Our OSS software consultant/Architect

Ben has over the past months been working on a software development (Debian focussed) at Kion Mobile Automation in Belgium (May ’24 to October ’24).

He implemented a server appliance VM-based on Apertis OS and Cockpit and was also participating in the implementation of an Azure CI builds of VM images for QEMU and WSL 2.

This recent assignment has come to an end now and he is readily available to complement your inhouse software engineering team!

He has a very strong technical background in Debian, Linux kernel, C programming, etc. for which he is appreciated in the Mind team and amongst our customers.

Skills & competences:

• C
• Python
• Linux kernel deep expertise
• Debian packaging
• Git
• Shell scripting
• Perl
• Open source software (OSS) development

Want to know more?  ask for his resume via info@mind.be

Professional attitude

Over the past months, Ben hasl also supported internally our EPS-division (for our SafeTrack collision avoidance solution – forklift safety).  Our R&D Director asked to investigate specific issues with Wi-Fi roaming and to experiment with changes to scanning and roaming policies in wpasupplicant.

Other technical challenges in which Ben played a crucial role were, amongst others, in following domains:

Nobi – a manufacturer of ‘smart lighting solution (Belgium):

• Implemented sparse Fastboot image generation in Yocto, to speed up image deployment.
• Completed integration of Mender software upgrades with a new device.
• Identified and backported fixes for systemd journal management on devices without a real-time clock
• Investigated and fixed a memory leak in a proprietary application.

Septentrio, high-accuracy GNSS receivers & inertial systems for demanding industrial applications (Belgium-based)

• Contributed to the current PolaRx5 operating system and build configurations.
• Investigated the state of the current kernel based on Linux 3.14 and determined whether its IPv6 implementation was missing features or bug fixes that would be important for this device.
• Updated the kernel and build configurations and boot scripts to enable IPv6 functionality.
• Wrote a test plan for this functionality, including operation in different network environments such as dual-stack vs IPv6-only, and with or without DHCPv6.
• Assisted Septentrio developers in identifying areas of the application firmware and SBF that need to be updated to add support for IPv6.

A US-based aerospace company:

• Debugged and resolved race conditions in kernel drivers and an application.
• Debugged and mitigated an issue in DDR RAM training.

A Belgium-based telco organisation:

• Integrated SWUpdate with a vendor’s BSP and with other parts of the software stack.
• Completed configuration of their core software on a new device.
• Implemented changes to SWUpdate to allow for greater extensibility in Lua, and contributed those upstream.

Having that history evolving to embedded linux engineering I started to work as a consultant for Mind since 2020. Since then I have been working for various clients on various projects. I am happy to carry my knowledge and experience to clients and still learn their methodology and techniques developing embedded systems. I have to admit here that I am a quick learner.

I am mastering my open source skills with diverse teams learning how differently they benefit from the same tools which makes me extremely happy. I also meet a lot of new colleagues and build good communication bonds with them.

A large variety of deep technical roles, that is the comfort zone of Ben in Mind our expert team!