Ajay Raj

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About

Hardware fascinates me, especially in unusual target environments.

I'm privileged to have designed and engineered systems that operate in many contexts, including inside the human body, 30,000 feet in the air, and across millions of phones, computers, and servers.

The perfect pairing of software and hardware is bliss.

+ Philosophy, stack & practice

Design Philosophy: Start from first principles. Bias toward simplicity and correctness. Less is more but don't be cheap.

Stack Preference: Whatever fits the problem. Most at home in C/C++, Python, and Linux.

Practice:

  • Look around corners.
  • Pre-empt pain.
  • Identify investment vs. sunk cost.
  • Write the docs you wish you had.
  • Get it done.

Currently focusing on

  • Intelligent systems under real-world constraints
  • Probabilistic reasoning and adaptive architectures
  • Prototyping physical devices and interfaces on my CNC machine
  • Designing systems that last: anticipating failure modes and how systems evolve over time

I’ve also been studying how models and representations shape system behavior especially when abstractions begin to influence reality more than the underlying system itself. A recent example I’ve been thinking about: sneckdowns.

Recent reads:

  • Gigantic Cinema: A Weather Anthology
  • Thinking In Systems - Donella Meadows

Experience

Philips

Image Guided Therapy Devices

Senior Software Engineer

Del Mar, CA

C/C++ Python FreeRTOS FPGA
  • Owned embedded software architecture for patient interface module and managed all releases for embedded and driver software in Class II IVUS imaging device for cardiovascular and peripheral vascular applications
  • Designed and owned end-to-end integration and testing across software, hardware, and mechanical subsystems
  • Participated in animal studies, EMC/EMI validation, and mechanical usage studies
  • Developed compliant medical device software and documentation (IEC 62304, ISO 13485, FDA)
+ Context
  • Refactored and rebased legacy embedded project into FreeRTOS with event-driven communication architecture for predictable real-time behavior
  • Built diagnostic software and tooling for networking protocol debugging, EEPROM data specification validation, and signal channel matching
  • Updated driver software and optimized device thermals and power consumption
  • Implemented flash filesystem, created recovery builds, and developed memory/CPU profiling functionality
  • Optimized high-voltage control algorithms and safety thresholds for critical patient-facing systems
  • Developed embedded code for Xilinx FPGA platforms (Artix 7, Virtex 6, MicroBlaze RISC) and integrated Verilog IP cores

General Atomics

Aeronautical Systems, Inc.

Software Engineer

Poway, CA

C/C++ Python Docker Avionics
  • Developed avionics flight simulation software for military UAV platforms
  • Contributed to terrain avoidance system and led development of the simulation
  • Coordinated with government/private customers on product requirements
  • Managed Hardware-In-the-Loop Lab for embedded development and testing
+ Context
  • Reviewed all code for Embedded Trainer simulator product before merge
  • Implemented nav sensor, servo, and datalink simulations
  • Developed solutions for 1553 bus communication simulations
  • Led system investigations based on customer feedback and accreditation testing
  • Allocated engineering tasks and budgeted hours based on contract scope
  • Restructured development documentation for simulation group's internal wiki

How I Think

Systems Architecture

I start with the intent, what the product is meant to do, and let that shape the architecture and constraints before focusing on implementation.

I gravitate toward problems that cross abstraction layers, especially when systems get messy and ambiguous.

Hardware & Physical Systems

Working with physical systems shapes how I think about reliability, performance, and tradeoffs.

Embedded systems, prototyping, and fabrication give me a grounded perspective on engineering decisions and real-world behavior.

Intelligent Systems

Increasingly interested in systems that learn, adapt, or reason under uncertainty.

My focus is less on specific frameworks and more on integrating intelligent behavior into larger architectures.

Projects

CNC Machine Build

Purpose-built for device prototyping and hardware development

Designed and built a CNC machine based on the OpenBuilds Sphinx platform for hardware prototyping and device fabrication. Now using it for rapid prototyping of physical products and custom mechanical parts.

CNC/CAM • Mechanical Design • G-code • Hardware Integration

icebergify

15M+ users

Featured on CNET and Lifehacker

Viral Spotify stats visualizer built to handle massive traffic spikes.

Python • Flask • NGINX • Gunicorn • Spotify API

YAVS

Production-ready architecture with Docker orchestration

Full-stack video platform with ML-powered insights. Built end-to-end: video processing pipeline, async task queue, wordcloud generation, and automatic categorization using NLP. Handles concurrent uploads, transcoding, and serves thousands of videos.

View Source →

Python • Django • Spacy • NGINX • PostgreSQL • Redis • Docker

hive-fs

Deep dive into distributed systems and low-level networking for senior design

Peer-to-peer distributed filesystem using DHT and FUSE. Designed the networking layer, consensus protocol, and filesystem interface. Every node shares storage—files automatically replicate and remain accessible even as nodes join/leave.

View Source →

C++ • OpenDHT • FUSE • Distributed Systems

Wireless Plant Research System

Built for university research lab

Custom embedded hardware for botanical research. Integrated GPS, thermal imaging, IR spectrometry, and resistivity sensors into a handheld device. Designed data pipeline: sensor → Arduino → real-time display → geotagged CSV export to research servers.

C • Arduino • Embedded Systems • Hardware Integration
more on github