Nicholas APPLETON
1/1 Buller Street
Bellevue Hill NSW 2023
Mobile: 0421 153 632
WWW: http://www.appletonaudio.com/
(Please visit website to obtain my email address; I try to prevent spam.)
Academic History
2005 – 2011
University of Technology, Sydney
Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical Engineering Diploma in
Engineering Practice with First Class Honours (BE DipEngPrac)
1998 – 2003
Blaxland High School
Completed Higher School Certificate 2003
Achievements
2011
UTS Dean's Capstone Presentation Award Finalist for Spring 2010
2011
Awarded the UTS Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET)
Prize for the year 2010 for my final year capstone project titled: “A
noise reduction algorithm designed for samples used by digital
musical instruments”
2010
UTS Dean's list
2009
UTS Dean's list
2002
Achieved 7th position in the state in the 2002 UNSW CISRA
Programming Competition.
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Work History
December 2010 Dolby Australia Pty. Limited, Sydney
to Present
Intern Software Developer (December 2010 – July 2011)
DSP Engineer (July 2011 - Present)
Work included:
• Assembly optimisation of FIR filters on x86 platforms.
March 2010 to
2012
•
Implementation of complex frequency domain based signal
processing algorithms in C using fixed point arithmetic.
•
Embedded C software development targeting ARM processors.
•
Worked in a release manager role for a major audio processing
project – designed the API for the system, responsible for
reviewing code and integrating it into the final system.
•
Ensuring written code was testable. Developed unit tests for
developed code.
University of Technology, Sydney
Casual Academic
Tutoring in the following subjects:
• Introduction to Electrical Engineering – teaching fundamentals
of electrical engineering: Kirchhoff's Voltage/current laws,
differential equations, frequency domain response, mesh and
nodal circuit analysis, phasor analysis, transfer functions.
•
Signals and Systems – assisting students in laboratory sessions
with topics such as FFTs, block diagrams, phase locked loops,
modulation and demodulation.
•
Electronics and Circuits – assisting students in laboratory
sessions with general circuit experiments.
•
Embedded Software – assisting students with development in
the C programming language for embedded systems on a
Motorola MC9S12 based platform.
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June 2007 to
February 2008
Peter D.G. Jewkes Pty. Ltd., Ermington
Trainee Organ Builder
Peter D.G. Jewkes is the largest pipe organ building, tuning and
restoration firm in NSW. This job was taken during a semester
deferment form my degree.
Tasks included:
• Maintained organs throughout NSW including major
restoration work on a historically significant instrument in
Mudgee.
•
June 2006 to
February 2007
Assisted in general office duties.
Star Electrical, Condell Park
Cadet Engineer
Star Electrical provides electrical services on commercial construction
projects. The job was taken as part of the industrial placement required
in the UTS engineering degree.
Duties included:
• Working with subcontractors, inducting apprentices onto site
and corresponding with the builder.
•
Checking electrical drawings conformed to the electrical
standards imposed on the construction site.
•
Keeping the site IT system up to date. (Keeping all important
documents scanned and filed properly on the system).
•
Performing electrical tender counts for jobs.
•
Numerous document preparation using Microsoft Word and
Excel.
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Skills
Technical Skills
•
Very experienced with C and object oriented C++ programming. Several of my
projects are available on my website (http://www.appletonaudio.com/).
•
Experienced in the use of the gcc toolchain as well as Microsoft Visual Studio for
C development. Competent in the development of Makefiles.
•
Proficient in designing and writing assembly and C applications for digital
systems using PIC16x microcontrollers (some PIC projects which I have
published can be found on my webpage http://www.appletonaudio.com/).
•
Competent in designing and writing C applications for Motorola MC9S12 based
microcontrollers (tutored a 4th year UTS subject developing embedded software
for this microcontroller for several semesters).
•
Capable of designing and writing C applications for embedded ARM Cortex M3
based microcontrollers. Wrote a generic USB stack as part of a MIDI controller
which I am working on. (published here http://code.google.com/p/lpc1769-usbmidi-organ-console-controller/)
•
Audio signal processing – thesis was a novel noise reduction algorithm operating
in the frequency domain designed for musical instrument samples.
•
Competent in the design, implementation, testing and optimisation of signal
processing algorithms and signal processing frameworks in C/C++.
•
Experienced in the use of the Perforce revision control system. Competent in the
use of git and svn.
•
Expert on the Microsoft wave file format and RIFF container format.
•
Competent in use of Python for scripting.
•
Competent in the use of HTML and CSS in the production of my own website.
•
Skilled at assembling, repairing and upgrading computer system hardware.
•
Design of digital and analogue electronic devices (filters, microcontroller
applications). Experienced at using Altium Designer for PCB and Schematic
design.
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•
Assembling printed circuit boards (both SMT and through-hole).
•
Capable of developing with object oriented Pascal (Delphi) programming – many
projects written during high school (mainly sound producing, MIDI interfacing or
small graphical/OpenGL applications).
•
Fault finding and repairing old analogue electronic organs (pre 1980s organs
specifically).
Personal Skills
•
Strong teamwork skills.
•
I am outgoing and like meeting new people.
•
I like working in busy environments.
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Interests
•
Playing classical pipe organ.
•
Designing and building electronic MIDI interfaces designed for organ consoles.
•
Writing audio related DSP software, specifically targeted at digital audio
samplers. I publish these applications on my website.
•
Cross platform software development. I am a developer of the open source
GrandOrgue virtual pipe organ project. I created and maintain the Mac OS X port
(see http://sourceforge.net/projects/ourorgan/).
•
Embedded ARM development.
•
Analogue amplifier and power supply electronic design.
•
“Free” software (see http://www.fsf.org/).
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Appendix: UTS Subjects Current/Completed
Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical Engineering Diploma in Engineering Practice (BE
DipEngPrac)
Stage
Spring 2010
Autumn 2010
Spring 2009
Autumn 2009
Spring 2008
Autumn 2008
Autumn 2007
Autumn 2006
Spring 2005
Autumn 2005
Subject
Software Architecture
Introductory Control
Capstone B
Object Oriented Design
Engineering Enterprise
Capstone A
Engineering Project Management
Embedded Software
Analogue Electronics
Engineering Economics Finance
Real-time Operating Systems
Advanced Digital Systems
Digital Electronics
Design Fundamentals
Data Acquisition Distribution
Advanced Mathematics Physics
Electromechanical Systems
Signals and Systems
Software Engineering
Introductory Digital Systems
Signal Theory
Engineering Communication
Embedded C
Circuit Analysis
Object Oriented Programming
Electronics and Circuits
Mathematical Modelling 2
Introduction to Mechanical and
Mechatronic Engineering
Intro to Electrical Engineering
Engineering for Sustainability
Physical Modelling
Mathematical Modelling 1
Result
83 Distinction
70 Credit
85 High Distinction
90 High Distinction
79 Distinction
85 High Distinction
67 Credit
96 High Distinction
91 High Distinction
83 Distinction
87 High Distinction
86 High Distinction
86 High Distinction
76 Distinction
91 High Distinction
69 Credit
87 High Distinction
73 Credit
75 Distinction
79 Distinction
83 Distinction
84 Distinction
98 High Distinction
53 Pass
95 High Distinction
87 High Distinction
83 Distinction
83 Distinction
93 High Distinction
71 Credit
69 Credit
59 Pass
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