October 2001 - Present: ALDER Engineering, Sedona AZ.
Provides engineering consulting, design, and programming on a contract basis.
Positions held: Engineering Consultant.
Example Projects:
- A module used in fuel-injected cars, which optimizes acceleration by adjusting the fuel mixture on an on demand basis (Embedded PIC 16F873)
- Troubleshooting production startup glitches for the CABS system. [Details]
- Design changes to the CABS system. [Details]
- Design of various web sites.
October 2000 - October 2001: Fire Wind and Rain Technologies LLC, Flagstaff AZ.
Designs and markets electronic products to facilitate the use of alternate energy sources such as Solar Cells and Wind Turbines.
Positions held: Senior Project Engineer
Employed to complete an existing conceptual design, which was in the initial stages. The design consisted of a 4000-watt 60 Hertz, DC to AC sine wave inverter with an input range of 30 to 48 volts DC and an output of 120 volts AC meeting all power grid requirements. The unit was designed around a Zilog Z180 microprocessor. [Details]
My responsibilities were:
- Examine power grid requirements and set target specifications for the design.
- Determine all changes to the existing conceptual design required to comply with the target specifications.
- Schedule and implement remaining work (Hardware and Software) required for completing the design.
- All embedded control software. (Written in a mix of C and assembly).
(This included direct software generation of the stepped sine wave that drives the output stage with real-time amplitude and timing shifts to maintain output voltage and distortion within required specifications during load changes.)
- After prototype testing, identify and implement improvements to optimize and enhance the design.
The units produced were installed at the testing center in Phoenix, AZ maintained by APS, (Arizona Public Service Utility Company). APS concluded that these units produced the best performance of all units tested to date.
June 1996 - September 2000:Sedona Scientific, Sedona, AZ.
(A Division of Simula Safety Systems)
Simula Inc. - Designs and markets equipment and materials focused on saving lives, including air bag systems, parachutes, armor, aircraft seating, etc.
Sedona Scientific - Provides new product development of electronic devices used by other Simula divisions.
Positions held: Contract Engineer, Senior Design Engineer, and Senior Project Engineer
Responsibilities have included:
- Hardware and Software design for new products.
- Support software and hardware for production testing.
- Research & Development prototypes, support software and hardware.
- Project management.
Example Designs:
June 1995 - March 1996:Circuit Research Labs INC. Tempe, AZ.
Designs and markets state-of-the-art equipment for use in commercial radio stations around the world.
Positions held: Contract Engineer
Responsible for:
- AM/FM Stereo receiver design. [Details]
- ADSP-2105 DSP hardware and software design.
- EPLD hardware interface and firmware design.
- PCB schematic design & layout.
- Mechanical & packaging design.
- User interface design and programming.
1993 - May 1995:InterACTIVE Digital Devices, Inc., Chandler, AZ.
Designs and markets software and electromechanical devices such as joysticks, pedals and steering wheels for use with computerized games.
Positions held: Senior Design Engineer, Senior Project Engineer
Responsible for:
- Hardware and Firmware for many company products.
- Developed drivers to interface company products to work with existing 3rd party software.
- New product research and development.
- PCB schematic design & layout.
- Mechanical & packaging design.
- User interface design and programming.
Example Designs:
- A 68HC11 based Programmable Interface Controller.
- An automated tester (ATE) using an embedded 68HC11 for testing each circuit board as it came off the assembly line and sending a full report to a host computer over a serial port.
- A device selector capable of switching between multiple game port based devices while retaining full functionality on all lines on each device (both analog and digital).
1987 - 1992: Process Control Services Lafayette LA.
Designs and markets computerized real-time control systems for industrial (milling, heat-treating, petroleum production, etc) and utility (power generation, wastewater treatment and drinking water production).
Positions held: Design Engineer, Systems Engineer.
Responsible for design, programming, and installation of the following:
- Computerized "real time" control systems.
- Process control equipment in onshore and offshore applications.
- Wide ranging custom systems from small RTUs (Remote Terminal Units) to a multitasking OS used to control waste water treatment process systems.
1979 - 1986: General Engineering and Construction, Lafayette LA.
Designs and markets computerized real-time control systems for industrial (petroleum production, salt production, asphalt production, etc.) and utility (power generation).
Positions held: Electronic Technician, Systems Specialist and Junior Engineer.
Promoted from hardware design and installation to overall system design, programming and supervising installations.
Example Designs:
- A LAN communications system of software modules for automated control.
- An interstate power generation/control/monitor/logging system. [Details]
- Numerous specialized data acquisition systems.
- An automated oil well testing and logging system.
