Embedded RF engineering

Embedded RF engineering is where IoT succeeds or fails. If the device cannot survive the environment, the best cloud platform in the world becomes irrelevant. We design and build embedded systems for low-power RF telemetry that operate predictably under interference, attenuation, and real deployment conditions.

Squared Technologies delivers embedded engineering from first principles: RF design, sensing strategy, electronics, firmware, and gateway patterns. We focus on long-life behaviour, serviceability, and evidence, not optimistic lab results.

On the electronics side we design the complete embedded stack: MCU and peripheral selection, power regulation and battery strategy, RF front-end and filtering, antenna matching, enclosure constraints, and EMC considerations. We design for manufacture and test from day one: test points, programming access, calibration hooks, and fixtures so production does not become a bespoke nightmare.

Firmware architecture is engineered for determinism. Depending on the requirement we use bare-metal scheduling or an RTOS, but the principle stays constant: explicit timing, bounded queues, predictable memory use, and clear failure behaviour. We implement driver layering, interrupt discipline, low-power state management, watchdog and brownout recovery, and diagnostic paths that remain usable in the field.

Security at firmware level is not a checkbox. We engineer secure provisioning, key custody, update integrity, and rollback protection. Where appropriate this includes secure boot, signed firmware images, staged rollout, and fail-safe recovery paths so an update cannot brick a fleet or create unsafe bypass states under pressure.

RF protocol behaviour is treated as an engineering problem, not a marketing statement. We design channel plans, time-on-air budgets, duty-cycle compliance, collision avoidance, acknowledgement strategy, and retransmission limits. We instrument and prove performance using packet error rates, RSSI/SNR distributions, link margin evidence, and reconnect behaviour so coverage is repeatable across the estate.

Finally, we build embedded systems as operable products. Devices report health, versions, power telemetry, and diagnostic context. Gateways provide store-and-forward, backpressure and delivery guarantees. The objective is a fleet you can maintain: predictable behaviour, observable degradation, and evidence you can use for acceptance, assurance, and incident investigation.

RF performance is engineered, not assumed. We build link budgets, validate antenna and enclosure decisions, and test in the real environment. Multipath, interference, duty-cycle limits, and power budgets are treated as core constraints. The objective is repeatable coverage and known failure modes, not “best case” range.

Firmware is treated as a lifecycle system. We implement deterministic sampling, buffering, retries, and safe failure behaviour. Updates are engineered as a secure OTA pipeline with staged rollout, rollback strategy, and integrity controls so fleets remain maintainable as deployments scale.

Gateways are designed as reliability amplifiers. Store-and-forward, backpressure, and delivery guarantees protect you from weak uplinks and reconnect storms. Device identity and provisioning enforce zero trust boundaries from the edge to the platform.

Embedded systems must be observable in the field. We build health telemetry, diagnostics, and operational runbooks so teams can detect drift early, recover safely, and avoid silent degradation. Reliability is not a claim, it is an operating property.

The result is an embedded RF estate you can operate: predictable behaviour under stress, secure lifecycle controls, and evidence you can use for acceptance, assurance, and incident investigation.