AARON CLARKE
Summary
Embedded Systems Engineer and independent consultant with 30+ years of experience in
firmware, C/C++, embedded Linux, RTOS, DSP, and hardware/software integration.
Recent work includes on-device Edge AI, CPU/GPU/NPU inference, speech and language
models, embedded IoT, and low-power wireless systems. Experience spans aerospace,
industrial, medical, consumer electronics, and specialized legacy platforms.
Skills
Programming Languages: Assembly, C, C++, C#, Fortran, Go, Matlab, Perl, PHP, Python,
shell scripting.
Microprocessors/SoCs: MediaTek Genio 520/720, Genio 5100 Pro (evaluation),
STM32WLE5, ARM, ARM7, ARM11, ARM Cortex-A8, StrongARM, Intel XScale, Freescale i.MX,
TI OMAP/DM3730, PIC18, PIC24F, PSoC, PowerPC, Xilinx Zynq, fixed-point VLIW DSP.
Operating Systems: Embedded Linux, Yocto/OpenEmbedded, PetaLinux, Debian, FreeRTOS,
MicroC/OS-II, VxWorks, UNIX, Windows.
Embedded Linux/Boot: BitBake, BSP integration, U-Boot, Apex, vivi, Linux kernel,
device drivers, device tree, NAND flash, JTAG, system bring-up, boot-time optimization.
Edge AI/ML: MediaTek Neuron NPU, ONNX Runtime, TensorFlow Lite/LiteRT, CPU/GPU/NPU,
model conversion, PTQ/quantization, model compilation, operator adaptation, profiling,
Whisper, sherpa-onnx, speech-to-text (STT), text-to-speech (TTS), local LLM/SLM,
streaming inference, Docker, ALSA, PipeWire, word-error rate (WER).
Wireless/Networking: LoRaWAN, ChirpStack, OTAA, Class B/Class C, Bluetooth, BLE,
Wi-Fi, Ethernet, TCP/IP, UDP, iSCSI, SLIP, MQTT, Semtech 433 MHz radios.
Hardware/Protocols: USB host/device, USB HID, I2C, SPI, UART, RS-232, RS-422,
GPIB, VME, PXI, JTAG, e-paper, Pervasive Displays, NAU7802, TAL220 load cells,
RTCs, GPIO interrupts, power management, firmware updates and OTA.
Other: VLIW, fixed-point DSP, instruction-set design, Viterbi decoding, real-time
echo cancellation, FFT, vibration analysis, LabWindows CVI, logic analyzers, WDK,
WHQL, Windows Logo testing, EMC testing, schematic and layout reviews.
Professional Experience
Aaron Clarke Consulting, Lockport, NY
Independent Embedded Systems Consultant, July 2007-Present
Embedded software, firmware, Linux, hardware integration and specialized engineering
services for commercial clients. Selected current engagements follow.
Embedded Linux & Edge AI Engineering - Confidential Client, 2025-Present
• Developed and evaluated AI models on MediaTek Genio 520 across CPU, GPU and Neuron
NPU; converted, quantized, compiled and validated embedded inference workloads.
• Adapted unsupported vision operators for NPU execution and compared matched-input
outputs, inference latency and energy across execution back ends.
• Built repeatable quantization/compilation workflows for small language models.
• Developed containerized on-device language-model services with streaming and APIs.
• Evaluated speech recognition using WER tooling and microphone-matched test sets.
• Integrated speech recognition, streaming TTS and CPU/NPU execution pipelines.
• Created Yocto/OpenEmbedded recipes and BitBake layers for GUI and speech services;
supported BSP migration, reproducible builds and container integration.
• Debugged power management, charging, battery, camera/video and audio issues.
• Documented benchmark methods, reproducible tests and software/model licenses.
keywords: MediaTek Genio 520, Neuron NPU, ONNX Runtime, TFLite, LiteRT, Yocto,
BitBake, Docker, ALSA, PipeWire, STT, TTS, quantization, NPU, GPU, edge AI.
Embedded IoT & Firmware Engineering - Confidential Client, 2026-Present
• Developed embedded C firmware for STM32WLE5 battery-powered IoT devices with
shared application code across multiple PCB revisions and hardware targets.
• Developed/reviewed LoRaWAN communications using OTAA, Class B/Class C, uplinks,
event acknowledgments, retries and store-and-forward event queuing.
• Used ChirpStack for LoRaWAN end-device firmware integration testing.
• Integrated NAU7802 load-cell acquisition with TAL220 sensors; implemented tare,
threshold events, configuration persistence and flash storage.
• Designed low-power operating behavior with RTC/GPIO wake and MCU sleep operation.
• Developed and debugged Pervasive Displays e-paper interfaces, fragmented image
transfer, repair, CRC and RLE processing, and hardware diagnostics.
• Maintained multi-configuration builds, test procedures and engineering documents.
keywords: STM32WLE5, STM32, LoRaWAN, ChirpStack, OTAA, Class B, Class C, NAU7802,
TAL220, e-paper, Pervasive Displays, RTC, GPIO, sleep/WFI, CRC, RLE, OTA.
Private Aerospace Launch Vehicle Company (Startup)
Avionics Firmware Engineer (Consulting), July 2020-December 2025
• Developed firmware to collect and transmit flight-computer telemetry from pressure
sensors, RTDs and flight-termination system interfaces.
• Developed Python data-acquisition software to validate flight-computer sensor
interfaces and support hardware qualification for spaceflight.
