Freelance Rf Drive Test Engineer Jobs in Indiana

Position 1: Gateway & Wi-Fi / RF Test Engineer 

Location: Kalamazoo, MI  100% onsite

Overview 

The client's connected beds and stretchers carry an onboard Gateway module providing Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity between the device and the hospital network, backend servers, endpoints, and clinical applications. 

These devices operate in one of the most hostile RF environments: dense enterprise wireless deployments, heavy 2.4 GHz congestion, continuous roaming as beds move between floors and wings, and no tolerance for dropped clinical data. This role owns wireless verification of the Gateway — RF characterization, protocol and system-level connectivity testing, interoperability, and root-cause support when field issues are traced to the wireless stack. 

Responsibilities 

RF & PHY characterization 

Conducted and radiated RF test: transmit power, receive sensitivity, EVM, spectral mask, frequency accuracy, spurious emissions across supported bands and modulation schemes 
Characterize throughput and packet error rate against controlled attenuation; establish range and link-budget envelopes 
Operate and maintain RF infrastructure — shielded enclosures and chambers, programmable attenuator matrices, spectrum analyzers, vector signal analyzers and generators 
Protocol & system-level connectivity 

Verify association, authentication, and key exchange across WPA2/WPA3-Enterprise, 802.1X/EAP variants, certificate handling, and PSK modes 
Test roaming across access points including fast transition (802.11r/k/v), band steering, and roaming thresholds; characterize handoff latency and session continuity for a device physically moving through a facility 
Verify DHCP, DNS, IP stack behavior, reconnection after network loss, recovery from AP or backhaul outage 
Measure throughput, latency, jitter, packet loss under load, interference, and multi-client contention 
Test Bluetooth/BLE coexistence with Wi-Fi in the 2.4 GHz band 
Interoperability 

Execute interoperability matrices across enterprise infrastructure vendors (Cisco, Aruba/HPE, Meraki, Extreme, Juniper Mist) and across controller firmware revisions 
Build and maintain representative hospital-network test environments 
Debug & root cause 

Capture and analyze wireless traffic (Wireshark, dedicated 802.11 capture adapters, vendor sniffers) and correlate with device-side logs 
Reproduce field-reported connectivity issues in the lab, isolating between application, network stack, Wi-Fi driver, firmware, and RF layers 
Work with embedded firmware and driver teams on defect isolation and fix verification 
Automation 

Automate wireless test execution and data collection in Python — instrument control, AP configuration, traffic generation, log parsing, results reporting 
Interface with the device under test over CAN and serial for state control, telemetry, and log capture during wireless runs 
Contribute to regression suites so wireless verification runs repeatably 
Regulatory & standards support 

Support pre-compliance scanning and evidence generation for FCC / ISED / CE radio submissions 
Support coexistence testing and risk assessment per ANSI C63.27 and AAMI TIR69 
Produce protocols, reports, and traceability artifacts to design-control standards 
Required 

5+ years Wi-Fi / RF test engineering on embedded or connected hardware 
802.11 depth: protocol-level knowledge of a/b/g/n/ac/ax — frame types, management/control/data flows, association and authentication state machines, rate adaptation, channel and bandwidth behavior 
RF instrumentation: spectrum analyzers, vector signal analyzers/generators, power meters, programmable attenuators, shielded chambers 
Security modes: WPA2/WPA3, 802.1X/EAP (PEAP, EAP-TLS), certificate-based enterprise authentication 
Traffic & capture: iPerf or comparable; Wireshark and 802.11 packet capture — able to read a capture and reach a conclusion from it 
Enterprise Wi-Fi: practical AP and controller configuration; RF planning, channel reuse, roaming design 
Python: automation-grade for instrument control, test orchestration, log and data analysis 
Embedded interfaces: CAN, serial console/UART for device control and log capture 
Able to work onsite in Kalamazoo for the full engagement 
Preferred 

Medical device experience — design controls, ISO 13485, IEC 62304, ISO 14971, IEC 60601-1-2 EMC 
AAMI TIR69 and ANSI C63.27 coexistence methodology 
Wi-Fi Alliance certification process 
Linux wireless stack — cfg80211/mac80211, driver and supplicant behavior, wpa_supplicant debugging (high value: client's field issues have historically traced to driver-layer behavior) 
Embedded Linux BSP exposure on custom hardware 
Bluetooth/BLE test experience 
CWNA/CWAP, CCNA Wireless, or equivalent 
Wireless devices deployed in hospital or high-density enterprise environments 
Screening note 

The standout candidate can move down the stack not just run a test plan and report pass/fail, but take a packet capture, correlate against driver logs, and articulate where in the stack the behavior originates. Screen on 802.11 protocol behavior, roaming and coexistence scenarios, packet capture interpretation, and RF measurement fundamentals. 

Rohit
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