KIERAN ROSS

Kieran Ross

> Electrical engineer driven by the precision of digital design and the elegance of high-frequency systems.


> Whether optimizing digital designs for latency-critical applications, wrestling with microwave circuits, or architecting hardware accelerators, I thrive on solving problems where nanoseconds and milliwatts matter.


> Currently sharpening expertise in VLSI design and RF systems at UBC while building robust embedded solutions for next-gen technologies. Let’s collaborate to redefine the boundaries of what's possible.

Featured Projects

Microwave LNA Design
Microwave LNA Simulation

Microwave Low-Noise Amplifier

November 2024


  • Designed, simulated, and assembled a low-noise amplifier using an NPN transistor, achieving 14 dB of gain at a 2.5 GHz center frequency.
  • Optimized the input and output conjugate matching networks to achieve -13 dB reflection coefficients and nearly 1 GHz of bandwidth for stable, wideband performance.

Analog Circuit Design AWR Microwave Office High-Frequency Engineering Low-Noise Amplifiers Matching Networks
ADS8528 Diagram
ADS8528 Driver System Diagram

Multichannel ADC Driver

September 2024


  • Initially developed a C-based driver for the ADS8528 ADC, enabling basic data acquisition and SPI communication with a Raspberry Pi.
  • Engineered and verifiied an FPGA-based driver, leveraging real-time hardware processing to maximize the ADC’s sampling rate.
  • Implemented automated SPI data transmission, triggering when a configurable threshold is exceeded by the moving average of incoming samples.

FPGA Embedded C SystemVerilog SPI Protocol Data Acquisition Embedded Systems
Gripper Deconstruction
Coin-Picking Robot Blueprint

Automatic Garbage Gripper

April 2023


  • Built an autonomous robot to detect and retrieve metallic coins within a defined area.
  • Designed a custom hand-wound inductor for precise electromagnetic coin detection.
  • Developed a servo-actuated retrieval arm with an electromagnet for collection and deposit.
  • Programmed a PIC32 microcontroller in embedded C for motion control, sensor integration, and state management.

Microcontroller Embedded C Electromagnetics Robotics
Neural Network Images

Neural Network Hardware Accelerator

December 2022


  • Accelerated sum and product computations using dedicated hardware via an Avalon Memory-Mapped interface to Nios II.
  • Optimized neural network inference by storing weights and activations in on-chip memory, reducing external memory access delays.
  • Combined these optimizations to achieve a 93% reduction in inference time.

FPGA SystemVerilog Memory-Mapped Interfaces Hardware Acceleration Neural Networks
ARC4 Decrypt Design

Hardware Accelerated ARC4 Encoder/Decoder

November 2022


  • Designed and implemented a high-performance ARC4 encryption and decryption engine using SystemVerilog on a DE1-SoC FPGA.
  • Doubled decryption speed by instantiating and coordinating two parallel decoder modules.
  • Applied pipelining techniques to reduce critical path delays, improving overall system efficiency and performance.

FPGA SystemVerilog Hardware Acceleration Algorithms
Coin-Picking Robot
Coin-Picking Robot Blueprint

"PENN-E" Coin-Picking Robot

April 2022


  • Built an autonomous robot to detect and retrieve metallic coins within a defined area.
  • Designed a custom hand-wound inductor for precise electromagnetic coin detection.
  • Developed a servo-actuated retrieval arm with an electromagnet for collection and deposit.
  • Programmed a PIC32 microcontroller in embedded C for motion control, sensor integration, and state management.

Microcontroller Embedded C Electromagnetics Robotics
Cap-Slap
Cap-Slap Blueprint

"Cap-Slap" Reaction-Time Game

March 2022


  • Engineered custom capacitance-detection pads using aluminum foil and wire, delivering a low-cost yet highly responsive input system for real-time gameplay.
  • Programmed an AT89LP51RC2 microcontroller in Assembly to manage multi-channel sensor input, precise timing, and dynamic game logic.
  • Developed four-player support and adaptive difficulty scaling, increasing gameplay intensity by tightening response windows and accelerating timing with each stage.
  • Fine-tuned microcontroller outputs to a piezoelectric transducer, recreating the Mario theme on game startup.

Microcontroller Assembly Circuit Design
Cap-Slap

RISC Machine Processor

December 2021


  • Produced an 8-register RISC machine with Verilog, Quartus, and a DE1-SoC capable of processing and executing a list of simple binary instructions.

Verilog Quartus RISC Architecture Digital Logic Design

Professional Journey

FPGA Digital Design Engineer Intern

Kepler Communications Inc. (May 2023 - Sept 2024)

  • Designed, verified, and integrated custom IC controllers, memory-mapped interface adapters, automatic gain control modules, and improved DSP pipelines.
  • Adapted modulator design to operate at a higher clock frequency, reducing overall system latency by 33%.
  • Optimized AXI-Stream signal processing modules into a single DSP IP block, reducing resource usage by 67%.

Undergraduate Teaching Assistant

The University of British Columbia (Sept 2022 - Dec 2024)

  • Instructed and mentored 2nd-year engineering students in digital logic design and verification, microcomputers, memory addressing, instruction sets, and assembly programming.
  • Led lab sessions and tutorials, guiding students through assembly programming on an ARM-based FPGA development board (DE1-SoC) and the use of tools like Quartus and ModelSim.

Landscaper

Para Space Landscaping Inc. (May 2022 - August 2022)

  • Serviced properties with thorough lawncare, bedwork, and softscaping to complete weekly maintenance and fulfill specific customer requests.

Seafood Clerk/Shift Leader

Safeway (May 2021 - August 2021)

  • Facilitated group huddles, clear departmental sales goals, and a no-nonsense team-oriented mindset to engender increases in the Seafood department’s productivity.
  • Managed daily sales and inventory information to place supplier orders while setting up engaging seafood displays to attract customers

Guest Experience Leader

McDonald's (April 2018 - June 2019)

  • Oversaw a group of 3-5 front-end staff: ensuring an efficient, calm, and cooperative work environment.
  • Circulated the restaurant lobby with balloons, toys, and coupons to promote a positive and memorable customer experience.
  • Greeted and served customers.

Coding Club Executive

VikingsDev Coding Club (Sept 2018 - June 2020)

  • Guided the learning of students with prepared presentations and fun programming curriculums to maintain record high member engagement and community involvement.
  • Organized guest speakers and special events to give students real world stories and experiences from the field of computer science and engineering.

Academic Background

University of British Columbia

B.A.Sc. in Electrical Engineering

2020-Present

Fourth Year (2024-2025)

Capstone Intro to VLSI Systems Digital Signal Processing Microwave Engineering

GPA: 4.0/4.0

Third Year (2022-2023)

Advanced Digital Logic Design Electromagnetics II Electronic Circuits Control Systems Electronic Materials Electromechanical Analysis System Software Engineering

GPA: 3.75/4.0

Second Year (2021-2022)

Digital Logic Design Data Structures and Algorithms Circuit Analysis I/II Electromagnetics I Signals and Systems Multivariable Calculus Differential Equations Vector Calculus

GPA: 3.67/4.0