Posts on Fran Kuo | R&D Leadership

AI-HIL: Giving Hardware Eyes and Hands — Closed-Loop Automation for Embedded Development

Fri, 20 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

It Started with a Complaint

Day three.

This little dev board is seriously tough. Claude Code’s free-tier generosity let me sprint hard, but I still hit the usage limit. I went to a conference that morning, and the whole time one thought kept looping in my head:

How much time have I spent copy-pasting?

JTAG call stack, SWD register dumps, Serial Console logs — paste a chunk over, AI gives a suggestion, I tweak the code, rebuild, flash, grab the logs, paste them back. Over and over. Sometimes I paste into the wrong window. Sometimes I miss the critical three lines.

Obsidian Digital Brain: Building the 'Edit-to-Publish' Workflow for chenfu.ai

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Introduction

In our pursuit of the “All in AI” philosophy, the process of internalizing and producing knowledge shouldn’t be hindered by complex toolchains. By deeply integrating Obsidian with the chenfu.ai project, I have successfully achieved a seamless “edit-to-publish” experience. By incorporating AI-assisted analysis, every note I take now resonates with my historical technical expertise.

Phase 1: Basic Connection and Path Optimization

First, we set up Obsidian as the dedicated editor for the Hugo project, linking local files directly to the Vault.

[Personal Reflections] Farewell My Angel

Wed, 04 Dec 2013 00:00:00 +0000

No more words to say. Farewell my little angel…

[Tech Insights] The Astounding Athletic Power of Quadcopters

Sun, 14 Jul 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Weeks ago, my colleague saw a very interesting video on Ted. He sent me the link and I’m really excited. The reason why he sent me was because we ever discussed the future of the video system month ago. Everyone raised different ideas of the device and my idea is the quadcopters with camera on it.

Why I wanna do such kind of device is oriented from my study in university. I’ve been studied the mechanics in Aeronautics and Astronautics department, bachelor plus master are total 6 years. There is less such kind of career opportunity in Taiwan because of the environment. Lots of my classmates join the semiconductor industry to be equipment engineers in the company like TSMC, CMO…etc. A little part including me choose different road to be R&D engineer in other industry.

The astounding athletic power of quadcopters

Sun, 14 Jul 2013 00:00:00 +0000

[Work Notes] Looking for a Solid Developer

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Recently, I’ve become very busy due to taking over tasks from another site. The original coding work is still there, so I started looking for an outstanding developer to join us. In the first month, I tried to draw from my colleagues’ and my own networks — but in vain. Now I’ve shifted the search to a headhunter and started conducting interviews.

I’ve interviewed a lot of people at my first and second jobs. Interviewing candidates through a headhunter is a very different experience. Why? Many factors influence what kind of developer you’re actually looking for.

Looking for a Solid Developer

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Recently, my workload has surged significantly as I’ve taken over tasks from other sites. Between managing original coding responsibilities and new oversight, I’ve started a serious search for outstanding talent to join the team. During the first month, I tried sourcing candidates through internal referrals and my personal network, but without luck. I’ve now moved this search to headhunters and have begun the interview process.

I interviewed many people in my first two roles, but interviewing candidates recommended by headhunters at this stage of my career feels different and much more interesting. The criteria for what kind of developer you need are heavily influenced by the organization’s current goals and history.

[Industry Observation] The Necessity of PoC on ccHDtv

Thu, 02 May 2013 00:00:00 +0000

The PoC is power over cable and it’s just like the PoE on IP camera. I met a supplier that they can provide the PoC solution on the ccHDtv system. Originally, I thought it’s a useful and necessary function but it’s not at all now. Why?

The CCTV is always starting from system point of view but not just the device only like the cellphone. The first factor is that the analog CCTV infrastructure has already built over there for a long time. That means the power cable is existing and reliable. So it is not necessary to equip the PoC except the project a brand new installation. The second, the strategy of the ccHDtv alliance is to replace the traditional analog surveillance system from VGA to HD but not to compete with the existing IP surveillance system. We can totally confirm that it’s not necessary to equip PoC on DTV camera. The others factor like the cost increase, design complexity increase and regulation to pass.

[Tech Insights] ccHDtv Study

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 00:00:00 +0000

What is ccHDtv?

