Optical Communications Software Engineer - Modem Integration
- Compensation
- Not disclosed
- Location
- Pleasanton, CA
- Work setup
- Not specified
- Seniority
- Not specified
- Employment
- Full time
- Experience
- Not specified
- Category
- Software engineering
- Posted
Skills
Must have
- A bachelor’s or advanced degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience, and at least three years of modem integration
- Strong C/C++ skills and experience developing and debugging software on Linux or real-time embedded platforms.
- Hands-on experience integrating communications hardware and debugging hardware/software interfaces using logs, telemetry, protocol captures, and laboratory measurements.
- Experience using Python or a similar language for test automation and data analysis, with working knowledge of communications performance measurements.
- U.S. citizenship.
Nice to have
- Experience with SDA OCT standards, compliant optical terminals, or modem and terminal interoperability testing.
- Experience with COMET or other optical communications modems, including configuration, telemetry, and host integration.
- Experience with free-space or fiber-optic communications, including optical link budgets, receiver sensitivity, and the effects of changing received power.
- Familiarity with communications or modem DSP, including modulation, synchronization, framing, forward error correction, or equalization.
- Experience integrating software with FPGA-based systems, including register interfaces and data paths.
- Experience validating link state machines and fault recovery through hardware-in-the-loop testing or field demonstrations on mobile platforms.
Full description
Optical Communications Software Engineer – Modem Integration
Bright Silicon Technologies | Pleasanton, CA | Full time
About the Role
Bright Silicon Technologies (BST) develops precision optical systems built around our Lightfield Directing Array (LDA), a MEMS micromirror array for fast, precise control of light. Our OCTANE free-space optical communications terminal brings together free-space optics, fiber-based photonics, and communications hardware to enable high-bandwidth links between ground and airborne platforms.
We’re looking for a software engineer to own modem integration and communications software for OCTANE. You’ll build the software that configures and monitors our (expected to be a COMET) modem, connects it to the terminal’s data interfaces, and manages link operation and recovery. Working with our photonics, firmware, controls, and hardware engineers, you’ll take a working laboratory system toward reliable outdoor and mobile operation, targeting Space Development Agency (SDA) interoperability.
What you’ll do
- Own modem software integration for our free space optical communications terminal. Develop C/C++ software for modem configuration, telemetry, host interfaces, network interface and data transfer.
- Define software interfaces and acceptance criteria, including applicable SDA Optical Communications Terminal (OCT) requirements. Coordinate link states and timing with pointing, acquisition, and tracking (PAT) software.
- Implement link state machines, startup and shutdown sequences, fault handling, and recovery after fades or interruptions.
- Build Python tools and automated bench and hardware-in-the-loop tests. Measure throughput, latency, packet loss, and bit error rate to verify link performance.
- Troubleshoot problems across software, embedded interfaces, modem behavior, interfaces with the next level up in the network, and optical performance
What we’re looking for
- A bachelor’s or advanced degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience, and at least three years of modem integration and communications software development experience.
- Strong C/C++ skills and experience developing and debugging software on Linux or real-time embedded platforms.
- Hands-on experience integrating communications hardware and debugging hardware/software interfaces using logs, telemetry, protocol captures, and laboratory measurements.
- Experience using Python or a similar language for test automation and data analysis, with working knowledge of communications performance measurements.
- U.S. citizenship.
Nice to have
- Experience with SDA OCT standards, compliant optical terminals, or modem and terminal interoperability testing.