David Bradburn Aragon
1563 Solano Ave. #434
Berkeley, CA 94707
e-mail: dave@alumni.caltech.edu
Objective
A technical, consulting, or leadership position using my skills in pattern analysis / recognition / image processing / C, C++, Java and Perl programming.
Experience
2002 - present Senior Engineer, Trapeze Networks,
Pleasanton, California
Responsible for design and development of software to manage wireless
and wired clients together on an enterprise network. Designed and
implemented modules to manage communication with multiple 802.11
access points from a common control point; to integrate client
session information from 802.11 signalling frames, 802.1X security
events, and network management commands; and to "roam" client
session information as the clients move about the enterprise network.
2000 - 2002: Senior Scientist, Ask Jeeves, Inc.,
Emeryville, California
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Responsible for selecting technologies from research and commercial
sources, and implementing them in one of the ten highest-volume Web
sites in the world. Assisted the VP of Engineering and the Chief
Linguist in planning R&D direction.
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Project leader for text data mining system to automatically discover
patterns in large sets of user queries. Investigated clustering algorithms
and graphical display techniques, and planned iterative development
incorporating user feedback.
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Developed a language classifier for determining whether a search
engine query is in English or in Spanish.
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Designed and prototyped a trend detector for discovering words or
phrases with increasing usage.
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Productized (from demo stage) a server for recognizing proper names
in Internet search engine queries. Improved efficiency and accuracy
of algorithms, added fault recovery, and made C++ code portable and
interoperable between Unix (Linux, Solaris) and Windows NT/2000 with IIS.
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Senior analyst for internal project (in Perl and C) to quantify
search engine & algorithm performance. Responsible for statistical
reporting and interpretation, developing the QA plan, creating
procedure for internal customers to design an experiment for a
desired confidence interval on a chosen statistic. Technical leader
in iterative design of UI for collecting response evaluations,
and algorithms for normalizing scoring styles across evaluators.
1998 - 2000: Senior Member of the Technical Staff, Pluris, Inc.,
Cupertino, California
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Software / firmware architecture and implementation for terabit-capacity
Internet core routers. A terabit router has unusual requirements for
scalability and fault tolerance.
As software architect for the router line card, I was one of three
inventors of a method of routing IP packets at OC-12 line speed on a
general-purpose CPU.
- Produced performance analysis models and traffic
simulations using Java, C++, Mathematica and Excel, and used these
models to support architectural decisions for hardware and software.
- Reviewed research literature and selected IP filtering
techniques with the right scaling properties for software and hardware
realization.
- Represented the software team in joint design decisions with the
hardware team.
- Defined project standards for software engineering and source
control. Produced and administered the software project schedule
while the software director's position was vacant. Became the
"resident guru" in the VxWorks RTOS, and mentored developers
who in many cases had no experience in multithreaded and/or embedded software.
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Specified the IP and ATM layers and the routing protocol update scheme.
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Developed fault-tolerant message layer (in C under VxWorks)
for the router’s internal fabric communications.
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Developed FreeBSD device driver for an ATM network interface card.
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Created Java-based graphical simulator of the fault recovery
strategy for the router fabric.
1996 - 1998: Senior Software Engineer, Ascend Communications,
Alameda, California
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Software / firmware development for ISDN / LAN access routers.
- Led development of custom encapsulation / tunneling protocol
for a European national ISP.
- Performance analysis and algorithm modification leading to 30%
improvement in router throughput under heavy call load.
- Developed tools to analyze a router's dynamic behavior patterns
in a running system.
- Team leader for group of 6 engineers responsible for IP routing
algorithms.
1991 - 1996: Manager, Image Recognition Systems, TRW Enterprise Solutions, Oakland, California
- Leader of twelve-member advanced development team for
image analysis and recognition, using DSP and nonlinear image
enhancement, neural nets and other methods. Led development
of the common image recognition architecture and image
processing libraries used across all company projects including
remittance, sales drafts, insurance claims, European bankgiros
and U.S. Mail.
