“Bridging Mobile and Embedded Development: How these Disciplines Come Together to Create a Product”
by Trevor Palmatier ‘22 and Josh Swett ‘15, Gentex Corporation

At Gentex, the range of products we create produces the need for many disciplines of software engineering: embedded software, cloud software, mobile software, desktop software, machine learning, and test software are all disciplines you will find at Gentex.  In this presentation, we will take a look at how different disciplines of software come together to create a product, with a focus on embedded software and mobile software.  The relatively narrow focus of an embedded system, the concerns for hardware cost, and the low-level nature of embedded software place limits on the capabilities that the system can provide.  If we pair the embedded system with a smartphone app, the possibilities grow drastically.  A smartphone brings a capable means for input and output that are second nature to many people nowadays.  By combining an embedded system with a smartphone app via technologies like BLE and WiFi, we can bring many advanced capabilities and a better user experience to a product.  In light of this, we will present a sample product that incorporates an embedded and a mobile component, and we will talk about how these disciplines interact, both at a software level and at a people level.  When it comes to complex products like this, the ability to work together across disciplines is just as important as technical proficiency in your chosen discipline.

Trevor Palmatier graduated from Hope College in 2022 with a BS in Computer Science. While in school, he took interest in mobile development due to its mix between design and engineering. Shortly after graduation, he started his career at Gentex as a mobile software engineer and has been working there for the past 6 months. During his short time at Gentex, he has worked on apps to interface with automobile-integrated technologies, like HomeLink® garage and smart-home connection, as well as Full Display Mirror® products with digital video recording. This has included work in both native and multi-platform languages in development and maintenance roles.

Josh Swett graduated from Hope College in 2015 with a BS in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering. He started his career at LeanLogistics, working as a full-stack Java developer.  He later transitioned to a role that can best be described as a hybrid of a Java architect and a DevOps engineer. Given his background in electrical engineering, Josh has always been drawn to embedded software as it lives at the boundary of hardware and software. To pursue this interest professionally, he accepted a job as an embedded software engineer at Gentex Corporation three years ago. During his time at Gentex, Josh has worked on a number of Full Display Mirror® products for the automotive industry, a couple of which have incorporated digital video recording technology.