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Automatic Firmware Generation for Spaceflight Hardware based on Schematics

19th August, 2026 15min

The interaction between hardware design and firmware implementation requires strict consistency in embedded systems. Firmware must exactly match the schematic-level component configuration and connectivity. In current workflows, this consistency is largely ensured through manual inspection and extensive testing. In this work, we introduce a schematics-aware approach to automate firmware generation. We propose the Group Netlist, a design- and PCB tool-agnostic abstraction of hardware. Using a reference implementation, we demonstrate our proposal for the open-source PCB design suite KiCad. As added benefit our approach serves for hardware verification purposes that we demonstrate through a fault-injection analysis. Considering relevant cases, our tool detects 75% of otherwise undetected injected faults and requires negligible overhead (less than 0.2% codebase addition and on average a 4.8% runtime increase). Lastly, we verify our tooling by successfully using it in the development workflow of an embedded satellite module.

WireGuard for Saints Row: The Third

28th June, 2026 11min

Great games come with LAN co-op. Even greater games allow you to directly enter the game lobby's IP address. Saints Row: The Third doesn't and relies on UDP broadcasts, instead. And because WireGuard doesn't transmit UDP broadcasts, you cannot immediately play this game over a WireGuard VPN. In this article, however, I explain how a simple Python script relays UDP broadcasts into the tunnel and makes this game work.

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