About the Author

John M. Hughes is an embedded systems engineer with over 30 years of experience in electronics, embedded systems and software, aerospace systems, and scientific applications programming. He was responsible for the surface imaging software on the Phoenix Mars Lander and was part of the team that developed a novel synthetic heterodyne laser interferometer for calibrating the position control of the mirrors on the James Webb Space Telescope. Over the years he has worked on digital engine control systems for commercial and military aircraft, automated test systems, radio telescope data acquisition, 50+ gigapixel imaging systems, and realtime adaptive optics controls for astronomy. On his own time (when he has any) he likes to do cabinetry and furniture design, build microcontroller-based gadgets for use with greenhouses, bees, and backyard urban chickens, and write books.