Rory Petty

VML - Lead Developer on an iPad app for the Metropolitan Opera...

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 18:15:41 -0500

VML - Lead Developer on an iPad app for the Metropolitan Opera using SenchaTouch & PhoneGap

I worked with two other developers on this iPad app for the Met Opera in New York. Using SenchaTouch, HTML5 and PhoneGap allowed us to have a common codebase which could be deployed as an iPad or Android application.

There were a variety of interesting problems to solve, including performant image pre-loading for the carousels and working around the UIWebView issues with loading large numbers of images (http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2986039/ipad-iphone-browser-crashing-when-loading-images-in-javascript).

The video player was implemented using HTML5 video and CSS3 was used for the subtitle support. Video and metadata was loaded via the Brightcove APIs.

VML - Lead Developer on Xerox Business of Your Brain...

Mon, 23 May 2011 09:47:00 -0400

VML - Lead Developer on Xerox Business of Your Brain (2010-2011)

http://www.businessofyourbrain.com

Marketing blurb

Xerox Business of Your Brain is a desktop application that analyzes your Microsoft Outlook calendars and email accounts to create a completely unscientific snapshot of your brain’s ability (or inability) to focus at work. Examining the emails you send and receive, the meetings you attend, the people you interact with and the words you commonly use, it points out potential distractions getting in the way of your focus – such as the use of nebulous clichés like “synergy” or your total time spent in overly long and crowded meetings.

Technical

Business of Your Brain interfaces with Outlook and is similar to plugins like Xobni. It has a multi-process architecture including a backend process for indexing Outlook data and an Adobe AIR-based frontend. The novel user interface presents the extracted statistics in various entertaining ways: 3D spinning brains, tag clouds with physics engine effects, calendar heat maps, etc.

Because our clients initial target was Microsoft Outlook, the initial backend is written in C# and uses COM interop to call the Redemption library for querying the Outlook datastore. The AIR front-end uses the NativeProcess API to start the .NET indexer. The indexer writes a set of XML files used by the front-end to display data and also to serialize data for future incremental indexing. Other interesting features include an exception logging system using a Google Docs backend, large scale QA testing using the UTest platform and various “heartbeat” monitoring features of the frontend to detect pauses, exceptions or other failures in the indexer process.

Because the application depends on both .NET and AIR, we needed to come up with a solution to ensure that the correct versions of these dependencies were available in all cases. When issues cropped up with installing system-wide frameworks like .NET in many corporate environments, we moved to use an application virtualization environment called Spoon (formerly Xenocode). This allowed us to build a “fat” binary with .NET, AIR and our executable, registry entries, etc. all included within the application sandbox.

Given that AIR is cross-platform, it would be simple to write an Objective-C based indexer using Apple Events / Scripting Bridge to index Mail.app and thus provide an easy Mac port of the application.

Press

VML - Lead Developer on Copia project (2009 - 2010) Copia was a...

Wed, 23 Mar 2011 19:58:00 -0400

VML - Lead Developer on Copia project (2009 - 2010)

Copia was a social e-reading startup run from inside VML, the digital ad agency where I work. We built an online bookstore and platform with many social features, including highlight, note and annotation sharing across all our devices and clients. I was the Lead Developer for both the E-Ink/Embedded Hardware group and for the Cross-platform Desktop client group.

In the E-Ink Hardware group, I coordinated with major hardware OEMs (Pegatron, Qisda) to create a line of e-ink e-reading devices for the Copia project. I was tasked with technical architecture and fullstack development including: bootstrapping embedded linux kernels and distros, working on e-ink driver and framebuffer integration, ARM cross-compilation toolchains, and using Qt Embedded to create the primary e-reader software.

In the Cross-Platform Desktop client team, I helped architect and create an iTunes-like desktop application for reading, annotation, social interaction and e-commerce. The Desktop software leveraged the Qt framework to create Windows, Mac and Linux clients sharing a common codebase. A large amount of code was shared between the desktop and e-ink reader code bases, especially the wrappers around the Adobe Mobile Reader SDK. The high level of code re-use allowed for easy deployment of bug fixes and updates across many platforms.

Copia press

Kenavision - Senior Engineer (2008-2009) Designed and developed...

Wed, 23 Mar 2011 16:44:00 -0400

Kenavision - Senior Engineer (2008-2009)

Designed and developed Applied Vision 4, an internationally distributed imaging, multimedia and educational software suite. Developed cross-platform video capture / multimedia architecture delivering Windows, Mac and Linux software clients from a single Java code base. Created version of Applied Vision 4 for Intel Classmate PC netbook platform. Developed various Mac and Linux plugins for GStreamer, an open source cross-platform multimedia library, as well as patches for GStreamer Core and GStreamer-Java bindings.

