I have spent most of my career at the algorithmic and software architecture layers, but I always felt a gap: I could design high-level systems, but I lacked hands-on experience with real-time embedded development. In practice, I always had someone way more skilled than me to help with those tasks. Building firmware from scratch, configuring cross-compilation toolchains, interfacing directly with hardware, managing system services — these were skills I had observed, sometimes tweaked a little bit, but never truly owned.
BOSSA is my deliberate effort to fill that gap. It is the foundation I needed: a reusable framework for IoT and real-time projects where I can connect sensors, control actuators, and run deterministic processes without reinventing infrastructure every time. This is my sandbox, my learning environment, and eventually, the base layer for production IoT systems I want to build.
This is a C++ and low-level heavy project, intentionally different from the mathematical and algorithmic work I usually share. It represents my commitment to working effectively across the full stack, from planning algorithms down to bare-metal firmware.
Resources
- GitHub Repository. Complete source code with build scripts, cross-compilation toolchains, and deployment utilities.
- Technical Documentation. Build instructions, testing procedures, and systemd service configuration.
Technical Overview
BOSSA is designed as a multi-threaded daemon service with a plugin-based architecture for future extensibility. The current implementation focuses on foundational infrastructure: native and cross-compilation workflows for ARM64 targets like the Raspberry Pi 5, service management with systemd integration, and deployment automation. The roadmap includes task scheduling, hardware abstraction layers, structured logging, and telemetry capabilities.
Systems programming: C++20 with daemon architecture, signal handling, and build system design for embedded constraints.
Build & deployment: CMake-based build system with cross-compilation toolchains, automated deployment scripts, systemd service integration, and remote sync utilities.
Embedded development: ARM64 cross-compilation workflows, Raspberry Pi deployment, Linux system service management, and production-oriented infrastructure.
Development practice: Code formatting automation, documentation standards, testing workflows, and end-to-end development pipeline from build to deployment.
Progress
What Has Been Built
The foundational framework is operational and tested on both x86_64 development machines and ARM64 Raspberry Pi devices:
- Base service architecture with daemon mode, signal handling, and graceful shutdown
- CMake build system supporting native and cross-compilation workflows
- Automated deployment scripts with SSH-based sync to remote target devices
- Systemd service configuration for production deployments
- Code formatting infrastructure with clang-format integration
- ARM64 cross-compilation toolchain for Raspberry Pi 5
What Comes Next
The roadmap focuses on expanding BOSSA into a complete embedded framework for production robotics and IoT applications:
- Hardware abstraction: GPIO control, PWM output, I2C/SPI communication, and sensor driver interfaces
- Plugin system: Dynamic module loading for extensibility without recompilation
- Telemetry & logging: Structured logging with configurable levels, metrics collection, and remote monitoring
- Communication layer: Network protocols for remote control and data streaming
- Real-time scheduling: Priority-based task management with deadline guarantees for critical operations