I'm Clayton Auld, an Anchorage-based software engineer, data analyst, and operational field member for the Alaska Mountain Rescue Group (AMRG), where I also serve as Board Secretary. Initially drawn to search and rescue through rock climbing and an interest in technical rope rescue, I quickly pivoted to providing critical technical support for AMRG's field operations.

Professionally, I am an Engineer III at GCI Communication Corp., specializing in Linux systems, network infrastructure, and embedded hardware. I earned a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering: Computer Engineering from the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Combining my engineering background with my SAR field experience, I build open-source tools to modernize rescue coordination. My focus on operational tech support drove me to research LoRa mesh networks and secure an MRA research grant to field-test hardware for search operations. I am the creator of MeshTopo, a gateway bridging Meshtastic networks with CalTopo for real-time asset tracking. I am also actively developing two other software projects to validate workflows and offline resources for use during SAR missions, and ease the workflows for responders.

I've been focusing on building tools for Search and Rescue (SAR) and remote communications:

• SAR-Respond: A specialized response coordination system for rescue and response teams, designed to streamline communication and logistics during operations.
• Meshtopo: A gateway to bridge Meshtastic off-grid LoRa networks to CalTopo maps, enabling real-time position tracking for teams in remote areas.
• SatCom Forecast: A Home Assistant integration providing NOAA weather forecasts formatted specifically for satellite communicators (Garmin inReach, Zoleo, etc).
• Pandoc Markdown → PDF: A web interface and REST API to convert Markdown files to professional PDFs using Pandoc and XeLaTeX in Docker.

Tools I use and love:

• SkiffOS: Buildroot-based lightweight Linux system for computers and embedded systems.
• Home Assistant: The ultimate home automation platform.
• ESPHome: Simple and powerful configuration for ESP8266/ESP32 devices.
• Home Assistant HACS: Home Assistant Community Store.

I am an avid user of Linux/GNU systems and love the WSL integration into Windows 10/11. Most of my GitHub work centers around home automation, Linux administration, and embedded systems. I have contributed to SkiffOS, Home Assistant HACS, and oh-my-fish.