Managed design and development of scientific and educational digital imaging devices including microscopes and document cameras. Managed introduction of UVC compliant, cross-platform document cameras and hardware OEM relationships. Coordinated contracting and production with various international technology companies. Technical sales lead.

University of Kansas - M.S. Computer Engineering...

Mon, 07 Mar 2011 06:00:00 -0500

University of Kansas - M.S. Computer Engineering (2005-2007)

Worked for 2 years as a Graduate Research Assistant in the Communications and Networking Systems Laboratory at the Information Telecommunications and Technology Center (ITTC). Performed wide variety of hardware and software development for various research projects. Experience ranges from printed circuit board design, layout and assembly, FPGA and microcontroller programming, Linux driver development, and Java and C++ application development.

Worked on hardware and software for the Kansas University Agile Radio (KUAR), a software defined radio platform for cognitive radio, agile radio and spectrum sensor development. Performed spectrum measurement campaigns using software designed for the National Radio Networking Research Testbed (NRNRT).

Authored and co-authored several published research papers, including a technical report that was filed on two Federal Communications Commission (FCC) dockets related to unlicensed device operation in television bands. Presented technical demonstration of KU software radio platform at an international conference on dynamic spectrum access networks.

Publications

V. R. Petty, R. Rajbanshi, D. Datla, F. Weidling, D. DePardo, P. J. Kolodzy, M. J. Marcus, A. M. Wyglinski, J. B. Evans, G. J. Minden, J. A. Roberts, “Feasibility of Dynamic Spectrum Access in Underutilized Television Bands” in Proceedings of the 2nd IEEE International Symposium on New Frontiers in Dynamic Spectrum Access Networks (DySpan 2007), (Dublin, Ireland), April 2007.

F. Weidling, D. Datla, V. Petty, P. Krishnan, and G. J. Minden, “A Framework for RF Spectrum Measurements and Analysis,” in Proceedings of the 1st IEEE International Symposium on New Frontiers in Dynamic Spectrum Access Networks (DySpan 2005), (Baltimore, MD,USA), pp. 573– 576, Nov. 2005.

G. J. Minden, J. B. Evans, L. Searl, D. DePardo, V. R. Petty, R. Rajbanshi, T. Newman, Q. Chen, F. Weidling, J. Guffey, D. Datla, B. Barker, M. Peck, B. Cordill, A. M. Wyglinski and A. Agah, “KUAR: A Flexible Software-Defined Radio Development Platform” in Proceedings of the 2nd IEEE International Symposium on New Frontiers in Dynamic Spectrum Access Networks (DySpan 2007), (Dublin, Ireland), April 2007.

G. J. Minden, J. B. Evans, L. Searl, D. DePardo, R. Rajbanshi, J. Guffey, Qi Chen, T. Newman, V. R. Petty, F. Weidling, M. Lehnherr, B. Cordill, D. Datla, B. Barker, A. M. Wyglinski, A. Agah, “An Agile Radio for Wireless Innovation” IEEE Communications Magazine, May 2007, Vol. 45, No. 5.

D. DePardo, J. B. Evans, J. A. Roberts, V. R. Petty, A. M. Wyglinski, P. J. Kolodzy, M. J. Marcus, “Quantifying the Impact of Unlicensed Devices on Digital TV Receivers” Technical Report filed as a FCC Comment on Dockets 04-186 (Unlicensed Operation in the TV Broadcast Bands) and 02-380 (Additional Spectrum for unlicensed devices below 900 MHz and in the 3 GHz band), Cover Letter: http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/retrieve.cgi?native_or_pdf=pdf&id_document=6518724363, Technical Report: http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/retrieve.cgi?native_or_pdf=pdf&id_document=6518724364

University of Kansas - B.S. Computer Engineering...

Mon, 07 Mar 2011 05:38:00 -0500

University of Kansas - B.S. Computer Engineering (2001-2005)

Worked for 3 years as an Undergraduate Research Assistant in the Communications and Networking Systems Laboratory at the Information Telecommunications and Technology Center (ITTC)

Development of hardware and software for the Kansas University Agile Radio (KUAR), a software defined radio platform

Development of software for the National Radio Networking Research Testbed (NRNRT)

Created several engineering expo projects combining art and technology: an immersive 3D stereoscopic viewing environment, 30 foot tall computer vision-based Galaga game, 8’x8’ DJ mixer, etc.

Memberships: IEEE - President of University of Kansas chapter (2004-2005), Eta Kappa Nu Honor Society

University Daily Kansan newspaper - Online Editor Created...

Mon, 07 Mar 2011 01:49:00 -0500

University Daily Kansan newspaper - Online Editor

Created newsroom CMS and custom software bridge to Quark Express. Allowed automatic publishing to the website within the print editor’s normal workflow. Managed online staff, led re-designs of main news and Jayplay entertainment sites. The site has long since migrated to a nice Django-based solution (hat tip to Ryan Berg), but I’m still proud of our CMS workflow system.