1718 EUCLID STREET • WASHINGTON DC 20009
PHONE +1-202-253-2251 • FAX +1-267-350-6577 • E-MAIL
[email protected]
Software R�sum�
A history of being brought in to critical software projects in trouble, and turning them quickly around to success, provides a powerful background to be brought to bear on software systems of any complexity.
Professional Experience
Washington, DC
Mar 2007 - Present
Proto-Logic Consulting LLC
Owner
- Created from "blank page", or significantly modified and improved, a wide variety of software systems: embedded, desktop application, headless server, and intra-OS adaptation to a target device. Several activities were classified and most remain proprietary; in respect for my clients, summaries only are listed here:
- Implemented a 10X capacity, 3.5dB sensitivity improvement in the Globalstar Simplex (SENS) system, using only a software upgrade. Personally coded all demodulation, network interface, and test support software, using C, assembly, and Java.
- Created a completely automated and general-purpose graphical test conductor that could in turn run equipment on RS232, Ethernet, SCPI, Modbus, GPIB, USB, or (by extension) any other bus or protocol. Started in .NET, translated to Java, and used to test 7 versions of 4 products across 2 different companies.
- Gave a 30-year-old groundbreaking electronic wristwatch a "brain transplant", able to perform a wide variety of time functions plus an "On this day in history" text output and an artistic light show. All onboard coding was in assembly, with Java applications for text acquisition and compression.
- Created and coded novel approach for finding blood veins, by distinguishing vein features from skin surface features.
- Wide variety of user interface GUIs
- Augmented Linux kernel for particular needs in embedded and desktop environments
- Signal, audio, video, and network data processing software
Ashburn, VA
Oct 2005 - Mar 2007
AeroAstro Inc.
Director of Engineering, Communications and Sensor Systems
- Singularly created the SENS Detector, a DSP software system which determines the presence and characteristics of multiple overlapping spread-spectrum signals. The Sensor Enabled Notification System, currently hosted over the Globalstar satellite network, employs this technology at its core.
- Integrated the SENS Appliqu�, a complex and self-contained spread-spectrum receiver system containing 24 processors, nine custom software suites, four operating systems, five communications protocols, and executing over 40 billion operations per second. Performed all lab, field, and operational integration at six locations worldwide, requiring (during the initial deployment) real-time on-site code modifications.
Ashburn, VA
Feb 1996 - Oct 2005
AeroAstro Inc.
Chief Embedded Systems Engineer
- Replaced a cumbersome and nonfunctional custom hardware board with a completely software-based solution. Product was a buoy-based radar transponder. From introduction to the program to completion was three weeks. Increased product flexibility and decreased cost dramatically.
- Created the HETE-I and -II spacecraft image processing code, HETE-II file management code, and brought HETE-I system code through final integration and pre-launch test. Was brought into the HETE-I system software team three months before launch to bring it to launch readiness.
- Created the TERRIERS spacecraft payload data processing code, and brought the system software from “broken” through to launch-ready. Was brought in to head the software team when NASA reviews concluded that the software suite required critical attention.
Patents and Publications
Cohen et al (2010): US7,792,334, Locating blood vessels.
Stafford et al (2008): US7,433,391, Spread-spectrum receiver with fast M-sequence transform .
McDermott (2007): US7,227,884, Spread-spectrum receiver with progressive fourier transform.
McDermott (2006): “AAstroLogic: Using XML in a Spacecraft-Focused Client-Server System.“ IEEE Aerospace Conference Proceedings, 2006.
McDermott et al (2006): US20060015299, Network architecture and protocol for spacecraft systems, pending.
McDermott et al (2005): US6,940,811, Redundant information processing system.
McDermott et al (2004): “The Use of Overloaded Software Operators for Error Detection and Correction.” Utah Small Satellite Conference Proceedings, 2004.
Education
Cambridge, MA
Sep 1990 - Jun 1994
M.I.T.
S.B., Master of Engineering, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science
- Concentrations in Circuit Design, Communications, Artificial Intelligence, Psychology
Languages and Platforms
Fluent: English, French; Familiar: Italian, Spanish, Russian, German, Japanese, Mandarin
Fluent: Java, C, C#, C++, VHDL, Objective C, Pascal, Assembly
Fluent: Linux (embedded and desktop), OS X, Unix, Windows, vxWorks, no-OS
Fluent: PowerPC, PIC, ChipCon, MSP430, x86, ColdFire, 80x1, 68xxx, 56xxx, Blackfin.
Fluent: Actel, Xilinx. Familiar: Atmel, pSOC.
Other Information
Security clearance: Secret
Pilot: Single-Engine Land, IFR
Hobbies: classical and modern piano, travel, home automation, model rocketry, electric vehicle construction