- Responsible for defining company's R&D strategy for recognition
technology, and then for implementing it as a two-year Advanced
Development program.
- Led and performed technology transfer / productization
of techniques gleaned from current research, including software
implementation for delivery into live-production client operations.
- Other responsibilities included evaluating third party off-the-shelf
technologies; providing technical resources and guidance to sales and
project development organizations; consulting on make/buy strategy
and intellectual property policy.
- Software development duties included prototype and production code
in C, C++, and Matlab M-code, and software design reviews for
new C++ class libraries.
1985 - 1991: Senior Systems Analyst, TRW Financial Systems,
Berkeley, California.
- Lead programmer for handwritten transaction amount recognition system
for remittance processing by major public utilities, retail chains,
and other credit card issuers (total over 1 million checks read each day.)
- Software team leader for long-distance digital image/data
transmission system.
- Software design consultant on projects to identify and interpret
addresses on U.S. Mail.
- Designed and implemented real time control software for high
speed document transports.
- Design consultant on computer network security (technical and
policy issues.)
- Programming responsibilities have included system-level,
application and scientific code in C, C++ and assembler under UNIX,
DOS/Windows, and embedded systems.
Education
California Institute of Technology
B.S. in Engineering and Applied Science
(concentration in Electrical Engineering)
Professional Honors and Activities
- TRW Chairman's Award for Innovation, 1991.
- TRW Financial Systems President's Recognition Award, 1994.
- Best Paper of the Conference, Intl' Assoc. for Pattern Recognition, 1996.
- Member, IEEE and IEEE Standards Association
Patents
- U.S. patent pending for video image stabilization system (UnshakerTM)
- U.S. patent #
6,055,327 for a perceptually-based data entry validation
system ("Method of detecting data entry errors by sorting amounts and verifying amount order")
- U.S. patent #5,276,741 and corresponding European and Canadian patents
for a database retrieval system ("Fuzzy String Matcher.")
- U.S. patents #5,040,226 and #5,193,121 and corresponding
European patent for a
character recognition system for financial
applications ("Courtesy Amount Read and
Transaction Balancing System.") (Co-inventor
with Elischer, Keret, Johnson, and Tumenbatur.)
Publications
"
A Multi-Layered Corroboration-Based Check Reader," in
Document Analysis Systems II (Hull &Taylor, eds.),
World Scientific Publishing Co., April 1998. (Co-author with G.
Houle, R. Smith, M. Shridhar, D. Kimura.)
(Chosen as "Best Paper of the Workshop" at IAPR Workshop on
Document Analysis Systems, DAS-96.)
"Classifier for Evaluating the Effect of Image
Enhancement on Character Recognition," in
Proceedings of the International Symposium on
Optics, Imaging, and Instrumentation (SPIE),
July 1993. (Co-author with J. McNamara, D.
Casey, R. Smith.)
"Self-Organizing ZIP+4 Database for Parallel
Processing," in Proceedings of 5th USPS
Advanced Technology Conference, November-December 1992
(optimization of transputer-based database for fast fuzzy retrieval.)
"Recognition Confidence Calibration Techniques,"
ibid. (methods of normalizing character
recognition results across divergent recognition
technologies) (Co-author with M. Olea, J.
McNamara, R. Smith.)
"Pattern Classification Techniques
Applied to Character Segmentation," ibid. (neural networks
and other pattern classifiers applied to image
analysis) (Co-author with R. Smith and J.
McNamara.)
"Self-Organization of Non-Numeric Data," in
Proceedings of IJCNN-91-Seattle, July 1991
(application of combinatorial optimization to
pattern recognition and fuzzy retrieval.)
"Reducing Transmission Error Effects Using a Self-Organizing
Network," in Proceedings of the
IEEE International Joint Conference on Neural
Networks (IJCNN), June 1989 (application of
neural networks to communications and signal
processing.)