I build industrial software, embedded firmware tools, and small deterministic engines for systems that have to keep working when conditions are not ideal.
LOX means Liquid Oxygen — the technical brand I use for my embedded and systems projects.
For me, LOX stands for concentrated engineering: compact code, high pressure, clear contracts, predictable behavior, and systems that can be tested instead of guessed.
My work is focused on practical C99, C#, and C++ tooling for:
- embedded firmware
- industrial software
- diagnostics
- firmware reliability
- storage and recovery
- industrial communication
- data acquisition
- constrained edge systems
The common thread is simple:
Build tools that are small enough to understand, strict enough to trust, and useful outside of demos.
My usual design bias:
- deterministic behavior
- small integration surface
- clear failure modes
- zero or minimal dependencies
- caller-owned state where possible
- bounded memory and execution where practical
- tests before claims
- real-world tooling over showcase code
LOX is my family of embedded and systems-software projects.
The LOX projects are focused C99 libraries and tools for constrained firmware, diagnostics, reliability, recovery, storage, boot flows, permissions, sequencing, and resource control.
They are not meant to be large frameworks. They are small technical building blocks that can be inspected, tested, ported, and integrated into real firmware.
Core LOX principles:
- C99-first design
- deterministic behavior
- explicit failure modes
- predictable memory use
- small API surfaces
- caller-owned state where possible
- no hidden runtime magic
- no claims without test evidence
- practical integration over theoretical elegance
I am looking for people who can test, break, review, and validate embedded C projects on real hardware.
Useful feedback areas:
- embedded C testing
- MCU and board-level validation
- storage and power-loss testing
- reliability and diagnostics
- RTOS and bare-metal integration
- industrial and edge use cases
- examples and integration feedback
- documentation review
- failure reports with real evidence
If you work with firmware, MCU platforms, RTOS/bare-metal systems, industrial devices, or constrained edge systems, I am interested in practical feedback — especially reports that include hardware, configuration, failure cases, logs, and test evidence.
loxdb is a compact C99 embedded database for firmware, dataloggers, controllers, and small edge runtimes.
It is built for cases where a full SQL database is too heavy, but raw files, ad-hoc structs, or fragile flash layouts are not enough.
loxdb combines three storage models behind one API surface:
- KV storage for configuration, cache entries, and TTL-backed state
- Time-series storage for sensor samples, counters, and rolling telemetry
- Fixed-schema relational tables for small indexed structured records
Core design:
- one allocation at
lox_init() - fixed RAM budgeting
- zero external dependencies
- RAM-only or storage-backed operation
- optional WAL-backed persistence and recovery
- embedded-first storage HAL
- predictable behavior under constrained memory
loxdb is not a tiny SQLite clone.
SQLite is excellent, but it targets a different operating point. loxdb is intentionally narrower: deterministic storage for constrained firmware where predictable memory, small API surface, and recoverable writes matter more than SQL flexibility.
License: MIT open-source core
Commercial extension: loxdb_pro_docs contains public API-level documentation for the planned/commercial PRO module set.
loxdb_pro_docs documents the public integration-facing API for the commercial loxdb_pro layer.
The PRO layer is intended for embedded products that need more than local storage. It adds production-facing modules around the core database: validation, integrity checks, policy gates, observability, migration, transport, recovery planning, and host tooling.
Planned/module areas include:
- security and integrity
- runtime safety validation
- metrics, logging, monitoring, and alerting
- policy gates, quotas, retention, and scheduling
- backup and schema migration
- replication and transport framing
- OTA planning and rollback hooks
- CLI tooling
- optional SD card and NAND/FTL adapters
The public repository intentionally contains documentation only. The implementation and proprietary validation procedures are not published there.
loxbudget is a small, heap-free C99 library that decides whether an embedded operation should run — and at what level — based on configurable resource budgets, rate windows, and optional calibration.
It works as a deterministic pre-flight gate in front of risky firmware work:
- MQTT publish
- OTA update
- flash write
- log burst
- debug dump
- parser invocation
- queue allocation
- expensive optional work under pressure
Core design:
- deterministic
check / enter / leavedecisions per operation profile - no heap
- no floats
- no global mutable state
- caller-owned storage
- optional audit ring buffer for recent decisions
- optional rate windows and lifetime limits
- optional calibration and diagnostic strings
- single-header amalgamated distribution option
- stable public API starting at
v1.0.0using semver
Typical use cases:
- prevent MQTT storms from exhausting queue slots
- block OTA when voltage or flash budget is unsafe
- degrade logging under memory pressure
- reject non-critical work during survival mode
- enforce flash-write lifetime budgets
loxbudget is not a scheduler, allocator, watchdog, logger, profiler, or RTOS replacement.
