Systems architect · Sugar Land, Texas
Sathappan Alagusundaram
Intelligent systems, from the device to the cloud.
I architect and lead connected systems that span devices, edge platforms and the cloud, across energy, test and measurement, and manufacturing. I've taken platforms from hardware selection to global release, and built software that moves across processor families without being rewritten. Now I'm bringing AI into those systems, so fleets in the field can spot problems and support decisions where they happen.
Sense
Instruments & machines
Gamma and microwave flow measurement, pump telemetry, the acquisition boards that read them.
Connect
Edge & cloud platforms
Containers that move across ARM64 and x64, operator interfaces, cloud remote monitoring for global fleets.
Reason
On-device intelligence
Anomaly detection and language models that run on the device and still work when the cloud is out of reach.
About
I have spent twenty years building systems where software meets hardware. I started on multifunction printer software and semiconductor factory automation in Bangalore, moved to Singapore to build embedded software for Rohde & Schwarz handheld spectrum analyzers, and joined SLB in 2015.
At SLB I led the software architecture for a new generation of flow computers for the VxSpectra multiphase flow meter. We moved the software into containers so it could follow the product across processor families instead of being rewritten for each one. Each later hardware migration took weeks rather than months. I also brought augmented reality into our Singapore engineering center, which we used for remote client inspections of equipment.
Since 2024 I have led control software for hydraulic fracturing pump fleets in Sugar Land. Alongside that work, I am testing how well small language models answer questions from real equipment manuals on hardware with no network. I write about what I learn in trade publications and IEEE venues, and review papers for IEEE and Elsevier journals.
Experience
Most recent first-
2024 – present
Software Team Lead, Senior Software Engineer III
SLB · Well Services, Sugar Land, Texas
Control software for hydraulic fracturing pump fleets: automated rate and pressure control for 60+ high-pressure pumps with sub-100 ms response, including simultaneous operation of two frac fleets from one control system.
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2019 – 2024
Systems Architect & Team Lead
SLB · Flow computers and IoT edge platform, Singapore
Led the platform selection and containerized software architecture for the VxSpectra flow computers, commercially released in 2022, and the software for the VxWave microwave multiphase flow meter. Led teams across Singapore, Pune and Houston. Introduced HoloLens-based AR for remote equipment inspection.
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2015 – 2019
Software & Electrical Lead
SLB · VxSpectra multiphase flow meter, Singapore
Board bring-up, embedded Linux, device drivers and operator interfaces for new product development and sustaining.
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2011 – 2015
Software Development Engineer
Rohde & Schwarz · Spectrum analyzers, Singapore
Board support packages, drivers and signal acquisition for the R&S FPH/FSH handheld spectrum analyzers and interference analyzers. Traced a pre-release system hang to a processor AXI bus erratum, avoiding a launch delay.
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2007 – 2011
Software Engineer
Novellus Systems (now Lam Research) and Toshiba · Bangalore
Semiconductor factory automation software; protocol layers and remote applications for multifunction printers.
Writing
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Why Industrial Augmented Reality Pilots Failed To Scale, and What Has Changed
Why AR pilots in plants stalled after the first asset, and how vision models and scene capture change the cost of the second one.
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Papers on industrial edge architecture, alarm management and on-device machine learning
Listed here as they are published.
Recognition & service
- IEEE Senior MemberInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
- Peer reviewerIEEE and Elsevier journals; Manning Publications
- Best CI Project Award, 2020SLB · AR-assisted remote client inspection
- SWTC AwardSLB Singapore technology center
Press
Bios and topics for editors and podcast hostsShort bio · 54 words
Sathappan Alagusundaram is a systems architect at SLB in Sugar Land, Texas, with twenty years building connected industrial systems across India, Singapore and the United States. He designs intelligent systems that span devices, edge platforms and the cloud, with a current focus on bringing AI to industrial fleets. He is an IEEE Senior Member.
Long bio · 111 words
Sathappan Alagusundaram is a systems architect and software team lead at SLB in Sugar Land, Texas. Over twenty years he has built connected systems and products at Toshiba, Novellus Systems, Rohde & Schwarz and SLB, in India, Singapore and the United States. At SLB he led the containerized software architecture for the VxSpectra flow computers and introduced augmented reality for remote equipment inspection at the company's Singapore technology center. He now works on control software for hydraulic fracturing pump fleets. He writes for trade and IEEE publications, reviews for IEEE and Elsevier journals, and is an IEEE Senior Member. He holds a B.Tech in electronics and communication engineering from Pondicherry University.
Topics I can speak to
- Industrial edge architecture
- Containers on long-lifecycle devices
- Silicon end-of-life and requalification
- Securing industrial devices
- Machine learning on constrained hardware
- Industrial AR
- Operator interfaces
Contact
- sathaps@gmail.com
- in/sathappanalagusundaram
- ORCID
- 0009-0006-0417-6603
- Web of Science
- Reviewer record
- GitHub
- github.com/sathaps