About the Role
Own the multi-layer communication stack that keeps the swarm connected under real-world conditions
— TCP/IP backbone, mesh networking for fail-safe routing, MQTT for telemetry, and integration with
multiple RF radio tiers.
Stack: TCP/IP · IPv4/IPv6 · Sockets · MQTT/Mosquitto · Mesh Networking · RF Link Integration (Silvus,
Microhard, DTC) · Linux · Bash / C++ / Python.
Key Responsibilities
• Design and implement the layered communication stack: TCP/IP backbone, mesh networking,
MQTT telemetry bus, and RF link tiers.
• Integrate and configure multi-tier RF radios — Silvus, Microhard, and DTC — for swarm
deployment.
• Implement self-healing links, dynamic routing, and automatic failover between radio tiers.
• Tune the stack for sub-100 ms state propagation across the swarm.
• Build diagnostics and monitoring for link quality, throughput, packet loss, and routing state.
• Model and test network topologies in GNS3 and QEMU before field deployment.
• Collaborate with the RF Hardware Engineer on antenna/radio integration and with the Backend
Developer on transport-layer APIs.
• Harden the stack against degraded conditions: interference, packet loss, node failure, and
partition.
Must-Have Skills
• Deep networking fundamentals: TCP/IP, IPv4/IPv6, sockets, routing, multicast.
• Experience with MQTT / pub-sub and real-time telemetry pipelines.
• Mesh networking experience (B.A.T.M.A.N., OLSR, Wi-Fi mesh, or vendor mesh).
• Comfortable integrating vendor RF radios and reading datasheets/spec sheets.
• Linux networking internals (iptables/nftables, tc, netlink, tun/tap).
• Proficiency in at least one of: Bash, C++, or Python — for automation, diagnostics, socket-level
tooling, and integration scripting. Strong candidates will have working knowledge of two or
more.
Nice-to-Have
• Prior work with Silvus, Microhard, or DTC radios.
• SDR exposure (GNU Radio, HackRF, USRP).
• GNS3 / QEMU for network simulation.
• Fluency across Bash + C++ + Python (all three) for end-to-end comms stack work.
