team, working with product and technology owners to plan roadmaps and define major milestones.

Senior Software Engineer

Garmin, Cary, NC 09/2021 – 07/2023

Engineer on the Core Networking Technology group, focused on providing a common WiFi platform across business segments. 

Supported vendor-supplied Linux driver and firmware for several 802.11b/g/n/ac/ax wireless chipsets. Managed the technical relationship between vendor and business.

Lead efforts to establish software testing processes for WiFi drivers, software libraries, and networking stacks. Created manual test plans and guided our team through their execution.

Supported System Validation efforts such as WiFi-Alliance Certification and WiFi Throughput Performance testing.

Lead software engineer for Networking automated testbed project implemented in Python3, utilizing pytest framework.

Senior Embedded Software Engineer

        HillRom, Cary, NC 08/2016 – 09/2021

Embedded Engineer for nurse call devices responsible for providing on-time delivery of high quality firmware, including:

• Performed low-level device bring-up of prototype nurse call devices. This included diagnosing hardware design errors, software bugs, and Linux device tree / kernel module issues.

• Developed bash scripts and C/C++ applications to support UL 1069 (Standard for Hospital Signaling and Nurse Call Equipment) and FCC EMC testing. 

• Involved in system design for next generation nurse call product line, working with business analysts and system engineers on product requirements. Turned product requirements into technical requirements, generating system and software requirements, and network protocol specification documents. 

Provided engineering support to contract manufacturer, minimizing the effect of production issues on delivery time tables.

• Lead Engineer of the Functional Test (FCT) system for nurse call product line. Responsible for overseeing and approving the work of a third-party design firm’s mechanical and electrical designs.

• Developed on-device functional test framework and test routines in C++.

• Created production test software and test procedures used to verify initial prototypes.

Led quality improvement efforts that aimed to reduce rate of software defects found in the field:

• Promoted code quality by supporting and educating the team about good git versioning control procedures such as feature branches and git flow and pull requests. Encouraged all team members to participate in code reviews.

• Worked with Quality Assurance and DevOps departments to establish procedures and documentation for releasing production firmware. Communicated established procedures to hardware and software teams.

• Setup build system for production firmware to allow for reproducible images to be produced.

• Participated in HillRom’s Project Management Essentials course, learning how to self-manage small projects.

Embedded Software Engineer

Anuva Innovations, Morrisville, NC 03/2014 – 08/2016

Played a key role in developing low level firmware for new medical and commercial devices. Worked collaboratively on a team with hardware, mechanical, and software engineers throughout the product development life cycle. 

Supported a home automation product line comprised of various Embedded Linux platforms (Broadcom MIPS and Broadcom ARM). This included setting up the platform build process (Yocto, Buildroot, OpenEmbedded, Makefiles), designing the application architecture (written in C and C++), and planning and implementation of the system’s network protocol.

Designed a generic framework, in C++, that allowed the home automation system to integrate with third-party devices. The framework translated our protocol into the protocol of the third-party device through the use of highly configurable and extendable XML “driver” files. Utilized the Standard Template Library and Boost regular expression library.

Improved release management by working with the software team to update company policies for proper requirements / specification documentation, git version control, bug and issue tracking in Redmine and JIRA.

Advocated for the adoption of the Agile scrum process. Acted as informal Scrum Master for a software team of 4-5 engineers. Used scrum metrics, such as burndown velocity, to plan and monitor sprint and release progress.

Improved system quality by instituting quality assurance and end user acceptance testing policies. Utilized the Zephyr Test Management System for JIRA to plan test cycles, write test cases, and manage test execution during QA phases.

Administered and supported company servers running git, svn, Redmine, doku wiki, and file shares. Wrote bash scripts to automate routine tasks such as new user and git repository creation.

Lead Firmware/Hardware Engineer

GlueLogix, Hillsborough, NC 12/2007 – 09/2009, 06/2011 – 03/2014

Took multiple projects from initial concept through to prototype phase. This included hardware tasks, such as circuit design, component selection, printed circuit board layout, hand assembly, testing, and troubleshooting. Communicated with customers to refine prototypes into final products. 

Most projects included writing embedded firmware in C, as well as, custom-designed test harnesses utilizing Python on the Gumstix embedded Linux platform.

Highlighted Projects

• Printer Emulator and Capture Device

Designed a custom daughterboard for Gumstix Overo COM that incorporated USB, Serial, Parallel, Ethernet, Wifi, and Bluetooth interfaces. Modified the Linux USB gadget kernel module to enable proper simulation of HP DeskJet printers. Designed a linux kernel module that implemented a IEEE 1284 parallel peripheral driver. Wrote emulation and capture software in Python. 

• Rugged Interconnectivity Board For Military Use

Lead hardware design and layout efforts on a custom daughterboard for Gumstix Overo COM that incorporated 7 USB Interfaces, 3 Ethernet Interfaces, GPS module with discrete antenna, and several power regulation and control circuits. Oversaw board level testing and quality assurance for the prototype phase.

• Automotive Distracted Driving Solution

Designed hardware controller board that integrated a PIC24F microcontroller, an nBlue Bluetooth LE module, and USB into a system that aimed to prevent distracted driving. Designed, developed, and maintained system firmware.

Implemented framework to support manufacturing. Developed C# .NET application to facilitate order management and unit programming. Application tied unit serial number to customer order, and programmed unit with customer-defined configuration. 

Co-owner

WeeBee Consulting L.L.C., Cary, NC 07/2009 – 07/2010

Maintained all aspects of the business, while consulting on various electronics projects.  Projects included aiding the development of a CAN protocol based application on the Omnima Embedded Linux Controller based on the Infineon ADM5120.

Test Operator

Catalyst Manufacturing Services, Morrisville, NC 06/2007 – 02/2008

Was responsible for operating board and box level test fixtures for various electronic products to insure quality. Identified problems such as missing, lifted, and broken components.

Education

B.S. Electrical Engineering Technology

University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC 08/2009 – 05/2011

Honors: magna cum laude, Tau Alpha Pi, George Rawlins Scholarship

A.A.S. Electronic Engineering Technology

A.A.S. Computer Engineering Technology

Wake Technical Community College, Raleigh, NC 08/2006 – 05/2009

Open Source Contributions / Hobby Projects

Open On-Circuit Debugger (OpenOCD)

Updated and expanded existing driver for the OpenJTAG programmer to work with the latest version of OpenOCD. 

AWS IoT SDK for Embedded C Devices

Updated library to support latest changes in mbedTLS project.