Brett Foster's Home

Hello world! Looking to hire? See my Resume!

If you want a quick way of classifying me I'm a nerd or a geek. To pay the bills I'm a successful software engineer (who builds Cameras for a major smart phone manufacturer). For fun, I like watching movies, tv shows, building random things with my hands and my mind, hanging out at a cottage, or better yet–road tripping!! I own a lovely little 1930s-era house. I thought I was going to be a DIY kind of guy, but it turns out I'm actually pretty good at gardening. I'm also kind of handy in the kitchen (especially when it comes to my garden veggies!) though I have a long way to go. Typically I bake breads, deserts, and soups.

My career has moved towards the embedded space as I quite enjoy the challenges. Today I write software to enable the camera functionality on several cellphones. I work in a reasonably sized team where I provide technical leadership and direction for the Camera component on the software level. I research new technologies (and vendors) and study how they can be integrated. I work with cross functional groups to synchronise, provide direction and leadership as well as assist legal teams in defending against IP suits. Previously I have worked on Bluetooth, customer relationship software, and owned a small dot-com in the late 90s and early 2000s. I obtained my education at the University of Guelph where I studied computing and sociology.

Soon I will begin my next adventure…

I invite all visitors to explore areas of my website:

• Resume
• Papers_and_Projects
• Recipes
• About
• !! December 1st is LAN Appreciation !!

Hello! My name is Brett Foster and I'm an embedded software developer. For the last 5 years I have been working at Research in Motion on Bluetooth and Camera related technologies. I am an innovator, inventor, and all round smart guy. I have experience with software design & architecture, low level device drivers, middleware, IP (both consulting on litigation and patenting), camera, bluetooth, and a variety of other technologies and skills.

• 20110212687 (Application): COMMUNICATIONS DEVICE RESPONSIVE TO NEAR FIELD COMMUNICATIONS (NFC) TO ENTER LOCKED OR UNLOCKED OPERATING MODES
• 20110211073 (Application): OBJECT DETECTION AND SELECTION USING GESTURE RECOGNITION

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• Consulted on several lawsuits as part of my duties at RIM.
• Deposed twice.

You can mail me at fosterb+www@edgeandvertex.org.

If you require my services they are available at a rate of $295/hr billed in 1 hour increments.

Over the years I've worked on many projects. Here is a collection of papers and projects I have worked on in and outside of the university. Many of these do not include source code, but I do provide it on request.

• Roboticon 2004, 2005, 2006 - An annual robotics compeitition for high school students.
  • Acceleration Mouse - An acceleration mouse built using the boards from 2005.
• RTL8181 (Network Radio, and SpeedStream 6300) - One of my projects on the RTL8181 is to design a speaker box which acts an internet radio, with voice activation features. I never did finish the project, and instead made a networked radio.
• Printer - Back when I first got started, I built a printer.
• Frequency Meter - I was asked by a friend to make a frequency meter for his University's Formula SAE team to measure RPM.
• Analog Devices Blackfin - Cool DSP! Not a particular project, but something fun to play with.
  • LCD driver for linux. And ideas for optimizations and such.

• GoodSense: A team submission to the Computer Society's CSIDC competition. GoodSense is supposed to be an intuitive user interface and AI tool to help prevent workplace accidents. (CIS*4900)
• dClip: A Distributed Clipboard (CIS*4410)
• Personal Web Services (CIS*4410)
• Comparison of Open Source Groupware (CIS*4410)
• Drawing Trees in OpenGL (CIS*4800)
• jhttpd - A light weight http server for Java. Implements a servlet-like API with no frills.
• JJTAG - Java JTAG Library.
• xuMonitor - xuMonitor is a monitor program similar to the program students use in CIS*2030. It can also act as a boot loader, with LZMA decompression and support for the linux kernel and optimized flash organization.
• Python SAC - A simple SAC (CSS) API for python. (And the Open Presentation Project.)
• Metapare - In the winter of 2005 I led team of students to build a price comparison shopper. We achived our goal, and more. (CIS*3200)
• Image Tools - Before coming to the University of Guelph I built a set of tools for manipulating images. Largly historical.
• IoCRM - Back in August 2004 I was hired to integrate an existing CRM solution with a new web based solution I would create that would build upon the core CRM functions required by the legacy system.
• Past Projects - Legacy projects.

• One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) - Analysis of the OLPC program. [Draft: Demonstrate how the OLPC program will provide us new understanding of our “developed” systems through large scale projects such as the One Laptop Per Child program.]

A selection of recipes that have worked well in the past. Mostly for my own reference.

• Creamy Mushroom Risotto - This is pretty simple and cooks up pretty quickly in something like 30 minutes. And it's hard to screw it up since you mostly just throw shit in to a pot and cook it.
• Easy Pizza Dough
• Creamy Squash Soup - I make it extra thick, and optionally substitute cream for cream cheese. MMMMMM!