Closed Circuit HD TV (ccHDtv) is a newly developed solution for transmitting full HD digital video in a surveillance system. The core concept of ccHDtv is to deliver high-definition video using digital TV (DTV) transmission. With ccHDtv, high-definition digital video can be transmitted easily over coaxial cables, twisted pairs, or simply over the air. Multiple 1080p30 and 1080p60 video streams can be easily transmitted using ccHDtv over a single 3C2V/RG59 cable up to 500 meters without any repeater.

ccHDtv study

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 00:00:00 +0000

What is ccHDtv? Closed Circuit HD TV (ccHDtv) is a newly developed solution for transmitting full HD digital video in a surveillance system. The core concept of ccHDtv is to deliver high definition video using digital TV (DTV) transmission. With ccHDtv, high definition digital video can be transmitted easily over coaxial cables, twisted pairs, or simply over the air. Multiple 1080p30 and 1080p60 video streams can be easily transmitted using ccHDtv over a single 3C2V/RG59 cable up to a length of 500 meters without any repeater.

[工作點滴] wireless module development newbie

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve started collecting the information around the end of 2010 because the wireless technology advanced to much higher bandwidth for multimedia streaming.
There are two conditions of the development that I thought.
1. To develop the whole wireless part by ourselves.
2. To buy the module directly from the supplier.
But some important factors that make me just ‘collect information’ at that moment.
For 1, the expense is very horrible.
- We have to pay chip vendor for NRE.
- We are new to be the player and we have no credit to the chip vendor.
- We have no equipment and we have to invest a lot to do it.
- There are lots of tasks need for the regulation.
To sum up, this is a money game for surveillance company and we see no market at that moment.
For 2, we could leverage a lot tasks to supplier but we still have to prepare equipment to verify the whole system and get the experience of the regulation. However, the module cost and performance ratio could not meet our requirement. It is quite challenge for me to persuade my boss to do it.
So what I can do is just keep attention on wireless technology.
Until now, I have the chance to do the development finally.
Although I’m newbie for wireless, it’s not too hard to enter this area. The reason is the technology become much mature and we can make it work even we do not know much about wireless. So, let’s just do it.
The module I use is based on Atheros AR6103 and AR6003. The driver of these two chips are similar.
The documents I study is are mainly from Atheros. I also reference the IEEE specification and search on Google.

[Miscellaneous] Growth Road

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 00:00:00 +0000

I found an interesting comic that made by Gavin Aung Than. The philosophy is suitable for every creative work.

http://zenpencils.com/comic/90-ira-glass-advice-for-beginners/

[Miscellaneous] I'm a Singer

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 00:00:00 +0000

There is a very hot TV program which name is “I’m a singer” in China. I never saw this program before because there are already lots of similar program in the world. At the first, I could not understand why this program catch so many eye balls. My memory was stay at the program that is made by Taiwan’s media years ago. Even it’s hot at season one, it become colder and colder till now. At least, I do not have that passion to see this kind of show again. So it cause my curiosity why it success at this moment in China. After searching the information on the internet and spent hours to see the last episode of season one last weekend, I start to know why it become so famous.

[Miscellaneous] Bitcoin Build on Ubuntu 12.04

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 00:00:00 +0000

I started to pay attention on the Bitcoin that is from a news that discussed why bitcoin become strengthening. After weeks study and observation, I thought the bitcoin could be one of the real monetary in future.

[Reprinted Articles] Selected Readings

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Some recommended readings:

[Tech Insights] Kickstarter

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Reference

http://mrjamie.cc/2013/01/31/kickstarter-angellist/

[Work Notes] The Study of WebRTC and SIP

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 00:00:00 +0000

[This post is a placeholder — content was incomplete in the original.]

[Tech Insights] Panasonic Color Splitter Sensor

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 00:00:00 +0000

There is a new sensor structure that introduce by Panasonic to replace color filter by color splitter. This kind of sensor remove general color filter and add the color deflector before the diode. The conventional color filter would cause 50%~70% light loss and new sensor reduce lots of the light loss. The following pictures show how it works.

The device can also be manufactured using current semiconductor fabrication processes. It doesn’t use special materials or processes. It’s a great news to bring this sensor to realization.

[工作點滴] rtmps in rtmpdump with hardware engine development

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Evostream server’s configuration for rtmps test

Add the following content in the acceptors part in config.lua.

This is for Win7 configuration and remember that we have to use double ‘' instead of single for path.

The cipherSuite parameter, we could reference http://www.openssl.org/docs/apps/ciphers.html#CIPHER_SUITE_NAMES

RTMP library

The library is main from rtmpdump. The webpage is http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu.

The libssl library - SSLv23 method is used in the RTMPdump.

- SSLv23 method

A TLS/SSL connection established with these methods will understand the SSLv2, SSLv3, and TLSv1 protocol.

