logo

Product Design and Manufacturing

 
Consulting

Before starting any job it's important to hammer out a specification for what is expected.  Communication skills are an essential part of this process because many clients don't have the detailed technical understanding of what it takes to convert that napkin drawing into a real product. Flexability is another requirement! Without exception, every design I've started has had more than one mid-course correction, most often from the clients themselves.

A consultant must also keep up on the ever changing tecnologies of the day! But, there is so much to know, it's best to focus ones skills. I now intend to take my knowledge and experience of Microchip PIC® MCU controllers and expand into the rapidly growing Android market. The need for Android to external embedded controller functionality is very high, with many large corporations getting involved. As part of that effort I am prototyping an embedded controller with Bluetooth and jumping into Android programming. I've found some unique programming tools from Anywhere Software (Awesome software: Imagine being able to create an App for your smartphone with no prior knowledge of the Android OS, or JAVA for that matter within one day). Tools like these are critical to today's fast turn-around environment. Also, due to my interest in blind and vision impaired accessability I am also researching how blind accessability to the Android platform might be achieved with simple touch screen gestures and TTS voice response.

I looking forward to talking with my next prospective client, and I hope to add your project here soon!

PIC® is a registered trademark of Microchip Technology, Inc.

MAJOR PROJECTS AND CLIENTS


PARALLEL PORT TAPE BACKUP: Developed for H45 Technology (1990-1992)

Parallel Port Tape BackupInside a parallel port tape backup system.  I have to be careful, if I go any further back in time I'll have to pull out my old vacuum tube projects.  This boards represents the internal circuitry of a parallel port tape backup, one of the first on the market.  It worked in DOS and Windows 3.1!!  You could back up a whopping 256 Megabytes and it only took 30 minutes.  The switching power supply ran at 50 khz if I remember correctly.  Today of course the coils and chips for the same power would be tiny, running at 1 to 3 mhz.  It is interesting to examine an earlier design like this; in just 20 years technology has made incredible leaps and bounds.  I wonder where we'll be in another 20 years!

 

Brooks Technology,  Killeen, TX, 76542
  website by CindyWheeler.com