David Cracknell Hardware engineer with a focus on backend and data systems Contact
Graduate engineer

Hardware engineer with a focus on backend and data systems.

Engineering master's student with experience in hardware design, coding, digital systems, and problem-solving.

Graduate engineer focused on software, data, and scalable digital systems.

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Industry 2x AMRC Internship cycles covering software, data capture, and client-facing engineering demos.
Academic First-class Strong results across years 1 to 3, including an FPGA dissertation with measured outcomes.
Current 2026 MEng Completing Electronic and Computer Engineering at the University of Sheffield.
Backend and data systems Embedded and FPGA work Graduate engineer
Quick strengths
Industry experience

AMRC internship delivery

Built sensor-data prototypes, VR demonstrations giving demos to visiting companies, and usable engineering documentation in a live manufacturing setting.

Academic performance

Consistent first-class work

Strong results across the degree, including dissertation work with measured outcomes and formal validation.

Systems thinking

Software with hardware awareness

Comfortable where APIs, databases, sensors, embedded devices, and digital systems overlap.

Delivery and leadership

Responsible beyond implementation

Treasurer, safety officer, and team lead experience alongside technical project work.

Education / academic work

Electronic and Computer Engineering MEng (Hons)

University of Sheffield | 2022 - 2026

Firsts in years 1, 2, and 3

Degree work has progressed from core electronics and mathematics into deeper software, embedded, digital design, and analysis-heavy projects. The strongest academic pieces combine implementation with testing, explanation, and evidence rather than stopping at the build stage.

Dissertation highlight

Stochastic accelerator on FPGA

First-class third-year dissertation with RISC-V integration, formal verification work, and measured power reduction.

Standout focus areas

Software, embedded, DSP, and digital systems

Coursework spanning concurrent systems, biomedical signal processing, CMOS optimisation, and hardware-aware implementation.

Dissertation PDF
Earlier education

A Levels

Calday Grange Grammar School, completed in 2022.

  • Further Maths (B)
  • Maths (B)
  • Physics (B)
  • Chemistry (B)
Additional achievements

Broader credentials

  • Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award.
  • Full UK driving licence.
  • English fluent, with basic proficiency in reading Mandarin.
  • References available on request.
Experience

Professional work with delivery responsibility.

The pattern across my experience is consistent: understand the context, organise the work properly, and deliver something that holds up for the people using it.

2024

Assistant Project Engineer Intern AMRC Cymru

Broughton, Flintshire | software, data capture, CAD, AR, and demonstration work

Jul-Sep 2023 and Jul-Sep 2024
  • Created an SQL database fed through an API to store data from LoRaWAN-connected sensors, showing how field data could be captured and retained in a more useful engineering format.
  • Built VR demonstrations to communicate improved factory-floor layouts in a practical, client-facing way.
  • Contributed SolidWorks CAD work and programmed a LightGuide AR demo with accompanying SOP material for shop-floor use.
SQL API integration LoRaWAN SolidWorks AR / VR demos
2024-25

Treasurer Sheffield Space Initiative Society

Budget ownership, funding applications, and operational support for a student rocketry team

Oct 2024 - Oct 2025
  • Managed society finances, accounts, and funding applications with responsibility for keeping spending and planning under control.
  • Secured budget that enabled the team to take part in UKSEDS, a national rocketry competition.
  • Supported practical delivery decisions so the team could plan around realistic cost and resourcing constraints.
Budget management Funding Team operations
2023-24

Safety Officer Space Sheffield

Lab supervision, testing oversight, and mentoring on safe electronics practice

Oct 2023 - Oct 2024
  • Served as the Project Health, Safety, Security and Environment supervisor for Project Lusca.
  • Supervised lab activity, tested newly created circuits, and supported junior members with electronic safety practice.
  • Helped keep practical development moving without compromising safe working standards.
Safety supervision Testing Mentoring
2023-24

Head of Digital Design Team Sheffield Sound Systems

Student team leadership across planning, progress tracking, and design coordination

Jun 2023 - Jun 2024
  • Led project management activity including timeline planning and cross-team coordination during the design process.
  • Chaired progress meetings, assigned actions, and kept delivery moving against the agreed plan.
  • Provided structure around design work so the team could make progress with clearer ownership and sequencing.
Project planning Team leadership Meeting ownership
Selected projects

Substantial work with technical depth and range.

