experience · UWFE
Firmware & Suspension Team Member
timeline: Sept 2025 — May 2026
tech stack: C, Arduino, CAN, SolidWorks, CNC Machining
Overview
Dual-hat role on University of Waterloo Formula Electric — mechanical suspension work on one side, vehicle firmware on the other. Redesigned and machined the damper potentiometer mount for suspension travel sensing, and developed hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) tests so firmware for the vehicle control unit could be validated before it ever went on the car.
Suspension
The original damper potentiometer mount had clearance problems against the rotating shock body and clamped loosely enough that the sensor shifted under load, so travel readings drifted run to run. I redesigned it in SolidWorks to fix the clearance and clamping, then machined the aluminum bracket on a 3-axis mill — fixturing, tool pathing, and finishing — to hold tolerances tight enough to clear the shock without backlash in the sensor throw. The result improved travel measurement repeatability by 50%, giving the team trustworthy suspension travel data over CAN for ride-height logging and setup tuning.
Firmware
Developed hardware-in-the-loop tests in C for the vehicle control unit. The HIL rig simulates CAN traffic from the car's other ECUs so new firmware paths can be exercised off-vehicle: it injects recorded bus traces, checks the VCU's responses against expected state transitions, and gates firmware changes on a green run before anything is deployed to the car. Source below.