Its value is narrower: an admission-control layer that gives firmware a deterministic answer to:
May this operation run right now, and how?
License: MIT.
loxboot is a compact C99 bootloader core for bare-metal MCUs and embedded firmware that need predictable boot, update, and recovery behavior.
It is built around a portable core with target-specific behavior isolated behind adapter boundaries.
Core scope:
- A/B slot boot model
- boot state validation
- CRC32-backed state records
- UART update transport
- rollback-oriented boot flow
- explicit platform handoff boundary
- caller-provided flash, clock, and platform integration
- zero heap and no external runtime dependencies
loxboot is intentionally not presented as a production-ready universal bootloader.
Its value is narrower: provide a small, auditable bootloader core that can be adapted, tested, and hardened for specific MCU targets.
Current practical direction includes STM32-style Cortex-M targets and ESP32-S3, while the core is kept MCU-agnostic.
Known open areas include:
- target-specific flash layout validation
- erase behavior
- hardware handoff/reboot validation
- power-loss testing
- production-grade signing
- deployment evidence before real production use
License: MIT.
loxguard is a lightweight C99 guard-runtime for embedded C.
It introduces Guard Blocks and Checked Guard Blocks: explicit execution boundaries around risky firmware paths such as parsers, protocol handlers, optional modules, recovery-sensitive routines, and code that should never fail silently.
Instead of only failing with an assert or watchdog reset, loxguard turns unsafe execution states into structured runtime evidence:
- lifecycle events
- policy decisions
- blackbox records
- reports
- CSV/KV import-export paths
- optional persistence and ecosystem adapters
Current scope includes:
- checked span primitives
- checked arena primitives
- Guard Block lifecycle tracking
- failure reporting
- policy decisions
- local blackbox evidence
- host-tested integration paths
loxguard does not claim full memory safety for arbitrary C code and is not a safety-certified framework.
Its value is narrower and practical: make risky execution paths easier to detect, record, inspect, and react to in small embedded C systems.
License: MIT.
loxalarm is a small, heap-free C99 alarm state-machine core for embedded firmware.
It models the lifecycle of one process alarm condition with behavior that is often scattered across application code, HMI logic, PLC glue, or vendor-specific runtime layers.
It includes:
- on-delay handling
- off-delay handling
- latching
- acknowledge flow
- shelving for maintenance or temporary suppression
- reason flags
- transition visibility
- snapshot/restore support for caller-owned persistence
loxalarm is designed for firmware that needs PLC-style alarm semantics without depending on:
- a PLC vendor stack
- an HMI runtime
- an operating system
- a network protocol
- dynamic memory
loxalarm is not a safety-certified alarm system, historian, HMI, or OPC UA/MQTT/Modbus binding.
Its value is narrower: a deterministic runtime alarm object that higher-level firmware, diagnostics, logging, persistence, or UI layers can consume.
License: MIT.
loxseq is a small, heap-free C99 step sequencer for firmware workflows that must survive reset, brownout, watchdog recovery, or power loss.
It checkpoints step progress to caller-provided storage and computes a recovery verdict on reboot, so firmware does not have to blindly restart a physical process from the beginning.
Core ideas:
- CRC-protected persistent checkpoint record
- per-step resume policy
- conservative recovery downgrades
- tick-driven execution using caller-provided
now_ms - caller-owned state
- no heap
- no globals
- no floating point
- optional branching via
loxseq_set_next_stepandLOXSEQ_STEP_BRANCH
Typical use cases include:
- fill/heat/drain sequences
- calibration flows
- provisioning
- controlled startup/shutdown
- multi-step maintenance procedures
- recovery-sensitive firmware workflows
loxseq is not an RTOS scheduler, workflow language, database, or general task engine.
Its value is narrower: deterministic step execution with explicit reboot recovery semantics.
License: MIT.
loxperm is a small, heap-free C99 single-header library for evaluating permissives and interlocks.
It gives firmware a deterministic answer to a simple but important question:
Is this action allowed to start, and is it still allowed to continue?
