SAHAN GUNAWARDANA
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Duxion Propulsion Supervisor
Project type
Embedded Development
Role
Embedded Systems Specialist
Date
January 2025 - January 2026
Location
St. John's, NL
Project Contributions
-Architected the full Propulsion Supervisor electronics + firmware stack, allocating responsibilities across microcontroller firmware and FPGA hardware logic for deterministic control behavior.
Designed a fully redundant dual-system architecture, implementing parallel supervisory units with fiber-optic synchronization for deterministic coordination, high noise immunity, and electrical isolation.
Developed and implemented custom FPGA IP for a Xilinx Zynq-7000 SoC to capture 16-bit parallel data from three 8-channel ADCs and a Resolver-to-Digital (R/D) controller, supporting 1 MSPS per channel acquisition rates.
Designed FPGA-based real-time digital signal processing pipelines for vibration monitoring, including FFT, RMS extraction, and RPM-domain conversion, using data from piezoelectric accelerometers for condition monitoring and fault detection.
Built embedded firmware for supervisory control, including state-machine operation, fault handling, and interface communications supporting propulsion system coordination.
Defined key electrical and digital interfaces for propulsion-related I/O (sensor inputs, actuator controls, communication paths), ensuring scalable integration and clear subsystem boundaries.
Implemented a fault-tolerant protection concept, including fault detection paths, containment behavior, and safe-state transitions to improve reliability under abnormal conditions.
Produced verification-grade documentation, including structured test plans, test procedures, acceptance criteria, and defect tracking logs to support repeatable bring-up and validation.
Supported integration and bring-up through evidence-driven debugging, reliability-minded design practices (protection/containment), and development workflows aligned with avionics-grade expectations.
Project Description:
I led the design and development of a Propulsion Supervisor—a safety-focused embedded control and monitoring system intended to act as the reliability, protection, and deterministic control layer for a hybrid propulsion stack. The Propulsion Supervisor provides real-time oversight, fault containment, and controlled safe-state behavior for propulsion-critical signals, operating independently from higher-level autonomy software to improve overall system safety and mission robustness.
The architecture was designed as a fully redundant dual-system, with two independent Propulsion Supervisor units running in parallel. The units were synchronized through a fiber-optic link, enabling deterministic coordination and state consistency while maintaining electrical isolation and strong EMI immunity—supporting fault tolerance and controlled fallback behavior even during partial subsystem failures.
Development followed an avionics-style engineering workflow with emphasis on design assurance planning, requirements traceability, and verification evidence. This included planning and producing structured documentation aligned with RTCA DO-178C / DO-254 concepts (software and airborne electronic hardware development assurance) and environmental robustness considerations consistent with DO-160-style constraints. Key deliverables included system architecture definition, FPGA IP development, embedded firmware implementation, interface design, and verification planning/testing using repeatable procedures and evidence capture.
