Industrial Strength Firmware

Embedded Systems and Firmware Consulting

American River Labs is a software lab focused on embedded firmware for commercial and industrial products. We work primarily with small companies and hardware startups, supporting systems from early prototypes through production.

Our work emphasizes sound architecture, careful implementation and solutions intended for real-world use.

What We Do

We provide engineering support across the embedded software stack, working close to the hardware to design and implement reliable, production-ready systems.

Our work includes:

  • Firmware development: Resource-constrained systems ranging from bare-metal and RTOS environments to more complex platforms.
  • Embedded Linux systems: Platform bring-up, customization and long-term system maintenance.
  • Networking and connectivity: Enabling communication between devices, services and users.
  • Edge devices and gateways: Data acquisition, processing and integration into larger systems.
  • Hardware bring-up and prototypes: Moving systems from first power-on to stable operation.

Together, this work supports embedded systems from early hardware bring-up through stable, production deployment.

How We Work

American River Labs operates as a small engineering lab rather than a high-volume consultancy. Our approach is deliberate and hands-on, with an emphasis on building systems that are understandable, reliable and appropriate for their intended use.

Our work emphasizes:

  • Reliability, with systems designed to behave predictably and remain stable over time.
  • Clarity, through readable code and well-reasoned designs that are easy to understand and maintain.
  • Pragmatic engineering, focusing on real problems without introducing unnecessary complexity.
  • Usability, ensuring firmware supports both end users and the engineers who work with it.
  • Solid foundations, with designs suited for commercial and industrial products.

These principles guide our day-to-day engineering work and help us build rock solid solutions that survive year after year in the wild.