Staff

Stephanie Lockwood-Childs - Linux Drivers/Applications/Linux Security

Stephanie has over 10 years experience in Linux OS programming for desktop machines, servers, and embedded systems. She has strong experience in kernel drivers, having written drivers for a wide variety of devices such as a touchscreen, an analog-to-digital card, a high-speed digital I/O card, an SPI bus, an embedded SCSI disk controller, an embedded serial port, an eeprom, a PCI bridge chip, and various drivers for project-specific hardware implemented in FPGAs. Stephanie also develops Linux applications in C, Python, and Unix shell, including network applications, embedded applications, and CGI web applications. She is comfortable with a variety of Linux build tools and installation methods and enjoys troubleshooting Linux system and networking problems. She also is experienced in the area of Linux security, including security hardening for Linux-based network appliances and firewalls and DoD STIG compliance for Linux workstations and servers. Stephanie has a BA in physics from Westmont College, a BS in Electrical and Computer Engineering from UCSB, and a PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering with an emphasis in Imaging Systems and minor in Computer Architecture, also from UCSB.

Ron Lockwood-Childs - Diagnostics/Linux Software/Firmware

Ron has over 14 years of experience in embedded development, from FPGA firmware to boot loaders to diagnostics and Linux application development — all stages of board bring-up and testing. He is proficient with VHDL simulation test benches, logic analyzers, oscilloscopes, JTAG testing tools, GDB, and other tools of the trade for debugging both hardware and software on embedded devices. He utilizes various hardware and software languages for low-level testing and analysis, such as VHDL, assembly, C, shell scripts, and Ruby. His experience spans the major 32-bit architectures: PowerPC, ARM, MIPS, XScale, and of course Intel. He has released as Open Source Software “ppcdiags”, a standalone diagnostics software package that runs without an OS on PowerPC embedded boards. At a higher level, he has worked on a team to develop Linux software, for example device drivers, CGI software, image capture, and printer support. Ron has a BS in Electrical and Computer Engineering from UCSB.

Jon Miller - Digital Design/Firmware

Jon has been designing and implementing computer solutions for over 30 years. He started in the era of the ARPANET at UC Santa Barbara in the late 60’s developing pre-UNIX operating systems and voice-related signal processing. He has extensive experience in the design and implementation of computer peripherals, especially Winchester technology disk drives and interfaces and factory test systems. He has implemented numerous control systems utilizing embedded processors for a variety of applications such as laser interferometer positioning and telemetry spectral analysis. He has created network interface circuitry using various processors of 8/16/32-bits with various real-time OS’s including TargetOS, ThreadX, and Linux for high speed communications. During the course of these projects he has utilized various FPGA families with frequencies approaching 1GHz. He completed the BSEE and MSEE degrees at UC Santa Barbara and holds one patent for serial-controlled SCSI test networks.

Donald Burr - System and Network Troubleshooting/Web Programming/Mobile App Development/Customer Support and Training

Donald has been a system administrator and software developer for over 25 years. He is familiar with Linux, Apple, BSD and Microsoft systems. Donald is a skilled network administrator and troubleshooter. He is also well experienced in technical writing, including technical training courses. In addition to his software work, he has assembled and debugged the hardware for many computer systems. At ZYNX Networks, Donald was a network troubleshooter, as well as developing test and debug software. While in the systems administration group for a large development project at Lockheed Martin, in addition to working extensively in developing and implementing installation procedures he analyzed security requirements for Linux systems and wrote software to implement improved security. He has worked on many embedded Linux based hardware projects, and regularly works with various embedded environments including Buildroot and Yocto. As part of one embedded project he has also built web based frontends and backends using Python and jQuery; in addition he is also quite familiar with other web technologies including PHP, Perl, MySQL and Ruby on Rails. Donald is actively involved with the Open Source community and has been a FreeBSD developer since 1998. Lately he has gotten into mobile app development, and is well versed in the iOS, Android and WebOS platforms.

Noel Lockwood - Database/Software Applications/Technical Writing

Noel is a senior software engineer with over 30 years experience in a wide variety of languages, platforms, and applications for numerous defense and commercial projects. He is also a skilled technical writer and editor. He has strong experience in the areas of scientific, database, and embedded application programming. He enjoys learning new languages (both human and computer), and has programmed in a large number of languages including C, C++, Java, Fortran, Cobol, Basic, Prolog, Python, Perl, Unix shell, SQL, PL/SQL, SAS, and various assembly languages. He is a long-time Linux user, and a founding member of the Santa Barbara Linux Users Group who gives presentations on topics such as perl, python, and databases with Linux support. Noel is a graduate of UCLA in mathematics.

Tom King - Analog and Digital Design, Telecommunications, Radar, Embedded Systems

Tom has worked in electronics design, implementation and troubleshooting for over 30 years. He has strong analog skills, both in circuit design and hands-on in the lab or in the field, but also has worked extensively with digital technology, particularly with embedded systems. In his embedded work he has been responsible for developing software and firmware, in addition to his usual hardware duties.

His radio work involves installing and maintaining radio, television and satellite communication stations. His work covers small signal high frequency interfaces up to large-scale uninterruptible power sources, as well high-speed packetized data links and continuous analog channels using various modulation schemes. It also involves establishing remote control through the use of embedded Linux systems at the various transmitter and receiver mountain top sites.

His embedded projects include, for example, designing and implementing an Internet kiosk for weather information, using a touch-screen interface. This system has been successfully deployed outside in marinas to provide current weather information to sailors.

Crystal Lockwood - Graphic Design/Web Master

Crystal has worked in the field of graphic art and website design for over 10 years. Her web designs are enhanced by digital photography and custom graphics. She has a keen sense of color and design, and is known for careful attention to detail. In addition to web design, Crystal participates in product development and marketing by creating icons, product logos, and product illustrations. She also produces company logos, business cards, and letterheads. Crystal’s professional attitude and responsiveness to customer input make her a pleasure to work with. Crystal has a BA in Art from Westmont College.

Hua Lee - Algorithms Consultant

Hua is a Professor at the Electrical and Computer Engineering department at UCSB. His research interests cover the areas of imaging system optimization, high-performance image formation algorithms, synthetic-aperture radar and sonar systems, acoustic microscopy, microwave nondestructive evaluation, and dynamic vision systems. His research laboratory was the first to produce the holographic and tomographic reconstructions from a scanning laser acoustic microscope, and his research team is also known as the leader in pulse-echo microwave nondestructive evaluation of civil structures and materials.