We built a multi-port USB-C PD3.2 system that treats power delivery as a software-defined problem rather than fixed-function silicon.

This started as our internal R&D platform while developing a consumer charger. We were uncomfortable with the typical “the FAE handles the firmware, you just build the hardware” model that dominates the PD ecosystem. In that model, key behavior lives in vendor-controlled binaries, arbitration rules are opaque, and meaningful customization is either discouraged or impossible.

We wanted full ownership of the system — from power stage to protocol logic — and we wanted the ability to inspect, version, test, and evolve the charging algorithms ourselves. Instead of treating firmware as a thin configuration layer on top of fixed-function silicon, we designed the charger as a programmable system from the beginning.

Furthermore, we want to empower everyone.

So we redesigned the stack with a clean separation of concerns:

* ESP32-C3 (Wi-Fi + BLE) running open firmware

* FPGA handling safety features and control plane management

* 5× PD3.2 controllers (up to 140W per port capability)

The ESP32 chip offers:

* Local HTTP/JSON API

* MQTT client

* Prometheus exporter

* OTA updates

* Telemetry aggregation

Everything works locally; no cloud required (although cloud is available).

We approached this using software engineering discipline instead of traditional embedded shortcuts:

* Software defined, and software as an asset not a liability

* Open Source firmware

* Reviewable, testable modules

* Exposed APIs instead of hidden vendor blobs

The idea is simple: if modern infrastructure is observable and programmable, power delivery should be too.

It’s fully solid-state, built with industrial components (Coilcraft inductors, Murata/Samsung MLCCs), and powered by an off-the-shelf Mean Well PSU for reliability and traceability.

Repo: https://github.com/ifanrx/IonBridge

Happy to answer technical questions.

The world is running out of silver – and AI is accelerating the squeeze

Show HN: Pure Rust IFC/BIM Viewer in the Browser via WebAssembly

Tangled: Our €3,8M seed round

Empirical evidence for consciousness without access

Show HN: Open-source expense and budget tracker with SQL API for AI agents

Show HN: A Software-Defined USB PD Charger (ESP32, FPGA, Open Source Hardware)

Introducing-Perplexity-Computer

Ganak: The making of a high-performance model counter

The Fall of Samakin Altwalker and the Dark Side of OpenAI

Rolv.ai: Universal sparse compute primitive, back end-agnostic reproducibility

John Carmack – a tech god of tech illiterates

Benzene changed chemistry forever – with Judy Wu [video]

I Didn't Like App Launchers for Arch Linux, So I Wrote My Own in Rust

OpenPencil – AI-native design editor. Open-source Figma alternative

Understanding Rope: From Rotary Embeddings to Context Extension

Mobile Is Not a Smaller Web App

UKI: Unified kernel images for booting Linux from UEFI

FinMind Universal Deployment (Docker and K8s and Tilt)

Kuva: A scientific plotting library in Rust

Vercel down in Dubai, EU affected also

Overlooked and overexploited: Extensive conversion of grasslands and wetlands

Open source Bluetooth dynamometer for climbing training

Robotics changes everyday but it is still the same three things

Show HN: OpenBerth – Deploy AI-built apps and tools to your own server

Show HN: FinMind One-Click Deployment (Docker and K8s and Tilt)

Show HN: Why LLM Personas Collapse and How Structural Identity Fixes It

Show HN: Bunny Calculator – A fast, free, and clean suite of web calculators

The Orality Theory of Everything

Really? We're Fucking Doing This Again?

Show HN: Hush: Blur your messy desktop during screen sharing (macOS)

AWS ME-CENTRAL-1 Region Down (Due to additional loss of mec1-az3)

Comments