Kirtan Technologies – home

Independent engineering practice · Founded 2009

Trading-systems software and AI-assisted engineering

Software that places and tracks live orders, recovers cleanly from outages and checks live trading against the backtest.

The discipline behind it comes from embedded work since 2009: firmware and IoT devices that run in the field for years, where state machines, safe updates, failover and audit trails are not optional. Kirtan Technologies still designs those connected products. Its software is built with AI coding agents under strict review.

Discuss a project See capabilities

01 Software & AI

Software that acts on live data and has to be right: trading platforms, the backends and pipelines around them, and the AI-assisted way all of it is built.

01

Trading-systems software

Order handling, automation and research tooling for rule-based trading workflows, designed so that every change is tested before it reaches the live system.

  • Order-lifecycle state machines and broker API integration for placing and tracking orders
  • Phased end-of-day automation with preview runs and approval gates
  • Market-data ingestion, outage backfill, tick-to-candle reconciliation and timezone-correct handling
  • Backtesting, optimisation and slippage-robustness tooling, with live-versus-backtest parity audits
  • Broker API
  • State machine
  • Backtesting
  • Parity audits
  • APScheduler
02

Backend, data & automation

Services, databases and data pipelines that run unattended, recover from outages and leave an audit trail.

  • FastAPI backends on PostgreSQL with SQLAlchemy models and Alembic migrations
  • Schedulers, phased job runners with per-phase logs, and device fleet-health reports
  • Python pipelines that turn field crews' WhatsApp exports into audited trackers and reports: multi-format parsing, de-duplication, mixed-language vocabulary, and every record traced to its source message
  • Separate live and research servers; systemd services, automatic TLS certificate renewal and written outage runbooks
  • React and TypeScript web interfaces; pytest test suites
  • FastAPI
  • PostgreSQL
  • Python
  • systemd
  • pytest
03

AI-assisted engineering & project operations

AI agents under engineering control, for the code and for the project work around it: specifications first, every change reviewed, every claim checked against its source.

  • In-repo agent guides, skills and specialised review agents that point the work to authoritative references
  • Parallel agents in isolated worktrees, with review gates before anything ships
  • AI-maintained documentation and knowledge graphs, synced after every commit and verified against code and schematics
  • AI-run project operations: payment and purchase reconciliation, vendor masters, cost tracking and task follow-up driven from chat exports and documents
  • Automated checks in the loop: test suites, timezone and state-machine audits, schema validation
  • AI agents
  • Spec-first
  • Review gates
  • Project operations
  • In-repo docs

Own project · in daily use

Trading-systems platform

A full-stack platform that runs rule-based trading workflows end to end. A FastAPI backend on PostgreSQL drives an order-lifecycle state machine that places and tracks orders through a broker API. End-of-day automation runs in phases against shadow tables, and nothing reaches the live system until it is approved. Market data is backfilled after outages, live ticks are reconciled into candles, and timezone handling is audited across the stack. A separate research server runs backtests, optimisation and slippage-robustness tests, and parity audits compare live trading with the backtest.

Stack
  • FastAPI
  • PostgreSQL
  • SQLAlchemy
  • Alembic
  • APScheduler
  • React
  • TypeScript
Operations
  • Live and research servers
  • systemd services
  • TLS auto-renewal
  • Outage backfill
  • Runbooks
Quality
  • pytest suite
  • Parity audits
  • Approval gates
Built with
  • AI coding agents
  • Agent skills
  • AI-maintained wiki

Software engineering only. No investment advice, signals or managed trading.

02 Embedded & IoT

The foundation of the practice: devices that run in the field for years and are updated, diagnosed and supported remotely. Nine areas, each backed by delivered projects or hands-on field experience.

04

ESP32 & ESP32-S3 firmware

Firmware for connected products on ESP32 and ESP32-S3, built on ESP-IDF and FreeRTOS and designed to be updated and supported in the field.

