My name is Landon Labuskes. I’m a software engineer interested in perception and autonomy. In my free time, I like photography, hiking, and occasionally photography while hiking.
I currently work at PreAct Technologies, a Portland based LIDAR startup. I work to develop algorithms that improve sensor performance and leverage our unique sensing platform to solve real-world problems.
My career professional journey started with a BS/MS in mechanical engineering from UC Berkeley, where I focused heavily on control theory. Along the way, I interned at QSC, where I used modern control techniques to improve clock synchronization. After graduating, I started at PreAct as a test engineer, where I used Python and ROS to automate and improve our testing capabilities. After a year, I got promoted to work on the R&D team, where I still work today.
As I continue in my career, I'm interested in advancing the state of autonomous vehicles, particularly when it comes to behavior planning and motion control.
Work Experience
PreAct Technologies
Algorithms Engineer
December 2023 - Present
Associate Algorithms Engineer
October 2022 - November 2023
Associate Test Engineer
October 2021 - September 2022
In my current role, I produce customer-facing applications built on our sensor, as well as developing algorithms which improve the quality of data our sensor produces. I was the lead developer on a prototype system to detect overhead collisions, successfully moving the company into the next phase of a contract potentially worth $10+ million dollars per year. I also greatly improved the calibration process, reducing the time it takes by 50% while maintaining similar levels of performance. My most recent work was to develop a novel algorithm allowing multiple sensors to operate concurrently without requiring any coordination
As a test engineer, I wrote software to control an automatic testing range, which reduced test times by over 90%, while improving the quality of our results. I also developed a custom simulator to rapidly iterate on hardware designs for monitoring cargo trailers. In between these efforts, I mostly worked on testing the system level behavior of various applications and analyzing the results to root cause any undesirable behavior.
QSC
Software Engineering Intern
May 2020 - August 2020
While at QSC, I was responsible for implementing a Kalman filter to improve clock synchronization. This filter provided a 35% reduction in steady state noise when compared to the initial moving average filter. The Kalman filter also makes it simple to detect when large measured differences are likely due to faults in the measurement process. By ignoring fictitious error signals, I was able to keep the clocks closely synchronized even in the presence of heavy network traffic.
CalSol
Mechanical Engineer
January 2018 - May 2021
Much of my work on CalSol was as a member of the steering team. I led a team of myself and three other students in designing the steering system for our tenth generation vehicle. As a part of this process I designed the overall system geometry, as well as developing tools in Excel and MATLAB to aid in the design of future vehicles. Additionally, I worked to diagnose and resolve an issue where the steering system of our ninth generation car was dangerously unresponsive.
Cisco Systems
Technical Sales Intern
May 2019 - January 2020
During my time at Cisco I worked on a number of different projects. Among these, I designed and prototyped a solar powered remote deployable receiver for IoT data. I also programmed a simple smart machine so that we could demonstrate new cybersecurity offerings to clients.