Design the backbone of a rugged controller

Project Type: Safety-adjacent industrial/mobile controller
Location: East Bay, CA | Engagement: Contract
Seniority: Senior (hands-on design owner)
Pay Range: $80–120 per hour

Your mission

Lead the end-to-end creation of a hardened control module that:

• Drives and manages actuators, fans, and sensors
• Delivers power and communications to downstream electronics
• Establishes a safety-compliant comms bridge between a quad skid and a pack system
• Combines 1G Single Pair Ethernet (1000BASE‑T1), CAN FD, and coordinated MCU/MPU compute

A day in this role

You sketch the power architecture from a robust 48V input through well-sequenced rails, pick the right MCU in LQFP for real-time safety oversight, and integrate a SMARC-based MPU SOM for higher-level tasks. By afternoon, you’re defining a multiport Ethernet switch (BGA ~196 pin, 0.8 mm pitch) topology with a carefully selected PHY and magnetics/CM choke, routing 1000BASE‑T1 with controlled impedance. You validate CAN FD bit rates, termination, and fault confinement basics, and you prove that if the MPU or Ethernet path falters, the MCU gracefully maintains control. Throughout, you think EMC, DFM, thermal, and test—so production goes smoothly.

Core capabilities you bring (hard requirements)

• Embedded power/hardware ownership
  • Architected end-to-end power trees: 48V input to 24V & 5V buck stages and 3V3/1V8/1V1 LDOs
  • Load control via motor drivers and diagnostic high-side drivers (HSDs)
• Industrial/automotive networking
  • CAN FD bring-up, bus diagnostics, bit rate setup, termination, and CRC/fault confinement fundamentals
  • 1000BASE‑T1 PHY selection, appropriate magnetics/CM choke, and impedance-controlled layout
  • Integrated a multiport Ethernet switch (BGA ~196 pin, 0.8 mm pitch)
• Compute & SoC integration
  • MCU (LQFP) for real-time control and safety supervision
  • MPU SOM (SMARC carrier) integration: power sequencing, boot, peripherals, and Linux/RTOS coordination
  • MCU↔MPU links via SPI/UART/CAN‑FD (bonus: iso SPI, I²C, JTAG bring-up)
• Schematic/PCB & layout for EMC
  • 4–8 layer boards with high-current paths, star grounds, and split analog/digital domains
  • Impedance-controlled routing for 1000BASE‑T1 and high-speed SPI
  • DFM with BGA fan-out, power/thermal design, and strategic test points
• Safety & reliability mindset
  • Hardware watchdogs; brownout/UVLO/OVP; reverse polarity; surge/transient protection
  • Graceful degradation: MCU retains control if MPU/Ethernet fails

Bonus strengths

• Familiarity with ISO13485/14971/26262, IEC61508, CISPR/EMC pre-compliance
• Galvanic isolation for CAN/ISOSPI
• Thermal analysis and enclosure-level EMI design for motor loads
• Linux driver bring-up on SOMs; PMIC boot sequencing
• Production test fixtures: JTAG/SWD, boundary scan, automated functional test

What you’ll own

• System architecture across power, compute, comms, and IO
• Selection of MCU, MPU SOM, Ethernet switch & PHYs, buck/LDO, HSDs, motor drivers, ADCs/DACs, and IO expanders
• Schematics, layout guidance, and design reviews in partnership with PCB layout
• Bring-up and validation: power sequencing; CAN FD and 1000BASE‑T1 buses; motor/fan control; sensor IO
• MCU-governed safety behaviors and fault tolerance
• Production-ready docs: BOM, test plans, power budgets, and interface control documents

Timing

START ASAP!