[Work Notes] Generating Makefile with Autotools and Makefile.am

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Quick reference for generating a Makefile using the Autotools workflow:

# autoscan .                      // Scan the folder to generate configure.scan
# cp configure.scan configure.ac  // Copy configure.scan to configure.ac
# vi configure.ac                 // Edit configure.ac
                                  // Add: AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE(hello,1.0)
                                  // This is the required marco for automake

# aclocal                         // Execute aclocal to generate aclocal.m4
# autoconf                        // Execute autoconf to generate configure
# autoheader
# automake --add-missing          // Run automake
# touch NEWS; touch README; touch AUTHORS; touch ChangeLog  // Create required documents

# automake --add-missing          // Run automake again
# ./configure                     // Execute configure to generate Makefile
# make                            // Execute make

Following these steps provides a good template to modify the related files for my specific target project.

[Work Notes] GStreamer: Migrating from 0.10.x to 1.0.x in OpenWrt

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 00:00:00 +0000

I start to move the gstreamer version from 0.10.x to 1.0.x in openwrt. Two purpose, one is to get much more familiar with the gstreamer applications and plugins development, another one is to assist my colleagues for next schedule. Just make a quick note here.

Official gstreamer packages version I use is 1.0.5:

gstreamer core → Modify Makefile and patch, compile ok.
gst-plugins-base → Modify Makefile and patch, compile ok.
gst-plugins-good → Modify Makefile and patch, compile ok.
gst-plugins-ugly → To be check if required.
gst-plugins-bad → Modify Makefile and patch, compile ok.
gst-libav → To be check if required.

Proprietary plugins:

[Work Notes] SIP Test of FreeSwitch by FSClient

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 00:00:00 +0000

In previous articles, I tried to build the pjsip package, but it’s hard to verify that the package works correctly without a solid understanding of SIP. So I decided to get more familiar with how SIP works by setting up a switch. There are two popular choices: Asterisk and FreeSwitch. I chose FreeSwitch because pre-compiled binaries for Windows 7 are already available.

http://wiki.freeswitch.org/wiki/Installation_Guide

After installation, remember to allow the application through the firewall. Since this is just for testing, I ran FreeSwitch with the default configuration.

SIP Testing: FreeSWITCH with FSClient

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 00:00:00 +0000

In previous posts, I documented my attempts to build the pjsip package. However, verifying its correctness was challenging due to my limited foundational knowledge of the SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) stack. To rectify this, I decided to set up a controlled environment to better understand the protocol’s mechanics.

The first step was setting up a SIP server (Switch) on a PC. My two primary contenders were Asterisk and FreeSWITCH. I ultimately chose FreeSWITCH because it offered precompiled binaries for Windows 7, which significantly lowered the barrier to entry for initial testing.

[Work Notes] PJSIP on Ubuntu

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Before trying to make the pjsip work on my embedded device, I build the related libraries on PC as the reference. My environment is based Ubuntu 10.04. See the following guide.

http://trac.pjsip.org/repos/wiki/Getting-Started/Autoconf

The notes of packages building:

ALSA and OpenSSL libraries are optional and I do not install for first.
SDL: download version 2.0 and do ./configure, make; make install to install. Add sudo if encountering privilege problems.
FFMPEG: reference the official FFMPEG documentation at https://ffmpeg.org/trac/ffmpeg/wiki/UbuntuCompilationGuide. Follow the guide to build yasm, x264 and ffmpeg. The ffmpeg version (0.10.6) and building process follow the pjsip guide.

[Work Notes] PJSIP Package Build in OpenWrt

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 00:00:00 +0000

There is a default pjsip package in the openwrt but it links to the extension package of ltq-tapi and oss. What I need first is the package without extra packages. So I try to create the libraries using the latest version 2.1 for the experiment.

First, the Makefile of the package:

include $(TOPDIR)/rules.mk

PKG_NAME:=pjsip2
PKG_VERSION:=2.1
PKG_RELEASE:=0

PKG_SOURCE:=pjproject-$(PKG_VERSION).tar.bz2
PKG_SOURCE_URL:=http://www.pjsip.org/release/$(PKG_VERSION)/
PKG_MD5SUM:=310eb63638dac93095f6a1fc8ee1f578

PKG_INSTALL:=1
PKG_BUILD_PARALLEL:=1

PKG_BUILD_DIR:=$(BUILD_DIR)/pjproject-$(PKG_VERSION).$(PKG_RELEASE)

include $(INCLUDE_DIR)/package.mk

define Package/pjsip2
  SECTION:=lib
  CATEGORY:=Libraries
  URL:=http://www.pjsip.org/
  MAINTAINER:=John Crispin <blogic@openwrt.org>
  TITLE:=pjsip2
  DEPENDS:=+libuuid
endef

