What I Do

Knowledge

Full Product Life-cycle. I am used to being fully involved with a product over its full life-cycle. This includes evolving requirements and specifications even in a mature product.

Electronic Hardware. Probably the hardest part of the product to change is the hardware so it is important to get it right. I have extensive experience of electronic hardware development from specification, through schematic and PCB layout, to prototype build and testing.

Embedded Software. Most electronic products these days contain some sort of micro-controller. I am an expert in writing robust embedded software making the most of, often limited, processing resources. I am used to writing software to the exacting standards of the automotive industry.

Interfacing to the Outside World. An electronic device has to do something to be worth developing, therefore it must interface with the outside world. I have experience of sensor input, instrumentation, power control, USB, serial & wireless communications.

Human Machine Interface. DJs and refuse vehicle drivers may not have too much in common but they are both very unforgiving of poor human machine interface design. I can use my experience to help develop human interface designs that feel natural and are intuitive to use.

Testing and Reliability. I am used to dealing with electronic equipment that is used in hostile and inaccessible locations where fault reports may be third hand. As a result, I have learnt how to test for reliability and build in diagnostic systems for on site testing and evaluation.

Documentation & Training. I am experienced at producing the required documentation for a project, from manuals and technical specifications to on line help files. I have had experience in training plant fitters in the installation and use of complex electronic systems.

Compliance. Every electronic product must be compliment to the appropriate standards. Usually this takes the form of CE marking which I have received training in. I am also used to working to the more exacting standards required by the automotive industry.

Computer & Mobile Device Software. Many hardware products require some form of advanced set-up procedure which is impractical to do from the normal user controls. This most easily done from a computer or, increasingly, a mobile device. I have experience of writing applications for PCs MACs Ios and Android devices.

Projects

Here are just a few of the projects I have worked on:

Water In Oil Meter

I worked on the development of an instrument to measure the water content of the insulating oil used in high voltage transformers and switch gear. If this water content gets two high the insulating properties of the oil can break down causing catastrophic failure of the equipment.

Synthesizers & DJ Equipment.

I worked on the development of a number of synthesizers and DJ effects units. Here I had to get the user interface just right. These products were built down to a price as most musicians and DJs don’t have too much money to spend. This meant that I had to develop innovative algorithms to maximise the limited processing resources available.

Industrial

I was responsible for the design and implementation of automatic braking systems for large quarying machines. {META10} The video is of a CAT 980 which is typical of the machines the system is installed on. The picture is of control box for the system mounted amongst to the machines electronic systems.

Automotive

I was also responsible for the design and implementation of a similar system on refuse vehicles. Here there was the additional challenge of ensuring the brakes are applied safely in an on road environment.

Cab Display Unit

The picture shows the PCB of a colour touch screen based cab display unit which I developed (the display itself is not shown). This cab unit also featured high quality sampled sound for audible indications and it also had control inputs and outputs. As well as designing the PCB, I hand assembled this prototype.

Software

Here is a PC based set up application for a complex automatic braking system.

This is a screen shot of my take on the old bubble breaker game. See my here for more details.

Maverick

Maverick Synth is my electronic music project. Here is The Pulsor a revolutionary VSTi plugin synthesizer, available for PC and MAC.

Technologies

The projects I have worked on have used a wide range of different technologies and have been aimed at a wide range of markets:

• I am experienced in programming many different micro-controllers & DSPs. These include those from Microchip, Renesas, Freescale, Analog Devices and FPGA based RISC processors.
• I have used a number of Windows, OSX and Linux based tools and cross compilers.
• I am experienced in implementing real time software in the demanding signal processing environments such as sound processing equipment and anti collision radars.
• I have experience of Real Time Operating Systems.
• I am highly experienced in programming in the ‘C’ language in embedded micro-controllers.
• I have developed Windows applications using the Visual C++ / C# and Embarcadero RAD Studio development environments. I have developed MAC OSX applications in Objective C using Xcode. This has given me considerable, in depth, knowledge of object orientated software design.
• I am developing iOS and Android applications.
• I have implemented sophisticated signal processing algorithms in Digital Signal Processors.
• I have interfaced with the vehicle CAN bus including the J1939 protocol.
• I have extensively used PCB development software for schematic development and PCB layout.
• I can hand assemble prototype circuit boards, including fine pitched surface mount components, to save time and cost.