Core features:
- explainable deny mask
- first-out detection
- qualifier times for conditions that must remain true for a duration
- optional latching
- maintenance bypass support
- caller-owned state
- no heap
- no floating point
- no hidden mutable runtime state
Typical use cases include:
- pump starts
- valve movement
- actuator enable gates
- machine interlocks
- maintenance overrides
- process-control diagnostics
- firmware logic that must explain why an operation is blocked
loxperm is not a safety-certified interlock system or PLC replacement.
Its value is narrower: deterministic, explainable permission logic for embedded C firmware.
License: MIT.
loxc is an experimental trainable text codec written in C99.
It is designed for cases where the developer already knows the shape of the transmitted or stored text:
- MQTT payloads
- telemetry messages
- logs
- JSON-like records
- protocol text
- repetitive domain-specific data
Instead of trying to be a universal compressor, loxc lets you train a codec table from representative sample data, export that table, transfer it, and load it later in an application, tool, or embedded runtime.
Core ideas:
- frequency-based symbol selection
- matrix-based symbol layout
- nested submatrices for less frequent data
- binary encoded output
- trained lookup tables
- predictable table-driven decoding
- small C99 integration surface
loxc is not intended to compete with gzip, zstd, brotli, or lz4.
Those are mature general-purpose compression systems.
The value of loxc is narrower: provide a small trainable codec option for developers who know their data and want a compact table-driven encoding path for specific text payloads.
It is not encryption and not a universal archive format.
Status: Experimental.
micro-toolkit is a collection of composable embedded C99 libraries sharing the same philosophy:
no heap, no dependencies, no code generation — just
#includeand go.
Toolkit modules:
microsh— debug shell with history and tab completion.microlog— multi-backend structured logging.microfsm— table-driven finite state machine engine.microres— retry with backoff, circuit breaker, and rate limiter.microconf— schema-driven config with CRC and flash storage.microcbor— minimal CBOR encoder/decoder.micoring— generic lock-free SPSC ring buffer.microtimer— software timer manager for one-shot and periodic timers.microbus— topic-based event/pub-sub bus.iotspool— persistent MQTT store-and-forward queue.
Embedded-guard libraries bridge diagnostics, monitoring, recovery, and firmware lifecycle behavior.
microhealth— runtime health monitor with metrics and threshold-based alerts.microwdt— per-task software watchdog with escalation states.microboot— boot and recovery manager with crash-loop detection.microassert— unified panic system with hook chain and severity levels.microota— OTA update flow with chunking, CRC, version checks, commit/rollback.microflash— unified flash abstraction for NOR/EEPROM/FRAM/RAM-like storage.
Small utilities for writing safer and more debuggable embedded C.
panicdump— crash dump library for Cortex-M3/M4: capture on fault, survive reboot, decode offline.MCU-Malloc-Tracker— deterministic heap diagnostics for bare-metal MCUs.nvlog— power-loss-safe append log for FRAM, EEPROM, or NOR flash.defer— automatic resource cleanup for C viaDEFER()macro.cguard— scope guards and result types for C.safemath— overflow-checked arithmetic and buffer sizing helpers.microcrypt— SHA-256, HMAC-SHA256, AES-128 ECB/CBC.microdh— minimal X25519 key exchange for embedded systems.microtest— single-header C test framework.
num8— O(1) membership engine for 8-digit numbers using a fixed bitset.num8-lup— low-bandwidth update propagation protocol for constrained links.IronFamily.FileEngine— binary IoT file engines for config, structured logs, and firmware update package formats.
Desktop tools and firmware for real-world industrial communication.
IOBusMonitor— multi-protocol desktop tool for Modbus TCP/RTU and Siemens S7 PLCs.RTULogSuite— complete Modbus RTU logging toolchain: ESP32 firmware and Windows visualization.iotspool— persistent store-and-forward MQTT queue.uMesh— lightweight mesh networking stack for ESP32 over raw 802.11.num8-lup— low-bandwidth update propagation protocol for constrained links.
MultiGpuHelper— C# library for scheduling compute workloads across multiple GPUs.CrudFramework— lightweight CRUD framework for .NET, EF Core, SQLite/SQL Server, and WPF-ready bindings.
securebox-hw— secure hardware password manager concept on ESP32-S3 with external encrypted storage.Pragotron-Controller— minute-impulse controller for a Pragotron stepper clock.