  • ESP-IDF and FreeRTOS application architecture, drivers and modular sensor frameworks
  • Over-the-air updates over HTTPS, including over the 4G link
  • Built-in web configuration pages and persistent device settings
  • Low-power and deep-sleep design; production flashing and provisioning tools
  • ESP32-S3
  • ESP-IDF
  • FreeRTOS
  • OTA
  • Deep sleep
05

BLE, LoRaWAN, 4G & GNSS

The radio link chosen for the product's range, power budget and data rate, and made to hold up on real installations.

  • Low-power BLE sensor nodes and wearables: GATT services, BLE OTA, battery-life optimisation
  • LoRaWAN Class A nodes and private LoRaWAN networks
  • 4G LTE with multi-constellation GNSS, including NavIC
  • Ethernet, Wi-Fi and 4G with automatic failover; GSM/GPRS for simpler links
  • BLE
  • LoRaWAN
  • 4G LTE
  • GNSS
  • Wi-Fi
06

MQTT, gateways & cloud backends

The path from device to dashboard: brokers, gateways, network servers and the services that store and act on the data.

  • MQTT 5 over TLS with per-device certificates
  • Modbus-to-MQTT gateways for PLCs and meters; Raspberry Pi gateways with 4G failover
  • LoRaWAN network servers, ingestion services, schedulers and dashboards
  • Desktop and web tools for logging, calibration and provisioning
  • MQTT 5
  • TLS
  • ThingsBoard
  • Raspberry Pi
  • Python
07

Field-deployed & solar-powered devices

Devices that work outdoors for long periods and can be diagnosed and updated without a site visit.

  • Solar-powered, duty-cycled 4G sensor stations: charge control, battery sizing, power budgets
  • Sealed enclosures and distributed power with local regulation
  • Remote diagnostics, fault reporting and field-safe OTA updates
  • Android provisioning and field-test apps for installers
  • Solar
  • 4G
  • Low power
  • Remote OTA
  • Installer apps
08

KiCad hardware design & production

PCB design services from schematic capture to a board that can be built, tested and supported in volume.

  • Schematic capture and PCB layout in KiCad
  • BOM, costing and component sourcing
  • Gerbers, stencils and assembly data for pilot and production batches
  • Production test firmware, programming procedures, manuals and repair
  • KiCad
  • BOM
  • Gerber
  • Stencil
  • Test
09

Android apps with on-device AI

Android apps that do the heavy lifting on the phone: on-device AI, camera-based recognition and offline search.

  • On-device language models and text recognition (OCR) for loosely written documents and catalogues
  • On-device image processing: blur and duplicate detection, auto-rotation
  • Camera-based barcode and text recognition for field and installer workflows
  • Kotlin and Jetpack Compose; MQTT over TLS to devices and backends
  • Kotlin
  • Jetpack Compose
  • On-device ML
  • OCR
  • CameraX
10

Motor control & power electronics

Drives and protection for the motors in instruments, pumps and machines, including the mains-side design around them.

  • Stepper, brushed DC and BLDC drives; AC motor speed control
  • Motor protection: voltage and current-transformer sensing, overload, dry-run, over/under-voltage and short-circuit trips
  • Solenoid and proportional-valve drivers with current sensing
  • Mains-powered design: zero-cross detection, triacs, isolation, relay stages and switching regulators
  • Stepper
  • BLDC
  • Triac
  • PIC / dsPIC
  • RL78
11

Industrial & vehicle control

Controllers, gateways and service tools for machines, plants and vehicles on Modbus, CAN and SCADA.

  • Modbus RTU/TCP devices and data loggers; PLC, HMI and SCADA integration
  • Isolated I/O: 4–20 mA, 0–10 V, opto-isolated inputs, relay outputs
  • J1939 CAN controllers, cab displays and service tools for 24 V off-highway machines
  • Desktop service and calibration tools in LabVIEW, Qt and .NET
  • Modbus
  • RS-485
  • J1939
  • CAN
  • SCADA
12

Medical & laboratory device electronics

Control electronics for medical and laboratory equipment, built around the interlocks, calibration and repeatability these devices depend on.

