Curriculum Vitae for
Tom Schouten
e-mail: tom [@] zwizwa [.] be
www: http://zwizwa.be

TECHNICAL SKILLS

• Programming languages
  • Expert level C, Forth, Microchip PIC assembly and Scheme programmer. I produced non-trivial code in Haskell, OCaml, Java, C++, Objective C, Perl, Python, Matlab, Emacs Lisp, Pure Data and assembler for x86, PIC and TMS320C40. Looked at Common Lisp, Erlang, Prolog, SQL, Oz, Fortran, Fortress and assembler for Z80, ARM, MIPS, PPC and TMS320C6x.
  • Proficient in Functional Programming techniques. Hands-on experience with Racket (PLT Scheme), Haskell and a bit of OCaml.
  • Good understanding of object-oriented, component-oriented and aspect-oriented design. Basic knowledge of design patterns.
  • Lifelong student of programming language theory and compiler design. Experience with language implementation in C, Forth, Scheme, Haskell and OCaml. I take great interest in designing domain specific abstractions (DSLs and code generation).
• Operating systems and environments.
  • GNU/Linux expert, both as an application developer and system administrator. It is my main OS since 1997. Specialized in low level Posix system programming, audio/video APIs, and OpenGL. Basic understanding of the inner workings of the Linux kernel and the Xenomai real-time extension. Very familiar with the GNU binutils/GCC/GDB toolchain and its quirks. Worked with Google's Android.
  • Good understanding of multithreading (shared memory, message passing, dataflow, scheduling, ...) in a real-time programming context.
  • Experience with low-level real-time embedded programming both on the eCos RTOS and to the metal. Experience with minimalistic RT-OS design and implementation (Forth).
• Signal processing
  • Profound theoretical understanding of basic linear algebra and continuous/discrete time signal processing, FIR and IIR filters, fourier analysis, discrete wavelets, noise reduction, compression. Basic understanding of control theory, linear and non-linear dynamical systems, optimization theory, statistics, information theory, communication and digital codes. In general, I can navigate problems of mathematical nature.
  • Expert in Audio/Video DSP: design and implementation of real time effects processing, sound synthesis and post production algorithms. Good understanding of computer vision and 2D/3D computer graphics.
• Electronics
  • Good theoretical understanding of both analog and digital electronics.
  • I am really a software person, but I have limited experience with circuit design and PCB layout (gEDA suite).

COMMUNICATION SKILLS

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY

Research Projects (November 2010 - present)

• Analog electronics: theory rehash and hands-on experiments.
• Staapl maintenance: API simplifications + internal dependency restructuring (more Scheme, less Forth).
• Design of an embedded Domain Specific Language (eDSL) for audio DSP using Haskell.

Ubidata N.V. (July 2010 - October 2010)

Open Source Projects (April 2010 - Juli 2010)

Sony Techsoft Centre Europe (November 2009 - March 2010)

Open Source Projects (March 2009 - October 2009)

Triphase N.V. (October 2008 - March 2009)

• Design, implementation and ongoing refactoring of an application for the configuration and coordination of fieldbus systems (Ethercat and CANbus) and multiple Xenomai real-time control and measurement tasks.
• Design and implementation of a low-level EtherCat master driver.

Open Source Projects (April 2003 - October 2008)

• October 2007 - December 2007: Development of KRIkit, a modem for digital data communication by audible sound signalling using microphone and speakers, built using the Staapl framework. The circuit uses a Microchip PIC18F2620 controller for receive/transmit of sound signals. The firmware implements OOK and PSK modulation/demodulation of the transmitted/recorded sound. This was part of an artist-in-residency program at Waag in Amsterdam, together with Metabiosis/GOTO10.
• October 2005 - October 2007: Finalizing and documenting Packet Forth, and developing the open hardware project CATkit as a standard platform for demonstrating the Staapl project. Part of a 2 year collaboration with GOTO10 and the School of Art, Design and Architecture at the University of Huddersfield.
• Several hands-on workshops and invited talks about PDP, Packet Forth and Staapl.
• Several artistic performances using Pure Data & PDP.

Arboretum Systems (October 2001 - March 2003)

• Refactoring of legacy audio processing components (C++) for integration in the audio/video authoring tool HyperEngine-AV for Mac OS X.
• Integration of company audio signal conditioning products in third party systems.
• Design and implementation of new audio processing algorithms and effects, including the HyperEngine-AV audio time stretching engine, the improved noise reduction engine in Ray Gun Pro, and some Hyperprism audio effects.

SISTA lab, KULeuven (October 1998 - August 2001)

• Analysis, modification and re-synthesis of high quality audio, using piecewize stationary signal models.
• Research on timbre modulation lead to a modeling framework based on a pitch-synchronous, piecewize stationary wave table model that allows separate modeling of instantaneous spectra and parameterization of its time evolution. The DYNWAV model significantly reduces the analytical and computational complexity of the stationary part of signal modeling, allowing the use of simple and efficient techniques (FFT + polynomial interpolation). This framework was implemented as an extension to Pure Data and later included in Creb as the dynwav~ object.
• Several smaller projects related to signal analysis and synthesis: refinement of a subspace based frequency estimation technique (HSVD) using a subband approach for resolving closely spaced signal poles as they occur in string instruments, evaluation of trade-offs involved in FFT window design for sinusoidal synthesis, and the use of discrete state updates to an IIR filter bank for alias-free synthesis of discontinuous waveforms.

INDEPENDENT R & D

• Experiments with Haskell and MetaOCaml for code generation (staged programming). Mostly working towards an embedded DSL implemented in the Haskell programming language. Its main purpose is to allow the use of a high level specification to drive analysis and simulation, and eventually to generate C code to plug into existing systems.
• The Staapl framework, a metaprogramming tool for time/space constrained embedded systems, based on a functional concatenative programming language model (a dialect of the Forth programming language), and implemented as an extension of PLT Scheme.
• An embedded application core library libprim. This project is about layered development of a C-based project by (optionally) introducing small-footprint scripting languages (Scheme and PF2).
• Packet Forth (PF), a stand-alone scripting language for video processing using C-based video DSP plugins.
• Creb, an extension for the computer music system Pure Data. Creb adds building blocks for music DSP that were missing in Pure Data, or are the result of my research on audio synthesis techniques.
• Pure Data Packet (PDP), another extension for Pure Data, which adds building blocks for image and video processing.
• These and other projects can be found at http://zwizwa.be/darcs.

• Experiments with web programming and data management in PLT Scheme.
• GNU/Linux server and network maintenance. This includes my own computer and network infrastructure (Debian + OpenWRT), and included a large part of the GOTO10 servers (web, email, vpn, routing, dns, firewalls, and scripting for integration) during my 3 year affiliation (2005-2007).
• The LFSR project, providing DSP algorithm consulting for the absolute position tracking device based on 2D pseudonoise.
• Formal study to complement the hands-on work. I'm currently focussing on code analysis and transformation, type systems, abstract interpretation and staging (code generation).

EDUCATION

October 1998 - August 2001

September 1993 - June 1998

PERSONAL DATA