The strongest examples here combine implementation, analysis, and disciplined reporting rather than stopping at one of those layers.

Dashboard view of the MSMLS multi-modal healthcare monitoring platform
Featured fourth-year project

Multi-modal Healthcare Monitoring Device

Our fourth-year group project built a modular healthcare monitoring platform for lifestyle and diabetes-related tracking. I designed and built the software side of the system, including the website dashboard, the Raspberry Pi and MySQL backend, the Docker and Kubernetes deployment setup, and the a app.

  • Designed and built the website with role-based accounts and dedicated overview, nutrition, and weight-tracking pages so the system had a usable dashboard rather than just raw sensor output.
  • Based on the website design, I built a native Expo app capable of running on both Android and iOS with all the same features plus a barcode scanner and ML food scanner and GPS tracking for run tracking performance and added widget support.
  • Structured the software stack around Docker and Kubernetes, with the website, backend, and related code managed properly in Git instead of as separate one-off pieces.
  • Connected BLE wearable data through the app to the sever so custom our built activety tarcker device could store data.
  • code is open source and available on GitHub link below.
Raspberry Pi MySQL Docker Kubernetes BLE / app
Project PID GitHub repo Project site

Demo website username: coach

Demo website password: Password

Prototype of the stochastic computing accelerator on a Nexys A7 board
Dissertation

Stochastic Computing Accelerator

Custom accelerator implemented on a Nexys A7 FPGA with RISC-V integration, delivering a 20% reduction in dynamic power with less than 2% error.

FPGA Verilog RISC-V Vivado
Report
Internship project

LoRaWAN Sensor Data Platform

At AMRC I created and structured an SQL database fed through an API to store data from LoRaWAN-connected sensors, turning field readings into something engineers could query, track, and explain.

SQL APIs LoRaWAN Sensor data
University profile Internship details
Producer consumer FIFO queue model used for the concurrent systems coursework
Concurrent systems

Priority-Based Producer Consumer Model

Multithreaded C coursework implementing a configurable producer-consumer system with shared FIFO queues, semaphores, and queue occupancy analysis.

C POSIX threads Semaphores Systems
Report
Filtered ECG waveform visualisation for DSP coursework
Signal processing

ECG Filtering and Heart-Rate Analysis

MATLAB coursework removing mains interference and high-frequency noise from a noisy ECG signal, then estimating heart rate and comparing FIR and IIR approaches.

MATLAB DSP FIR / IIR Biomedical data
Report
Skills / technical stack

A stack organised by how the work actually gets done.

I think about tools by purpose rather than as a wall of badges. These are the areas I have used most consistently across internships, coursework, and team projects.

Languages and software

Core implementation tools

Languages Python, C, Java, MATLAB, Verilog, Excel VBA.
Software foundations Readable implementation, debugging, test-led coursework, and formal report-backed validation.
Technical writing Clear documentation, SOPs, and engineering communication for mixed audiences.
Backend / data / APIs

Data handling behind real systems

Data work SQL structuring, API-led data capture, and organising sensor outputs into usable engineering systems.
Priorities Traceability, sensible schema design, practical storage, and dependable retrieval.
Context Most interested when software sits behind monitoring, telemetry, or hardware-aware workflows.
Embedded / digital / hardware-aware work

Comfortable close to the device layer

Platforms KL25Z, STM32, Nexys A7, and other FPGA or microcontroller development environments.
Digital design Verilog implementation, Vivado workflows, verification, and hardware-software interface thinking.
Sensing Sensor integration, embedded constraints, and system-level trade-offs around measurement and data flow.
Tools / workflow / analysis

Engineering support and delivery habits

Analysis DSP filter design, Monte Carlo reasoning, tolerance analysis, and measured evaluation.
Delivery Meeting leadership, budget ownership, mentoring, live demos, and progress tracking.
Working style Structured planning, documentation, and clear handover rather than ad hoc implementation.
Contact

Interested in graduate software, systems, and embedded-adjacent roles.

If you are hiring for work where clear software thinking has to sit alongside data, hardware constraints, or real operational delivery, that is the kind of role I want to be moving into next.

Email LinkedIn
Beyond engineering

Travel, music, running, and community work

A separate page gives more personal context around the interests and commitments that sit alongside the technical work.

View beyond engineering