Automation Research Group

Capabilities

Firmware & Software

From bare-metal C to cloud-connected embedded systems, the full stack, owned in-house.

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What We Do

Four disciplines. One team.

Microcontroller Firmware

Embedded C for ARM Cortex, Renesas, STMicro. FreeRTOS, VxWorks. In-house BSPs, device drivers, and OTA update pipelines.

FPGA & DSP

In-house Xilinx IP, 25+ years of combined team FPGA experience: digital filters, FFT engines, high-speed comms blocks. Vivado/ISE through Zynq SoCs.

Cloud & IoT

AWS IoT Core, MQTT, custom OEM dashboards and REST APIs. From on-device storage to real-time cloud sync.

Protocols & Connectivity

Industrial: Modbus, CANopen, EtherCAT. Wireless: BLE 5.x, LTE-M/NB-IoT. Power-line: G3-PLC, HPGP.

Capability Detail

What we bring to your project.

A look at what we bring to your firmware and software engagement.

Microcontroller Firmware

  • Embedded C for Microchip/Atmel, Renesas, STMicro, ARM Cortex processors
  • UART, SPI, I2C, CAN, Ethernet, A/D, D/A peripheral drivers, in-house source library
  • Bluetooth LE, Ethernet, Zigbee, Cellular and wireless protocol stacks
  • FreeRTOS, TinyRTOS, VxWorks, 16/32-bit RTOS implementations
  • In-house device drivers and board support packages (BSPs)

FPGA IP

  • 25+ years of combined team experience developing Xilinx FPGA, SoC, and CPLD IP
  • Digital filters, FFT engines, and high-speed data storage IP
  • CANopen, RS232, SPI and custom digital communications IP
  • Mathworks System Generator for Xilinx Zynq SoCs, model-based HDL generation

Operating Systems

  • FreeRTOS, TinyRTOS, VxWorks on bare-metal ARM and RISC-V targets
  • Linux, Debian and Yocto on ARM cores (ATSAM9x, i.MX, BeagleBone)
  • Bootloader development and secure OTA firmware update pipelines
  • Cloud connectivity, MQTT, AWS IoT Core, custom OEM dashboards

Software Development

  • Visual Studio C#, desktop and Windows-based instrument control GUIs
  • Java and Python, server-side and data processing applications
  • Matlab / Simulink, model-based code generation for control algorithms
  • REST APIs and cloud back-end integration for IoT data pipelines

Tool Chains

  • IAR Embedded Workbench, Keil MDK, STM32CubeIDE, MPLAB X
  • Xilinx Vivado / ISE for FPGA synthesis and simulation
  • J-Link, ST-Link, PICKit, in-house debuggers and programmers
  • Git version control with CI/CD pipelines for firmware releases

Protocols & Connectivity

  • Industrial: Modbus RTU/TCP, CANopen, J1939, EtherCAT
  • Wireless: BLE 5.x, Wi-Fi (ESP32, Nordic), Cellular LTE-M / NB-IoT
  • Power line: G3-PLC, HPGP for smart grid and building automation
  • Nordic nRF91 / nRF52 series, ARG has production-deployed modules

Frequently Asked

Firmware & software, common questions

Do you take firmware-only engagements, or only full-product builds?

Both. Firmware is one discipline in our full-stack, in-house development, but we also take standalone firmware and software engagements: board bring-up, device drivers, connectivity stacks, and cloud/OTA integration on hardware you already have.

Which microcontrollers, RTOSes, and toolchains do you work with?

STMicro (STM32), Microchip/Atmel, Nordic nRF52/nRF91, Renesas, and ARM Cortex broadly, bare-metal, FreeRTOS, or embedded Linux (Debian/Yocto). Toolchains include STM32CubeIDE, IAR, Keil MDK, and MPLAB X, with Git-based CI/CD for firmware releases.

Can you add cloud connectivity and over-the-air (OTA) updates?

Yes. We build production cellular (LTE-M/NB-IoT), Wi-Fi, and BLE connectivity with AWS IoT Core / MQTT back-ends and signed, resumable OTA update pipelines, the same modules run in ARG products today.

Who owns the firmware IP, us or ARG?

You do. On client engagements the intellectual property is yours, start to finish.

Can you rescue or take over existing firmware?

Yes. We regularly port, debug, and productionize firmware started elsewhere, bringing bench-working code up to a manufacturable, tested, and certifiable release.

Ready to accelerate your firmware development?

Tell us about your product and we’ll scope the engagement.

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Further reading: What AI-augmented engineering actually looks like here, how we reuse firmware across products and keep quality high with agent-assisted schematic and code review.