  • X-ray generator control: kV and mA control with feedback, filament, rotor and exposure supervision, operator panels over RS-485
  • Ultrasonic transducer drive with automatic resonance tracking and true-RMS current sensing
  • Laboratory instrument motion: programmable stepper rotators and shakers with Hall-sensor homing, DC and AC mixer drives
  • Safety interlocks, calibration software, documentation and repair of existing equipment
  • Interlocks
  • Calibration
  • Cortex-M0+
  • PIC
  • FreeRTOS

Platforms & tools

Microcontrollers
  • Espressif ESP32-S3
  • ESP32
  • ESP8266
  • Nordic nRF
  • ST STM32
  • Renesas RL78
  • Microchip SAM D21
  • PIC
  • dsPIC
  • AVR
  • Infineon (Cypress) PSoC 1/3/5LP
RTOS & SDKs
  • ESP-IDF
  • FreeRTOS
  • e² studio
  • PSoC Creator
  • Atmel Studio
  • MPLAB X
Radios & buses
  • BLE
  • LoRaWAN
  • 4G LTE
  • GNSS incl. NavIC
  • Wi-Fi
  • Ethernet
  • CAN J1939
  • RS-485 Modbus RTU/TCP
  • USB
Cloud & apps
  • MQTT 5
  • ThingsBoard
  • LoRaWAN network servers
  • Python
  • Kotlin
  • Raspberry Pi Linux
Design tools
  • KiCad
  • Proteus
  • LabVIEW
  • Qt

03 Selected work

Client projects and the practice's own proofs of concept, from field networks to machine control. Clients are not named, and details stay general where agreements require it.

For a street-lighting controls maker

Private LoRaWAN street-lighting network

LoRaWAN pole controllers that switch each lighting phase on a schedule or on command, running on a private network: Raspberry Pi gateways with Ethernet-to-4G failover, a self-hosted LoRaWAN network server, and middleware feeding a ThingsBoard dashboard with an on/off scheduler. The same network also carried third-party LoRaWAN water meters and GPS trackers.

Delivered
  • Node firmware
  • Schematic & PCB
  • Gateway software
  • Network server & middleware
  • Documentation
Platform
  • RAK811 LoRaWAN
  • Raspberry Pi
  • ChirpStack
  • ThingsBoard
  • MQTT

For a heavy-equipment electronics company

LoRaWAN and GPRS telematics unit

Trip unit for vehicles and heavy equipment. It logs GNSS position and operator RFID logins, reads fuel, engine hours, temperatures and speed from CAN, and reports over LoRaWAN to a site gateway or over GPRS to a live server, with a local Wi-Fi configuration page. Delivered with the gateway setup and a tracking web application.

Delivered
  • Firmware
  • Schematic & PCB
  • Gateway setup
  • Web application
  • Handover documentation
Platform
  • ESP32
  • ESP-IDF
  • SIM868
  • LoRaWAN
  • CAN

For a solar charge-controller maker

LoRaWAN add-on for solar street-light controllers

Plug-on LoRaWAN module for an existing solar street-light charge controller. It talks to the controller over RS-485 and carries its charging limits, solar, battery and load readings, dimming schedule and motion-sensor settings over LoRaWAN, buffering time-stamped frames and supporting time sync and group commands.

Delivered
  • Firmware
  • Schematic & PCB
  • Frame protocol specification
Platform
  • Ra-07H LoRaWAN
  • Class C
  • IN865
  • RS-485

Own project · proof of concept

Android catalogue search with on-device AI

Android app for a searchable personal business network that uses on-device AI to interpret loosely written product catalogues: text recognition, an on-device language model and local full-text search.

Stage
Proof of concept
Platform
  • Kotlin
  • OCR
  • On-device language model
  • Full-text search

Own project · proof of concept

Android on-device photo cleanup

Android app that cleans up a phone's photo library with on-device image processing: blur detection, duplicate detection and automatic rotation.

