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1999-2001Research Fellow · satellite systems

INPE: Satellite Communication Systems

Linux kernel drivers for satellite communication testing hardware at Brazil's National Space Research Institute. 99.5% accuracy. Ranked 1st among 40 researchers.

Kernel code that talks to satellites has no room for error

3
kernel drivers
99.5%
signal accuracy
1st
of 40 fellows
19
years old

The role

INPE is Brazil’s National Space Research Institute. It runs the country’s space program, satellite operations, and Earth observation systems. I joined as a Research Fellow at 19.

What I built

Delivered

  • Required:
    3 Linux kernel drivers for satellite comm hardware99.5% accuracy in signal processing and validation.
  • Required:
    Low-level C interfacing with custom hardware boardsUsed in satellite ground-station testing.
  • Required:
    Diagnostic and calibration toolsFor the communication testing pipeline.
  • Required:
    Ranked 1st among 40 research fellowsDistinction from an ITA-trained professor (Brazil's MIT for aerospace).

Where the bar was set

I was 19, earning about $50 a month, walking 12km on some days to reach the lab. INPE gave me something no salary could buy: the certainty that in space, a failed signal is not a bug you patch.

Get it right before it ships, or it doesn’t ship. There is no patch in orbit. That conviction started here, and it never left.

Stack

  • C
  • Linux Kernel
  • Hardware Drivers