CONFIGURE_ARGS += \
  --disable-floating-point \
  --disable-g711-codec \
  --disable-l16-codec \
  --disable-g722-codec \
  --disable-g7221-codec \
  --disable-gsm-codec \
  --disable-ilbc-coder \
  --disable-libsamplerate \
  --disable-ipp \
  --disable-ssl \
  --disable-oss \
  --disable-sound

define Build/Configure
(cd $(PKG_BUILD_DIR); autoconf aconfigure.ac > aconfigure)
$(call Build/Configure/Default)
endef

define Build/Compile
CFLAGS="$(TARGET_CFLAGS) $(EXTRA_CFLAGS) $(TARGET_CPPFLAGS) $(EXTRA_CPPFLAGS)" \
CXXFLAGS="$(TARGET_CFLAGS) $(EXTRA_CFLAGS) $(TARGET_CPPFLAGS) $(EXTRA_CPPFLAGS)" \
LDFLAGS="$(TARGET_LDFLAGS) -lc $(LIBGCC_S) -lm" \
$(MAKE) $(PKG_JOBS) -C $(PKG_BUILD_DIR)
endef

define Build/InstallDev
$(INSTALL_DIR) $(1)/usr/pjsip2
$(CP) $(PKG_INSTALL_DIR)/usr $(1)/usr/pjsip2
endef

$(eval $(call BuildPackage,pjsip2))

We encounter the following problem:

[Industry Observation] Evernote Was Hacked

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve already change my tool from the notepad++ or Microsoft’s word to Evernote to make a quick note for several months. It’s quite simple to use and the data can be synchronize to cloud and I could access my notes through network everywhere anytime. There is a news that Samsung’s refrigerator built in Evernote for food management and Samsung show this device in the CES show. The story at this moment, I think Evernote make his products go into a new era. However, the morning sun never lasts a day. Evernote was hacked and the customers information were possibly stolen last week.

Evernote Was Hacked

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Several months ago, I switched my primary note-taking tool from Notepad++ and Microsoft Word to Evernote. Its simplicity, cloud synchronization, and universal accessibility through the network made it indispensable. There was a buzz recently about Samsung’s new refrigerator featuring an integrated Evernote app for food management, showcased at CES. At that moment, it felt like Evernote was ushering in a new era for its ecosystem. However, as the saying goes, “the morning sun never lasts a day.” Evernote was hacked last week, and customer information was potentially compromised.

[Industry Observation] Smartvue Cloud Architecture

Sun, 03 Mar 2013 00:00:00 +0000

There is a company that we discuss recently because of their elegant embedded NVR device.

I just talk about the private cloud and public cloud roles in the surveillance system in previous article.

http://frankuo.blogspot.tw/2013/02/pure-public-or-hybrid-cloud-for.html

Smartvue’s product architecture is a case of the hybrid cloud. Let’s see the whole system they define.

We can take S9 server as the private cloud server for local storage and playback. If we remove this part, the total system become a pure public cloud type. Although the pure cloud system is simpler, there are still some limitations at this moment. Smartvue let the high resolution video to be stored on the local server and high or low resolution video can optionally be put on the secure cloud. The reason is obvious that the network environment of LAN is still much clean and fast than WAN and all high resolution video can be saved totally without any loss.

[Tech Insights] Firefox OS - Liberate the App Stores

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 00:00:00 +0000

I saw a news on TV today that about Firefox OS for mobile phone and it got my curiosity. So I go Mozilla’s web site to see what’s that about. See the link: http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/partners/#

The first page have the overview of the Firefox OS. The point to me is following picture. Some of telecommunication operators and device manufacturer get involved in the Firefox OS. It shows that the operators and manufacturer want to liberate the apps stores from the providers like Apple, Google.

[Work Notes] Liberated Networking Technology

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Our company updated the homepage to a brand new look. There is the word “Liberated” used to describe the new networking technology we implemented.

According to the dictionary, I’m most likely aligned with the description “free from traditional social restraints” — because we are trying to make fundamental changes in every domain we enter. It’s an interesting journey.

Although it’s not 100% correct, I still want to record what I saw. I plotted the company’s product map based on personal observation from the webpage:

Liberated networking technology

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Our company update the home page to a brand new picture. There is a name ‘Liberated’ to describe the new networking technology we implemented.

According to the dictionary, I’m most likely the description “free from traditional social restraints” because we are trying to make the fundamental change in different area that we enter. It’s an interesting journey to me.

Although it’s not 100% correct, I still want to record what I saw here. I plot the company’s product map simply by personal thinking as follow from the webpage.

[Miscellaneous] Peking University Tickets King — Ji-Yang Pei