Stage
Proof of concept
Platform
  • Android
  • On-device image processing

For a security-products company

GSM alarm panel and wireless sensors

Intruder-alarm panel armed and disarmed by SMS or by keypad tones during a call, with SMS and call alerts, siren control, weekday schedules and balance checks. The firmware runs on the GSM module's own application processor; a co-processor decodes 433 MHz wireless door and window sensors. Battery-backed, with a matching battery-powered sensor.

Delivered
  • Firmware
  • Schematic & PCB
  • Command specification
  • Production support
Platform
  • Quectel M66 OpenCPU
  • Renesas RL78
  • 433 MHz

For medical and laboratory equipment makers

Medical and laboratory device electronics

Control electronics for diagnostic X-ray generators, from motorised kV and mA control, filament and rotor supervision and exposure interlocks to the operator panels and calibration software, alongside drive electronics for other medical and laboratory devices: ultrasonic transducers held at resonance, and programmable motor control for laboratory mixers. The work also covered documentation, repair and production support for existing equipment.

Delivered
  • Firmware
  • Schematic & PCB
  • Calibration software
  • Manuals
  • Production support
Platform
  • ARM Cortex-M0+
  • PIC
  • FreeRTOS
  • RS-485 Modbus

For a heavy-equipment electronics company

Transmission controller for motor graders

Gearbox and clutch controller driving PWM solenoid channels with current sensing and calibration, with clutch-pedal, joystick and speed-sensor inputs and programmable gear maps. A graphic cab display talks to it over J1939 CAN, and a USB-to-CAN bridge connects a desktop service tool for diagnostics, calibration and per-machine settings.

Delivered
  • Firmware
  • Schematic & PCB
  • Service software
  • Specification
Platform
  • PSoC 5LP
  • FreeRTOS
  • J1939 CAN
  • LabVIEW

For an electrical-equipment manufacturer

Pump-motor protection and water-level controller

Redesign of a single-phase pump starter. Mains voltage and current-transformer sensing; overload, dry-run, over/under-voltage and short-circuit trips with configurable delays; start-capacitor switching, auto-restart timers, tank-level inputs, error history and factory calibration.

Delivered
  • Firmware
  • Schematic & PCB
  • User manual
  • Production handover
Platform
  • Renesas RL78
  • CT sensing
  • Relay drive

04 How a project runs

Five stages, each ending in something you can review.

  1. Requirement

    A written specification: functions, interfaces, operating conditions and what "done" means. Price and milestones are set against it.

  2. Design

    Architecture, data model and interfaces; for hardware, also component selection, schematic, KiCad layout, BOM and costing. Reviewed with you before anything is built.

  3. Build

    Services, schedulers, firmware and user interfaces, written with AI coding agents and reviewed change by change.

  4. Test

    Software runs against real data in a test environment; boards are brought up and tested with your equipment. Issues are fixed in a revision.

  5. Handover

    Source code, design files, deployment or production data, test procedures and documentation.

Projects are quoted at a fixed price, with payments tied to milestones.

05 About

Dhruv Acharya

Founder, Kirtan Technologies

Dhruv Acharya started the practice in 2009 and has spent most of his career building systems that act on live data: ESP32, BLE, LoRaWAN and 4G devices with their cloud backends, motor drives, CAN-bus vehicle controllers and medical devices. His focus today is trading-systems software and AI-assisted engineering, built with the same habits: state machines, recovery paths and audit trails.

For many years Kirtan Technologies delivered with a small engineering team. It now runs as an independent practice, so every project is specified, designed and handed over by Dhruv directly.

His embedded experience also covers BLE sensor networks and wearables, Silicon Labs and Nordic wireless SoCs, NXP i.MX application processors, and Zigbee and Z-Wave networks.

06 Contact

Send a short description of what you want to build: for software, the workflow and the systems it must connect to; for hardware, the interfaces and the quantities you expect. A proposal with price and milestones follows the requirement discussion.

Email
dhruv@kirtantechnologies.com
Phone
+91 93748 10280
LinkedIn
Dhruv Acharya on LinkedIn
Address
102 Vandemataram Township, Nr. Gota Railway Crossing, Gota, Ahmedabad 382481, Gujarat, India