Experience

Juniper Networks, Cupertino, CA

(Mist Systems acquired by Juniper Networks)
Jul 2024 – Present

Software Engineering Director

Dec 2021 – Jun 2024

Software Engineering Sr Manager, AP Firmware

  • Manage a global team of 7 engineers to architect, design, and implement:
    • Marvis Minis - an always on framework to proactively validate user networks
    • Mesh and Client Bridge on all Access Points
    • Local distribution of 11r keys to allow for faster and seamless roaming
    • Cloud based power tables to better handle regulatory changes of wireless networks
  • Oversee the bring up of the AP24 and AP64 Wi-Fi 6e Access Points
  • Lead a multi-company collaboration to introduce support for Electronic Shelf Labels (ESL) on the Mist Platform
  • Leverage FIPS experiences to build a FedRAMP compliant Upgrade Service and EndPoint Terminator
  • Liasion between the AP Firmware team and the Hardware, Cloud, Data Science, and Location Teams which results in
    • Improved Manufacturing workflows for all Access Points
    • Reduced cloud cost by intelligently reporting stats and events for the Data Science team to process in Marvis
    • Introduction of new locationing and BLE technologies, such as AP to AP Locationing and Battery-Less beacons
Apr 2019 – Dec 2021

Senior Staff Software Engineer, AP Firmware

  • Team Lead for the bring up of the AP45 & AP34
  • Cloud driven Access Point Upgrades
    • Systemic improvements to all Cloud to AP upgrades
    • Productized Peer to Peer AP upgrades
      • Successfully upgraded over 5000 APs at a site using a single seed
  • Architect for AP FIPS Development
    • Designed, Implemented and Verified a FIPS (140-2) Certified Access Point
    • Firmware improvements to allow for crypto and firmware self validation on demand as well as on system boot
    • Implemented an SP800-90B Compliant HWRNG Device Driver based on the ATECC608A TPM
  • Designed, Implemented and Patented a method for conveying AP error codes over BLE advertisements
  • Firmware stability and scalability improvements including, but not limited to
    • Automatic recovery from bad configuration
    • Prevent booting into unreliable, or bad, firmware partitions
  • Created a Wireless Hardware Abstraction Layer to simplify application development across the 802.11ac and 802.11ax family of APs

Mist Systems, Cupertino, CA

Nov 2016 – Present

Member of Technical Staff, AP Firmware

  • Technical Lead for BLE related development on the Access Point
    • Development of firmware on the Mist family of wireless access points for all BLE related functionality, including, but not limited to
      • interleaving of Mist’s patented vBLE, iBeacon, Eddystone-UID, and Eddystone-URL BLE beacon frame formats
      • scanning as well as advertising together, to allow functionality such as way-finding and asset tracking to run in conjunction
      • packet decoding to facilitate BLE passive analytics
      • power control for transmission of the BLE Signal from the Access Point
    • Design and prototyping of BLE functionality on the Nordic nRF52 family using Zephyr
    • Research in passive analytics of BLE devices including decoding of standard as well as proprietary BLE advertisements
  • WiFi threat detection and mitigation for
    • Rogue access points and clients
    • HoneyPots
  • Implemented mechanisms and new messaging schemes to reduce load on the cloud based micro-services while reporting information from the access points such as
    • BloomFilter based filtering on Connected Wireless Clients and BLE Assets of Interest
    • Creation of new, smaller kafka topics to reduce load on cloud based subscribers
  • Work closely with the factory for device certification and to facilitate ease of manufacturing

Blue Clover Devices, San Francisco, CA

July 2015 – Nov 2016

Senior Firmware Engineer, Internet of Things R&D

  • Firmware development of an Apple HomeKit (WiFi) compliant, IoT environmental mult-sensor (iHome ISS50) for the home
    • Implemented Device Drivers for Ambient Light, Motion, Temperature & Humidity Sensors as well as for the LCD Panel and Display Backlight
    • Created an algorithm to automatically adjust the backlight based on ambient light
    • Worked with the Hardware team to calibrate temperature, humidity and light readings
    • Held regular meetings with the customer to gather requirements, and subsequently to report on the project status
  • Initiated and Created an open-source GoLang based tool to help with BLE device development which can
    • Scan for all devices advertising in the area, and connect to them
    • Connect to specific devices and creates an XML as well as human readable summary of services and characteristics supported by the BLE device
    • Compare BLE interface design with implementation to detect inconsistencies
  • Designed and implemented the Firmware and BLE Interface and for a smart lamp

Alcatel-Lucent, Mountain View, CA

September 2009 – July 2015

Senior Staff Engineer, IP Division (Mobile Group)

  • Led the design and development of the session manager for the Alcatel-Lucent GGSN.
  • Designed and developed UE initiated call flows, at the Gn interface, viz. Create, Update, and Delete of PDP Contexts, handovers (inter and intra SGSN), support for bearer binding (without and without PCRF support), and triggers for accounting (at the Ga interface).
  • Led the design and implementation of Lawful Intercept (LI) support for the GGSN, SGW, and PGW, including support for all Intercept Related Information (IRI) messages on the Control Plane
  • Designed and developed handling of Time-Of-Day support for policy rule installation when signaled from the PCRF
  • Implemented a DNS based white-listing mechanism on the PGW and GGSN to divert traffic for Deep Packet Inspection (DPI)
  • Add support for handling of Gx Time of Day Procedures for the PGW and GGSN, processing extremely high scale messaging between various modules on the control and data planes.
  • Developed a message batching mechanism to reduce the latency in messaging between the control and data planes for the SGW, PGW, and the GGSN.
  • Added support for handling the Protocol Configuration Options (PCO) at the PGW and the GGSN.

Cisco Systems Inc, San Jose, CA

June 2008 – September 2009

Software Engineer (Mobility Services and Location Engineering) Wireless and Security Technology Group

  • Designed the network calibration tool on the Wireless Control System (WCS) to improve location accuracy on WiFi Networks.
  • Added support for Network Mobility Services Protocol (NMSP) version 2 on the Mobility Services Engine (MSE) to improve the accuracy of indoor wireless location. Collaborated with the Cisco Wireless LAN Controller team to ensure the protocol changes were seamless to the overall system.
  • Improved the overall usability of the location aspects of the WCS.
  • Created and tested a demo iPhone application to show the basic alarm dashboard of the WCS. This was demonstrated at the Cisco Global Sales Meeting, 2008.

Apple Inc, Cupertino, CA

May 2007 – August 2007

Engineering Intern, Exploratory Design Group

Developed a prototype command and event mechanism for seamless network handover between IEEE 802.11, Ethernet, and HSDPA networks based on the draft IEEE 802.21 standard.

Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, Bangalore, India

July 2004 – July 2006

Assistant Systems Engineer, Wireless Communications R&D

  • Led the research on Game Theory and its applications to Medium Access issues in Wireless Communications.
  • Conducted research on various aspects of the IEEE 802.15.3 and IEEE 802.15.4 standards to develop an adaptive personal network.
  • Developed simulation environment in ns2 for simulating 802.15.3 and 802.15.4 based WPANs which was demonstrated at International Wireless Summit 2005, Aalborg, Denmark in September 2005, and at the MOCCA-WWI symposium at Paris in December 2005.
  • Developed the Medium Access Control (MAC) layer of the IEEE 802.15.3 standard.