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Seeking Fall 2026 embedded / firmware / hardware co-op

Muhammad Saad

Embedded Systems Engineer / Firmware · Hardware · Real-Time Systems

Electrical Engineering @ University of Waterloo. I design firmware, build PCBs, and bring up hardware, from register-level drivers to RTOS telemetry pipelines.

  • Embedded Systems
  • Firmware Development
  • STM32 / ARM Cortex-M
  • Bare-Metal Programming
  • FreeRTOS
  • PCB Design
  • Hardware Bring-Up
board.glblive telemetry · 3D
Loading 3D scene
simulated readout

STM32F4

ARM Cortex-M4 target platform

2-layer

Custom PCB designed & assembled

Bare-metal

UART · SPI · I²C register drivers

FreeRTOS

Concurrent telemetry pipelines

University of Waterloo seal

Education

University of Waterloo

B.A.Sc. Honours Electrical Engineering · Sep 2025 – present

01Selected Work

Firmware, hardware, and real-time systems

A focused set of embedded projects spanning custom PCB design, bare-metal driver development, and RTOS telemetry pipelines. Each links to a full engineering case study.

01Hardware
In Progress

Custom Sensor Telemetry Board

Custom 2-layer STM32F411 PCB with FreeRTOS environmental telemetry

A custom-designed 2-layer PCB built around an STM32F411 that samples a BME280 environmental sensor over I²C and streams telemetry over USB-C, with FreeRTOS firmware coordinating acquisition and transmission.

MCU
STM32F411 (LQFP-48)
Board
2-layer · 50 × 40 mm
Sensor
BME280 @ I²C 400 kHz
Link
UART 921600 baud · USB-C
STM32F411FreeRTOSKiCadBME280I²CUART
View case study
02Firmware
In Progress

Multi-Peripheral SPI Telemetry System

Bare-metal shared-bus SPI driver with a FreeRTOS telemetry pipeline on STM32F4

A bare-metal SPI driver on the STM32F446RE that services multiple peripherals on a shared bus with independent chip-select control, feeding an interrupt-driven FreeRTOS producer/consumer telemetry pipeline with fault recovery and dropped-frame detection.

MCU
STM32F446RE
Bus
SPI1 @ 1 MHz · shared, multi-CS
Model
Producer / consumer + ISR
Safety
Timeout recovery · seq. validation
STM32F446REBare-Metal CFreeRTOSSPINVICISR
View case study
03Firmware
Completed

STM32 Bare-Metal Peripheral Driver Library

Register-level UART / I²C / SPI drivers for STM32F4, no HAL

A bare-metal embedded firmware library for the STM32F4 that implements UART, I²C, and SPI by directly configuring RCC, GPIO, and peripheral registers. It includes an interrupt-driven UART receive path and a validated BMP280 sensor integration over SPI.

Core
ARM Cortex-M4 (STM32F4)
UART
115200 baud · IRQ RX
I²C
400 kHz Fast Mode
Sensor
BMP280 ±0.5 °C / ±1 hPa
STM32F4ARM Cortex-M4CUARTSPII²C
View case study

See the sensor board, fully visualized

Interactive signal-path diagram: MCU, sensor, USB bridge, and power, with live data flow.

Full visualized architecture

02Experience

Industry and team engineering

Power-systems and industrial-controls experience at WSP, plus hands-on electrical design on a student electric-bike team.

WSP Canada Inc. logo
01Industry

Electrical Engineering Intern

WSP Canada Inc.

Jan 2026 – May 2026

Calgary, AB

Industry experience in power systems and industrial controls that sharpened a practical understanding of control systems and signal flow, from field instruments to PLC I/O.

Industrial ControlsPLC I/OAutoCAD ElectricalSLDSignal Flow
Electrium Mobility (Electric Bike Team) logo
02Team

Electrical Systems Designer

Electrium Mobility (Electric Bike Team)

Sep 2025 – present

Waterloo, ON

Battery and powertrain electrical design for a student electric-bike team, focused on safe, validated lithium-ion pack configurations.

Battery DesignLi-ionMolicel P28APower Calcs
University of Waterloo logo
03Leadership

Engineering Ambassador

University of Waterloo

Sep 2025 – present

Waterloo, ON

Represents the Faculty of Engineering to prospective students through tours, Shadow Days, and outreach.

OutreachCommunication

03Toolbox

Skills & tooling

The hardware, languages, and tools I use to design, build, and debug embedded systems.

Embedded & Hardware

  • STM32F4
  • ESP32
  • Raspberry Pi 5
  • ARM Cortex-M4
  • FreeRTOS
  • GPIO
  • UART
  • SPI
  • I²C
  • DMA
  • NVIC
  • JTAG / SWD
  • Oscilloscope
  • Logic Analyzer

Programming

  • C
  • C++
  • Python
  • MATLAB
  • Verilog

Tools

  • STM32CubeIDE
  • Vivado
  • KiCad
  • Git
  • GDB
  • OpenOCD
  • ST-Link
  • AutoCAD Electrical

Open to opportunities

Seeking Fall 2026 embedded / firmware / hardware co-op.

If you're hiring for embedded, firmware, or hardware roles, I'd be glad to talk through my projects and how I work. The fastest way to reach me is email.