About

Hello! Welcome to my website. I am Nitheesh Prakash, an Engineer at Samsung Semiconductors with a passion for building secure and connected systems. I hold an MS in Computer Engineering from Virginia Tech (2023) and focus on embedded systems, Linux kernel programming, storage systems, and performance optimization. My work spans NVMe, SPDK, io_uring, and enterprise SSDs. I am a consistent learner who loves to grow and contribute through hands-on technical work. I believe experience provides the best lessons, and I strive to combine research excellence with engineering leadership.

  • Birthday: 16 September 1999
  • Phone: +1 540-750-5849
  • City: San Jose, CA
  • Email: nith16eesh@gmail.com

Interests

Embedded Systems

NVMe & Enterprise SSD

System Software

Storage Systems

Education

Masters in Computer Engineering

August 2021 - May 2023 | GPA: 3.94/4
Relevant Coursework
  • Advanced Linux Kernel Programming
  • Advanced Real-Time Systems
  • Compiler Optimization
  • Multiprocessor Programming
  • Computer Architecture
  • Operating Systems

B.E. in Electrical and Electronics Engineering

August 2017 - July 2021 | GPA: 9.08/10
Relevant Coursework
  • Embedded Systems and IoT
  • Operating Systems
  • Networks
  • Digital Systems Design

Awards

  • Best Outgoing Student - 2021
  • Young Kalam Innovator Award
  • Semi-Finalist in Intra-college IEEE Bot event
  • Won prizes in 3 Intra-college IEEE events

Experience

Samsung Semiconductors

June 2023 - Present

Engineer

  • Developed a Test Framework for Samsung's PM1753 FDP-based drive, automating over 100 test cases to meet critical customer performance/reliability requirements, reducing qualification time by 60% and capturing ~95% of customer-specific bugs.
  • Achieved linear performance scaling across 5 cores per drive on PBSSD systems utilizing SPDK and io_uring ioengine, overcoming kernel driver bottlenecks through optimal software configuration.
  • Validated the Streams/FDP feature in io_uring, leading to its upstream integration into fio v3.36. This enhanced open-source FDP adoption, reducing Drive Write Amplification Factor (WAF) to ~1 and increasing drive longevity.
  • Explored SPDK drivers, validating nvme cuse + SPDK and stub processes with 1-5% performance overhead. Engineered SPDK mode debug log collection, reducing debugging time by 80% by eliminating the need to halt CPU cores.
  • Validated PM1743 qualification methodology and developed automated test scripts for 20 diverse test cases, reducing qualification time by 50%.
  • Validated DIX/DIF implementation on FIO's io_uring_cmd engine, including metadata customization for enhanced data integrity and new bug detection scenarios. Created a knowledge transfer page that benefited 3 engineering teams.
  • Currently developing an SPDK tracing framework to capture and identify performance issues.

Virginia Tech

Feb 2022 - May 2023

Graduate Research Assistant

  • Conducted research on EM and magnetic wave effects on DRAM PUFs, identifying vulnerability-inducing magnetic fields to assess device security/reliability. Informed a research presentation and future studies.

Samsung Semiconductors — San Jose, CA

May 2022 - Aug 2022

Enterprise SSD Systems Engineer Intern

  • Developed nvme-cli support for 15 critical NVMe-MI commands, parsing raw output for human-readable display. This streamlined MI command diagnostic workflows by eliminating reliance on BMCs/additional hardware, significantly enhancing diagnostic accessibility.
  • Verified and tested new features with I2C trace of SSD and on various enterprise customer servers.

Projects

Reverse Kernel Debugging for Linux Kernel

Understanding Intel PT trace to identify the root cause of race conditions or undesirable faults in the Linux kernel. December 2022

CPU Profiler

Implemented a profiling kernel module that tracks statistics for each task on the system—total CPU time and schedule in/out counts—displaying results via the proc filesystem. November 2021

Vmmouse in Rust

An attempt to convert the Linux kernel driver vmmouse.c into Rust, linking legacy C code to the new Rust module. December 2021

RTOS Scheduler

Developed scheduling algorithms (RM, DM, PIP, PCP) and a polling server for aperiodic jobs in FreeRTOS, deployed and tested on Arduino Mega 2560. May 2022

Compiler Optimizations

Implemented dead code elimination, LICM, and LCM optimizations through a self-developed framework. Tested various micro and macro benchmarks and improved their performance. May 2022

Contact

My Address

San Jose, CA

Social Profiles

Email

nith16eesh@gmail.com

Contact

+1 540-750-5849