The Sprk Factory · Embedded Engineering Freelancer

01 About the human

Hi, I'm Ivan Herrera Olivares, the one engineer behind The Sprk Factory.

I'm a freelance embedded engineer based in Antwerp, Belgium, working out of the studio above (yes, cat included). Companies bring me in to get embedded products shipped: I write the firmware and tame the radios, then help build the hardware around them.

I work remotely by default, but I'm on Central European time and a short flight from most of the continent. Hybrid works fine, and I'll come put hands on the hardware in your lab when a job calls for it.

I care about the unglamorous things that decide whether an embedded product actually ships: clean architecture, firmware you can debug at 2am, and documentation the next engineer won't curse.

I write things down as I go. Whoever picks up the code next isn't reverse-engineering my week.
Boring firmware is good firmware. I'd rather ship something predictable than something clever.
Point me at a goal and I'll run with it. You won't have to chase me for an update.

C / C++ / Rust on bare-metal & RTOS
BLE · Wi-Fi · LoRa · OTA pipelines
A bench full of scopes, probes & protoboards
Quality assurance department: one cat

02 What I build

Firmware & RTOS development

Production firmware in C, C++ and Rust, on Cortex-M and RISC-V cores: STM32, Nordic's nRF52/53/54, ESP32, and custom private silicon. Bare-metal drivers, BSPs, and full RTOS applications on FreeRTOS or Zephyr, plus the bootloaders, power management and test harnesses that keep it honest.

STM32
nRF52/53/54
ESP32
RISC-V
Zephyr
FreeRTOS

IoT & connectivity

Devices that stay connected in the field: BLE, Wi-Fi, LoRaWAN and cellular, plus the cloud integration, fleet provisioning and OTA updates that won't brick a unit a thousand miles away.

BLE
LoRaWAN
MQTT
OTA / DFU
Security

Prototyping & consulting

Fast proof-of-concepts on dev boards, with the 3D printer in the corner doing the enclosures. Plus feasibility studies, architecture reviews and firmware audits when you need a second pair of eyes.

PoC sprints
3D printing
Code audits
Architecture

03 Trusted by

// the trophies from the shelf upstairs · hover or tap a logo

Hover or tap a logo to see the work behind it.

04 Selected work

// problem → process → result · client specifics kept vague where under NDA

Smart bollard connectivity

Problem: Smart bollards deployed at one of the world's major ports needed a reliable way to receive firmware updates in the field, over the air.
Process: Added NB-IoT as an extra FOTA transport alongside the existing path, and stood up a proof-of-concept backend to drive the rollouts.
Result: A 200-device fleet updatable over NB-IoT, so nobody has to drive out to the quayside to do it.

NB-IoT
FOTA
PoC backend

Silicon firmware

Problem: Production silicon needs firmware that proves the hardware and de-risks the path to volume.
Process: Firmware close to the metal, working shoulder-to-shoulder with the hardware team. (Details under NDA.)
Result: Shipping silicon with firmware I helped get there.

Bare-metal
Drivers
NDA

Founding an embedded venture

Problem: Turning an idea into working embedded hardware and firmware, from a blank page.
Process: Owned the technical direction end to end: architecture, firmware and prototyping on the bench upstairs.
Result: 500+ units shipped to customers across 12+ countries.

Architecture
Firmware
Hardware

05 Kind words

// 1-2 attributed quotes from people I've built things with

Ivan dropped into our firmware team and was shipping useful work inside the first week. Clean code, clear comms, and we never had to hand-hold him.

— Name Surname Engineering Lead · Company

06 Start a project

Got an idea that needs firmware, or firmware that needs rescuing?
The kettle in the studio is always on.

ivan.herreraolivares@gmail.com message me on LinkedIn

LinkedIn ↗ GitHub ↗