$ whoami

JOSH LUNN

Principal Embedded Engineer · Engineering Manager

Billings, MT

Embedded software engineer and technical leader with 19+ years of experience delivering production firmware and embedded Linux platforms across defense, IoT, and consumer electronics. Proven track record building and scaling engineering teams while staying hands-on from prototype through volume manufacturing.

19+
years experience
10+
engineers led
250K+
devices fielded
$3M+
annual revenue managed

> expertise

Domain Knowledge

[EL]

Embedded Linux

BuildrootYoctoU-BootLinux KernelDevice TreeBSP Developmenti.MX6Rockchip RVV4L2GStreamer
[FW]

Bare Metal & RTOS

FreeRTOSNucleus RTOSSTM32ESP32ARM Cortex-M/ARISC-VC / C++JTAG / SWD DebuggingBoard Bring-Up
[RF]

Wireless & IoT

BLEWiFiLoRa / LoRaWANCellular / LTESub-GHz MeshMQTTAWS IoT CoreeSIM / LPAI2C · SPI · UART · USB
[AI]

Edge AI & Vision

TensorFlow LiteYOLOv8OpenCVISP Tuning (3A)ARM NPUHardware Video EncodingPyTorchXGBoost
[EM]

Engineering Leadership

Team Management (10+)DoD / SBIR ContractsODM / JDM CoordinationAgile / ScrumCode ReviewCI / CDHiring & MentoringSchematic Review

> projects

Selected Work

Trail Camera Platform

Tactacam

Portable embedded Linux platform enabling rapid SoC migration across product lines. Custom fast boot pipeline achieves sub-300ms cold boot to full-resolution image capture.

Embedded LinuxBuildrootU-BootAWS IoTeSIM / LPAEdge AIARM NPUISP Tuning

RV1126B Camera System

Personal Project

End-to-end embedded Linux camera built on Rockchip RV1126. Sony IMX415 4K sensor, hardware JPEG via RKmpp, zero-copy DMA-BUF pipeline, LTE modem, and MQTT cloud publishing.

Rockchip RV1126Sony IMX415V4L2DMA-BUFRKmppMQTTLTECBuildroot

Mesh Video Streaming Device

Kopis Mobile

Man-wearable embedded Linux device capturing and streaming first-person video over a self-healing WiFi mesh network for defense and national security applications.

i.MX6BuildrootGStreamerWiFi MeshC++Python

CBRNE Wireless Sensor Dongle

Kopis Mobile

Rugged wireless dongle relaying real-time chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive sensor readings over LoRaWAN to command infrastructure.

STM32FFreeRTOSLoRa / LoRaWANUARTUSBI2CSPI

Cellular Smart Meters

SmartSynch Inc

250K+ fielded cellular-enabled electric meters designed for 20+ year operational life on utility smart grid networks. Firmware BoM reduction of ~$50 per GSM unit.

Nucleus RTOSCellular / GSMCSmart GridOTA

YOLOv8 Video Analysis Pipeline

CSLabs

Automated multi-stream video analysis pipeline replacing a manual workflow. Correlates events across camera feeds and feeds contour data into an XGBoost spatial prediction model.

YOLOv8OpenCVXGBoostPythonMulti-streamPyTorch

> experience

Work History

Tactacam

Billings, MT

Battery-operated cellular and WiFi cameras for hunting, surveillance, and wildlife monitoring.

Principal Embedded EngineerFeb 2024 – Present
  • Architected a portable embedded Linux platform enabling rapid SoC migration; created custom fast boot achieving sub-300ms cold boot to full-resolution image capture.
  • Introduced edge AI object-detection (TensorFlow Lite, ARM NPU) reducing false cellular triggers and lowering per-device network costs.
  • Implemented AWS IoT Core connectivity stack with eSIM LPA provisioning and automatic multi-carrier selection for volume deployments.
  • Developed custom low-light auto-exposure algorithm using frame sync and IR PWM control for accurate night-time imaging.

CSLabs

Alexandria, VA

Modeling and simulation company specializing in ML, sensors, and physics-based analysis.

Lead Software EngineerJul 2022 – Feb 2024
  • Built an automated video-analysis pipeline using OpenCV and YOLOv8, correlating multi-stream events and feeding an XGBoost spatial prediction model.
  • Developed an LLM-powered multimodality classification and similarity search application (PyTorch, LangChain, ChromaDB).
  • Managed multiple SBIR contracts totaling $2M+ as project manager and lead software engineer.

Kopis Mobile

Flowood, MS

Defense-focused start-up providing software and rugged electronics for national security.

Director of EngineeringOct 2017 – Jun 2022
  • Grew and led a cross-functional team of 10 software, electrical, computer, and mechanical engineers executing on $3M+ annual contract revenue.
  • Unified team delivery around a Scrum-based process aligned to simultaneous multi-project execution.
  • Established a UI/UX function to build simple, intuitive interfaces for complex defense solutions.
Engineering Manager – SoftwareJan 2017 – Oct 2017
  • Scaled team from 2 to 5 engineers executing on $2M+ in contracts plus internal R&D.
  • Implemented unified branching model, unit testing, code reviews, and CI/CD to increase velocity.
  • Created a co-op program that became a reliable pipeline for recruiting top engineering talent.
Software Engineer (Co-Founder)Jan 2013 – Dec 2016
  • Developed a man-wearable embedded Linux device streaming first-person video over a WiFi mesh network (i.MX6, Buildroot, GStreamer, C++).
  • Created a rugged wireless dongle for real-time CBRNE sensor readings (STM32F, FreeRTOS, LoRa/LoRaWAN).
  • Designed a custom sub-GHz mesh protocol for synchronized helmet-mounted multi-spectrum light emitters.

Mav6

Vicksburg, MS

Department of Defense contractor developing software and hardware solutions.

Software DeveloperMay 2012 – Dec 2012
  • Delivered a Java geospatial application for RF propagation modeling on the NASA WorldWind platform.
  • Transitioned to firmware development for a prototype metal detector, demonstrating rapid cross-domain adaptability.

Heartland Micropayments

Chattanooga, TN
Intermediate Firmware EngineerMay 2011 – May 2012
  • Developed firmware for AT89C51 and STM32F processors; performed on-site upgrades, installs, and troubleshooting.
  • Redesigned a legacy system to improve supportability and customer satisfaction.

SmartSynch Inc

Jackson, MS

Cellular-enabled smart electric meters for utility smart grid deployments.

Senior Firmware EngineerJan 2008 – Feb 2010
  • Developed firmware (C, Nucleus RTOS) for 250K+ fielded devices designed for 20+ year operational life.
  • Reduced BoM cost by ~$50 per GSM unit by porting firmware to support a lower-cost cellular modem.
  • Cut auto-provisioning timeline from months to weeks by unifying the firmware code base across all products.

> education & certifications

B.S. Electrical Engineering
Mississippi State University
Senior design: prototype of one of the first cellular-enabled security cameras
FAA Remote Pilot Certificate
Certified commercial drone pilot
Publication
Tan, J., Cao, Z., Carlson, L., Barbieri, L., & Lunn, J. (2015). Modeling and Analysis of RF Propagation in Complex Environments.