Software & Firmware Engineering

FUEL Innovation is a Calgary product engineering firm with an in-house software and firmware team. We write the embedded firmware that runs custom devices, the desktop and instrument software that controls them, and the cloud backends that connect them to the field, usually on hardware our own electrical team designed. From the firmware on the microcontroller up through the cloud backend and dashboard, the whole software stack is built under one roof alongside the electronics it runs on.

What we design

Embedded firmware

We write the firmware that brings custom hardware to life, from board bring-up through the wireless stack and the update system. Because the firmware runs on boards our own electrical team designed, it is co-developed with the hardware rather than handed a finished board over the wall.

• Bare-metal and RTOS-based firmware for custom devices
• Device drivers, board support, sensor and peripheral integration, and board bring-up
• Wireless connectivity: BLE, Wi-Fi, cellular, and LoRa
• Bootloaders and over-the-air update systems

Desktop, instrument & mobile software

We build the software that operates and configures the device: the instrument-control application on the bench, the desktop tool the operator uses, and the mobile app in the field.

• Instrument-control and desktop applications
• Mobile apps
• Signal, data, and image processing and control algorithms
• User interface and workflow design for scientific and precision instruments

Cloud, IoT & data

We build the backend the device connects to and the pipelines and dashboards that turn its data into something usable.

• Cloud backends, APIs, and dashboards on AWS and Azure
• Full device-to-cloud IoT systems with over-the-air updates and fleet management
• Data pipelines and processing
• Automated test and CI/CD, validated against hardware on hardware-in-the-loop rigs

We focus on greenfield builds: new firmware and software from the ground up, rather than maintaining or rescuing an existing codebase. We typically own the whole path, device firmware through app through cloud, and can also take a single slice, such as firmware for a board or just the cloud backend, where that is what you need. We do the security our own IoT and cloud projects require; we are not a standalone cybersecurity or penetration-testing service.

Tools, standards & methods

We build the whole stack under one roof, from the firmware on the device up through the cloud backend, so the layers are engineered for each other rather than integrated after the fact. Cloud services run on AWS and Azure, everything lives in version control with full CI/CD, and firmware is validated against the real hardware on hardware-in-the-loop rigs before it ships. Testing runs at every level: unit, integration, hardware-in-the-loop, and user testing.

We design to the standards our projects require. These are design targets, not certifications:

• Lifecycle and quality: IEC 62304 for medical device software, developed under a quality management system pursuing dual ISO 9001 / ISO 13485 certification, currently at the pre-audit stage
• Cybersecurity: IEC 62443 for industrial and OT systems, ETSI EN 303 645 for consumer IoT, and OWASP Top 10 and ASVS on the web and cloud side
• Coding standards: MISRA and CERT coding standards, and static analysis run in CI
• Data and privacy: PIPEDA, plus GDPR and HIPAA when a project handles EU personal data or US health data

Where it fits in our process

A generic dev shop writes software against a specification and hands it back. FUEL writes the firmware for the board our own engineers designed, builds the app and cloud it talks to, and tests the whole stack on hardware-in-the-loop rigs before it ships, so the device, its firmware, and its backend are engineered for each other instead of integrated after the fact. We manage the repositories and deliver the built firmware and software, with repository access, documentation, and test reports provided as required. See how we work for the full path from concept to production.