Sandeep Lokala

Firmware and software developer with 13+ years building C/C++ firmware for microcontrollers and hardware applications, owning systems from requirements and architecture through development, testing, and field support at Apple, Qualcomm, Intel, Zeku, and Schneider Electric.

Robotics: helping architect the embedded system behind a lab-automation gantry and robotic arm at VRNDA Labs, including stepper motor control and CAN bus and RS-485 interfaces to replaceable instruments.

Embedded hardware and firmware: bare-metal and RTOS-based firmware, UART, I2C, CAN, and RS-485 communication, and prototype bring-up and troubleshooting with oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, JTAG, and Lauterbach TRACE32.

Testing and documentation: Python test and regression frameworks, integration and validation testing, and clear specifications, interface definitions, and technical documentation.

Field and client support: resolved issues on-site with partners in Japan; mentors engineers and delivers hands-on technical training.

Principal Embedded Systems Consultant at Lokala Consulting (2024-08 – Present)

• Robotic arm control: advise VRNDA Labs on embedded control architecture for wet-lab robotics, including stepper motor control for robotic-arm motion and wireless coordination across distributed instruments.
• Instrument interfaces: architect CAN bus and RS-485 communication between the robotic arm and replaceable lab instruments, allowing instruments to be swapped and integrated without reworking the control system.
• IoT sensing: define embedded and IoT sensing strategy for Entoq Environmental Technologies (Executive Vice President), including evaluation of low-power wireless sensor options.
• Mentor engineers through hands-on embedded systems training and provide hardware technical due diligence for Creative Destruction Lab.

Senior Firmware Engineer at Schneider Electric (2023-07 – 2024-01)

• Industrial communications: developed embedded C microcontroller firmware for wired and wireless communication links in PLC-based embedded power systems.
• Debugged firmware and peripheral issues hands-on on target hardware, working with hardware and systems engineers through integration and validation.

Senior Staff Engineer, Firmware at Zeku (2021-07 – 2023-06)

• Prototype drivers: developed SerDes device drivers for FPGA validation boards and used HAPS prototyping to bring up and validate firmware ahead of first silicon.
• Architected and developed 5G radio transmitter microcontroller firmware in C on an ARM multi-core SoC running the ThreadX RTOS.
• Defined the HW/SW interface for new custom RF ICs with silicon design teams, used DMA engines, and provided memory subsystem requirements.

Senior Firmware Engineer at Apple Inc. (2019-12 – 2021-06)

• Bare-metal firmware: designed and implemented fixed-point PLL frequency-calibration firmware in embedded C for a bare-metal microcontroller for the iPhone wireless chipset.
• Hardware debug: validated the firmware on the Palladium emulation platform, then brought it up on prototype hardware using JTAG and Lauterbach TRACE32, root-causing issues across silicon, RF, and firmware.
• Carried the firmware from prototype builds through product validation with hardware, RF, and systems teams.

Firmware Developer at Intel Corporation (2016-02 – 2019-11)

• Bare-metal peripheral control: developed bare-metal microcontroller firmware to configure and control RF front-end devices over the MIPI RFFE serial bus.
• Supported and debugged receive and transmit path firmware on emulation platforms and on silicon, using oscilloscopes and logic analyzers alongside JTAG and Lauterbach TRACE32.
• Python testing: built Python and Perl automated test frameworks for firmware validation and regression.

Modem Verification & Firmware Engineer at Qualcomm (2011-05 – 2015-11)

• Developed real-time microcontroller firmware for LTE and CDMA modem transmitter paths, interfacing directly to modem hardware.
• Debugged runtime issues on the QuRT RTOS using JTAG, oscilloscopes, and logic analyzers, and performed FPGA-based pre-silicon verification of modem IP.
• Resolved interoperability issues on-site at KDDI Labs, Japan, working with carrier and hardware partners.

Network Technician at CCIT, Clemson University (2009-12 – 2011-03)

• Deployed campus IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi networks and Cisco network switches, worked on Layer 2 and Layer 3 networking and QoS, and conducted wireless site surveys.

Wireless Researcher at CCIT, Clemson University (2008-06 – 2010-01)

• Researched IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi network protocols through NS2 network simulation with Tcl/Tk.

MS in Electrical Engineering – Clemson University (2009)

Master of Business Administration in MBA – UBC Sauder School of Business (2026)

BTech in Electronics & Communication Engineering – Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (JNTU) (2006)