• Supported flight-computer development from prototype to first vehicle launch.
keywords: C++, Embedded Linux, NI-DAQmx, PetaLinux, Python, telemetry, RTD.
Other Embedded Systems Consulting Projects, 2007-Present
• Engineered Bluetooth interfaces for medical-device prototypes.
• Diagnosed Ethernet PHY addressing on ARM embedded Linux; corrected kernel/drivers.
• Investigated crashes on Samsung ARM11 Debian-based embedded hardware.
• Set up BeagleBone Black / Eclipse development systems for prototype products.
• Developed Debian-based Linux and drivers on TI ARM Cortex-A8 DM3730 modules.
• Customized an OMAP Display Subsystem driver for a TFT LCD panel.
• Developed embedded Linux builds for Freescale i.MX-based products.
• Ported U-Boot and optimized boot time on multiple ARM embedded Linux products.
• Ported Apex and vivi bootloaders and developed ARM kernel and boot configurations.
• Developed JTAG scripts for NAND-flash programming and custom NAND boot code.
• Added USB support to an embedded wireless networking product.
• Diagnosed Raspberry Pi capacitive touchscreen I2C timing using a logic analyzer.
• Ported an STMicroelectronics USB device stack to ARM with FreeRTOS.
• Updated an agricultural GPS product for a new PIC18 MCU and GPS receiver.
• Developed wireless firmware with Semtech 433 MHz radios and PIC18 processors.
• Ported Microchip Graphics Library to a new grayscale PIC24F LCD controller.
• Rewrote embedded USB host code to support common HID/input devices.
• Customized a Microchip HID USB bootloader for a PIC18F industrial device.
• Maintained wireless access-point Linux builds and custom boot scripts (shell/PHP).
• Diagnosed embedded Linux switching, packet filtering and server configuration.
• Integrated software on resource-constrained ARM7 hardware prototypes.
• Reviewed schematics/layouts and supported EMC compliance testing.
Fisher-Price Inc., East Aurora, NY
Project Engineer, November 2004-July 2007
• Developed electronics and ARM7 firmware for multiple consumer products.
• Integrated audio, video, Flash content and MIDI on a multithreaded RTOS.
• Developed USB HID firmware and test programs for 8-bit PSoC microcontrollers.
• Optimized firmware for code size, interrupt response and analog input processing.
keywords: 8-bit, 32-bit, ARM7, C, HID, MIDI, PSoC, RTOS, USB, audio, codec, flash,
signal processing, video, contract manufacturing, EMC.
ATTO Technology, Amherst, NY
Systems Engineer, August 2002-November 2004
• Developed an iSCSI storage-network target in C, then ported it to an embedded
multithreaded Intel XScale platform.
• Developed independent iSCSI protocol test programs and interoperability tests.
• Performed code/design reviews, Ethernet troubleshooting and performance analysis.
• Resolved protocol interoperability issues for commercial storage-network products.
keywords: C, Ethernet, Linux, TCP/IP, UML, XScale, iSCSI, network storage, IETF,
RFC, logic analyzer, multithreading, UNH InterOperability Laboratory.
Sierra Research, Buffalo, NY (now part of DRS Technologies)
Engineer, June 2001-August 2002
• Developed C/C++ networking software and VxWorks device drivers on PowerPC.
• Tested real-time scheduling, serial and Ethernet communication interfaces.
keywords: C, C++, Ethernet, ICD, Linux, Matlab, Perl, PowerPC, RS-232, RS-422,
SLIP, UDP/IP, VxWorks, bash, data-flow, gcc, serial, sockets.
Amherst Systems, Buffalo, NY (now part of Northrop Grumman)
Engineer, December 1997-January 1999; summer 1999
• Developed StrongARM serial interfaces, flash-programming utilities, Unix C UDP
multicast services and embedded hardware diagnostics supporting CEESIM.
keywords: Alpha, C, C++, GPIB, LabWindows CVI, RS-232, StrongARM, TCP/IP, UDP,
VxWorks, gcc, logic analyzer, parallel port, flash programming.
VoCAL Technologies, Ltd., Amherst, NY
DSP Engineer, February 1996-June 1997
• Led development of modem/fax firmware for a Toshiba fixed-point VLIW DSP.
• Designed instruction-set extensions for real-time echo cancellation and
Viterbi decoding.
• Developed a C instruction-set simulator for design and verification of the
proposed extensions before DSP hardware was available.
• The resulting technology was used in commercially sold 33.6 kbps fax machines.
keywords: Toshiba, C, DSP, VLIW, ISA, fixed-point, modem, fax, echo cancellation,
Viterbi, instruction-set simulator, 33.6 kbps, Perl.
Dynamics Research Corp., Tonawanda, NY
Computer Programmer, 1994-1996
• Developed real-time data-acquisition and FFT-based vibration-analysis software.
• Co-inventor of U.S. Patent 5,805,464 covering computerized balancing technology.
keywords: BASIC, C, FFT, LabWindows CVI, balancing, data acquisition, real-time,
vibration analysis, patent.
Education
B.S. Electrical Engineering, University at Buffalo, February 2000.
• Developed audio compression using psychoacoustic techniques in Matlab.
B.S. Mathematics (Applied Mathematics), University at Buffalo, June 1995.
A.S. Engineering Science, Erie Community College, Williamsville, NY, June 1990.
• Awarded Engineering Society of Buffalo scholarship.
