Ethan Johnston Email & Phone Number

Boston, Massachusetts, United States

Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

A small 3d printing and design firm helping businesses and individuals bring their ideas into reality. We also make it easier than ever to get started with your own 3d printer. If you are looking to get started, reach out! Getting your own printer not worth the hassle? Go to our website to get your custom parts instantly priced and ordered.

Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Developed an Apogee Determination algorithm which triggers parachute deployment. Worked towards a dual redundant data collection system for the first rocket launch in 2024. The goal of the launch is to reach 10,000ft with a successful recovery as a part of Launch Canada’s National competition. Enabled LORA RF communication for real time ground station telemetry up to 3000 meters.

Ethan led a team of Electrical Engineering Students to develop a fully autonomous 1.5m long sailboat which must sail across the Atlantic Ocean. From Cape Breton, NS, to Ireland. He is responsible for creating and assigning tasks to members and providing technical support to everyone. He works directly on the PCB CAD because it intersects all the individual sub-components. The PCB includes as few components as needed while still enabling good autonomy. These include a GPS, an ultrasonic wind vane, a compass, motor drivers, switching and linear voltage regulators, and MOSFETS. A couple of these components must simultaneously communicate data to the microprocessor through I2C, SPI or UART. Before starting the PCB, he designed the battery solution for the boat. He enjoys the PCB design because it enables collaboration between electrical, software and mechanical sub-teams.

Ethan led the software team while the team searched for a permanent lead. He worked to document the current code for easier transition and training of future students. The boat autonomy software is written in embedded C++, which runs on a small ATMEL SAMD20 32-bit processor. With the boat, they strive to document their design decisions and solutions thoroughly to enable easier task transition and onboarding of new members.

Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Innovasea is a renowned pioneer in designing the world’s most technologically advanced aquatic solutions for fish tracking and fish farming and are known for their equipments resilience in the harshest environments. Ethan developed firmware for the next generation of underwater digital acoustic receivers. The scope of the project encompassed developing C firmware on an STM32 processor to comprehensively assess hardware components without the need for an external test jig. Requirements included voltage rail measurements, precise current consumption measurements, ensuring the flawless operation of communication interfaces like UART, I2C, and SPI, and accurate validation of external clock frequencies. Furthermore, he successfully diagnosed issues with a stepper motors control circuitry—a pivotal element of the acoustically triggered release mechanism for the receiver. This change yielded a noteworthy reduction in standby power, lowering from 6uA to below 1uA. This achievement allowed the use of only one release battery for the entire products life. He also created a software tool to allow for efficient and easy processing of the acoustic receivers raw data.

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Provectus Robotics Solutions is an international leader in developing autonomous robotic ground vehicles for private and public security sectors and military and other governmental agencies. He worked with communication protocols such as CAN and ethernet to debug various LIDARS, Radars and GPS’. He programmed various software features, including a robotic computer unit GPS time syncing utility in C++ with automatic time zone detection, and designed geofencing functionality in Python. This geofencing functionality can restrict vehicles to specific areas, such as roads while driving an autonomous route. It is also easily used for creating no-go zones. On top of these tasks, he had everyday tasks of identifying and fixing minor software/hardware bugs and implementing smaller software functions in C++. He completed thorough Acceptance Test Procedures and sanity checks on a variety of autonomous platforms. All hardware and software tasks were managed on Jira, and they had weekly sprint meetings to plan out the tasks for each week.

Ennis, County Clare, Ireland

Continuing work for Tidal Flyer, part-time remotely, while completing school summer semester. Designing a waterproof, compact, position controlled, and non back drivable motor system for controlling the tail on a Tidal Flyer foil assembly. There a 20 foil assemblies on each Tidal Flyer system which when controlled properly and have water flowing through, results in the system to rotate and therefore generate power.

Helping students bring their engineering projects to life.

Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Ethan worked with the Systems Engineering Team at Ultra to define and review requirements and author documents for the Canadian Surface Combatant Sonobuoy Processing System. A sonobuoy is a small expendable sonar buoy system that is dropped/ejected from aircraft or ships conducting anti-submarine warfare. Multiple can be used together, allowing for underwater GPS triangulation for Underwater ROV systems, identifying the position of underwater threats, and much more. He also designed a 440V AC Power Disconnect and Distribution Box to aid in Environmental Qualification Testing for a Sonar Array’s Power and Control Cabinet.

Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada

Ethan developed an electromechanical system to control and optimize a quad-axial vertical hydrofoil array allowing for more efficient renewable energy generation in low to medium-flow water. He and his coworker were successfully able to transmit 315Mhz RF underwater for communication to the rotating array of hydrofoils. After this summer work, he worked under contract for the Ireland-based renewables company to design and produce a more feature-rich version to be used for their in-tank testing. This involved the electrical circuit design for LORA RF communication, battery management and charging, and motor control and positioning. Full Mechanical design of the IP68-rated device was completed. An ESP32 HTML web control interface was developed and embedded C++ programming was done for the microprocessor. He completed this project during his Summer 2022 school semester. “While it was a lot of work, it was a lot of fun and great being able to design all of the electrical, mechanical and software components in about 2 months’ time. To see a complex project through to the end, and it working as expected was a reassuring feeling. While there were a few hiccups and long nights, it got done with time to spare and I learned a lot.”https://www.offshore-energy.biz/tidal-flyer-conducts-tank-tests-at-lir-notf-as-part-of-selkie-project/

Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Modernized and managed their website. Curated products and created product listings for their online store, posted daily photos on social media, and completed various other tasks.

Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Developed an eco-friendly alternative to single-use plastic packaging to help reduce plastic waste globally. Ethan's role was the VP of Production and the VP of Marketing. The company won the Company of the Year award and he won the Achiever of the Year Award, VP of Production of the Year, VP of Marketing of the Year, and received a Dalhousie University Scholarship. He was flown to Calgary to attend and compete at the 2019 JA Youth Success Summit.

Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Developed an all-natural paw protector which protects dog's paws from cracking and bleeding due to the harsh salts and chemical ice melters put on the city sidewalks and roads. His role was VP of Production, and did the graphic design work and online marketing/sales. He won the company merit award and has continued to produce and sell this product on amazon.

Bachelor Of Engineering - Beng, Electrical And Electronics Engineering

Education record

Education record