Silicon to Stratosphere - Apps for HAPs

#react#web#@meta

timeline

Building TerraZed

1. Prologue: From Silicon to Screens

I had just joined Esencia Tech to build something unusual. Putting a face on a primarily hardware project.

The system? A High Altitude Psuedo Satellite, a high-flying telecom tower delivering high-speed backhaul network connectivity across 26GHz and 38GHz mmWave bands.

2. The Challenge: From Hardware Logs to Strategic Insight

  • Problem: Data was raw, unstructured, and hardware-bound. Field engineers were relying on CLI tools and manual parsing of serial logs.

  • Goal: Build a real-time monitoring and optimization web app to transform that telemetry into actionable, visual insight.

  • Requirements:

    • Cross-phase consistency: research → development → testing → demos.
    • Reliable deployment from benchmarking prototype boards in Menlo Park to a flight demo in the South African desert.

3. The Stack: Full-Stack Engineering from Ground to Stratosphere

  • Frontend: React + Redux + WebSockets for live updates, custom visualization of RF metrics, link status, and signal power overlays.
  • Backend: Node.js + Express + Python integration layer to interface with hardware systems (serial, RF analyzers).
  • Database: InfluxDB time-series DB with custom data degradation.
  • DevOps: Deployed applications for modular deployments across lab, field test, and demo environments.

4. React in the Field

  • Created responsive UIs with live hardware and signal performance visualization and configurable test scenario panels.
  • Implemented time-synchronized overlays of system logs, antenna beam switching patterns, and signal quality trends.
  • Focused on speed: WebSocket-backed charts with millisecond-level precision for system tuning.

5. Live in South Africa: The TerraZed Demo

  • Field-deployed the full system in Oudtshoorn, South Africa for a real-world HAPS network trial.
  • My app provided mission-critical live monitoring for teams on the ground and remote HQ teams in California.
  • The frontend visualizations played a central role in communicating performance metrics to stakeholders.

6. Impact: Productization and Acquisition

  • The system was demoed successfully to prospective partners.
  • Ultimately acquired by SoftBank, who leveraged our app as part of the OEM handoff.

7. Reflection

  • In constrained RF environments:

    • Frontend discipline matters when your UI is the only surface to interpret high-frequency hardware behavior.
    • Hardware-software abstraction is the heart of successful fieldable technology.
    • Strong documentation, consistency in interface design, and modular APIs are non-negotiable.

  • This project solidified my confidence in owning full-stack delivery pipelines from kernel logs to the last pixel on a stakeholder’s demo screen.

  • It’s a highlight of my journey blending software engineering with frontier hardware.

Curious how much better modern full-stack tools can bring exotic RF platforms to life? I'm ready.

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