Michael K.

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Los Angeles Metropolitan Area

About

10+ years of experience designing software and hardware for a variety of products, ranging from experimental aerospace/defense prototypes to mass produced professional/consumer cameras.

Experience

  • Principal Systems Engineer at Amazon
    Apr 2018 - Dec 2025 · 7 yrs 9 mos

    - Led the research, development, and delivery of mmWave sensors found in Ring's flagship security camera products - Researches, evaluates, and develops prototypes/proof-of-concepts for emerging or novel technologies that will distinguish next-generation Ring products from the competition. - Evaluates various SoCs/DSPs related to Wi-Fi connectivity, video processing, sensing and more.

  • Sr. Systems Engineer at Ring
    Sep 2017 - Sep 2021 · 4 yrs 1 mo

    - Constantly enhancing the experience for our Neighbors by improving functionality of and architecting future generations of Ring's cloud-connected cameras. Touching on WiFi connectivity, A/V quality, motion detection, and overall system stability.

  • Computer/Electronics Engineer at Optical Physics Company
    Oct 2014 - Aug 2017 · 2 yrs 11 mos

    OPC delivers prototypes for various DoD and aerospace contracts. OPC has unique, proprietary technologies which push the accuracy/performance limits far beyond those of their traditional counterparts. - Was the lead developer of a spaceflight-ready star-tracking camera. Designed and implemented image processing algorithms for raw-image cleanup and star detection, star identification algorithms, calibration algorithms for camera nonlinearities/non-uniformities and optical distortions, and the messaging protocol between the camera and host platform (NASA satellite) (MATLAB, C/C++, LabView, Mathcad, Altera Quartus/Cyclone V FPGA SoC, Linux) - Designed and tuned control loops for various projects related to object tracking, long-distance laser-communication, and high-energy laser propagation (Fast Steering/Deformable Mirrors, Wavefront Sensors, Motor Controllers, Position Sensing Detectors) - Built a spectrophotometer by rigging up a monochromator, optical chopper, and photodetector to a computer with control/data acquisition software and created a user-friendly GUI for a lab technician to run the system with and collect data on various samples

  • Camera Design Engineer at Motion Analysis Corporation
    Mar 2013 - Jun 2014 · 1 yr 4 mos

    MAC provides commercial grade motion capture systems for movie studios, game designers, broadcast organizations, sports clinics, and many more. The system is based upon many retro-reflective marker spheres placed on an actor (human or otherwise) and an array of smart cameras with IR illuminators placed around the 3D scene. - Was responsible for porting proprietary algorithms related to blob detection and centroiding to a new hardware platform. This project also involved implementing new hardware interfaces at a very low level relating to capturing and transferring high-resolution image data at very fast frame rates. (Xilinx Zynq FPGA SoC, SERDES Operations, VHDL/Verilog, LVDS alignment, AXI bus) - Verified schematic designs, and vetted PCB layout design for signal integrity of high-speed signals. (OrCAD) - Patched bugs and implemented new features in existing products. - Analyzed and optimized illumination patterns of IR LED arrays. - Identified and sourced lenses to match specific applications.

  • Research Assistant at California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology
    Sep 2008 - Dec 2012 · 4 yrs 4 mos

    Calit2 is a collection of multidisciplinary research labs, spread across the UCSD and UC Irvine campuses, which serve as a bridge between academia and industry. - Designed an OFDM transceiver in Simulink and successfully deployed it in FPGAs with high-speed ADCs and DACs. Demonstrated reliable performance across a wireless channel using 16-PSK modulation. - Designed a digital-pre-distortion system and implemented it in an FPGA. Showed linearization of a non-ideal RF poweramplifier. - Built a system for envelope tracking to reduce power consumption of radio transmitters. - Contributed to the design of a personnel tracking system based on RFID tags placed around a building. Personnel would carry a portable embedded system which would scan continuously for tags while communicating on a Wi-Fi network to report the detected location of the scanner. - PCB layout and schematic design in EAGLE.