Successful Endeavours - We Make Electronics Stuff Work! » Analogue Electronics

Australian Engineering Week 2010

Ray Keefe — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 21:44:19 +0000

Australian Engineering Week 2010

Today begins Australian Engineering Week 2010. You can get a full run down on all the events at Make It So which you might recognise as a tribute to the Star Trek series.

It got me thinking about why I got started in Engineering. It was music. I had done 1 year of a Science degree focusing on Physics and Chemistry at Deakin University and had taken a year off because I had no idea why I was doing a degree. So I worked a few mundane jobs and joined a pub band. We were pretty bad. I had only started playing guitar a year before that. The equipment was low grade and needed a lot of maintenance and I was constantly trying to improve the PA, the mixer, the guitar and amplifier and the effects. They were all analogue electronics in those days. It was mostly trial and error and occasionally trial and success!

What if I knew enough about Electronics to be able to improve, or even design from scratch, my own guitar effects pedals, guitar amplifiers, mixing desks and PA system?

But where would I learn that? So I went back to Deakin University and asked them. And they suggested Engineering. I had mostly thought of Engineering as roads, buildings, bridges and transport so this was a new type of Engineering for me. But I was also hooked.

Four years later with a First Class Honours Degree in Electrical Engineering I was doing just what I had set out to do. Electronics Design was now a part of who I was, not just an area of study. My rig was designed and built by me. And I also doing electronics design and custom pro-audio equipment construction for recording studios and professional musicians.

So check out Australian Engineering Week 2010 and for some more insights into Engineering you can also read the blog at Engineering Education Australia.

Ray Keefe has been developing high quality and market leading electronics products in Australia for nearly 30 years. For more information go to his LinkedIn profile. This post is Copyright © 2010 Successful Endeavours Pty Ltd.

Local Casey Electronics Business wins national awards

Ray Keefe — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 00:44:59 +0000

We have been pretty busy so far this year preparing several new products for both the Australian and International markets including an advanced DNP3 enabled power controller for the American Smart Grid initiative. So it was a pleasant interruption to this when we received news that our local Council wanted to run a feature on us for their business magazine.

City Of Casey

The City Of Casey In Business Magazine recently featured Successful Endeavours Pty Ltd following our national recognition with 2 national awards in the technical areas of Analogue Electronics Design and the use of Electronics Design Software in bringing advanced Electronics products quickly to market.

Check out what the City Of Casey have to say about us in this extract from their In Business Magazine, “Casey Electronics Business Wins Innovation Awards“. You can see the full In Business Magazine here City Of Casey In Business Magazine which not only has an article on Successful Endeavours Pty Ltd but also on another local company, Paint Tek. Paint-Tek is run by a good friend of ours and they specialise in custom surface coatings and treatments. Ross also runs Can-Tek who specialise in pre-gassed aerosol cans, contract aerosol packing and a range of water and solvent based aerosols in retail, commercial and industrial grades.

You can check out the full story on all our awards at Successful Endeavours awards.

It was an honour to be recognised by our city council together with other small business owners in the City of Casey, a municipality in the outer south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne.

Green Electronics Strategies – Reduce Power While Awake

Ray Keefe — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 03:14:00 +0000

Electronics Design To Save Energy

We have looked at how Low Power Electronics is a green strategy because it reduces the amount of power that has to be generated. And then we looked at a range of options for Reducing Electronics Power Consumption.

Now we are into specifics. The last post looked at Sleep Modes For Microcontrollers and how extending the Sleep Period and reducing the Sleep Current could dramatically Reduce Electronics Power Consumption.

Saving Electronics Power When Awake

The next logical step is to ensure that Power Consumption when awake is also reduced as much as possible. This can be a little tricky to get right as it can sometimes eliminate all the benefits you built up with you sleep strategy. The reasons for this are:

you can use Analogue Electronics to reduce software power requirements but it has to be turned off during Sleep Mode
if you do turn the power off to Analogue Electronics then there is a Settling Time after it is powered up
using Smart Electronics Chips can increase overall Quiescent Current
unless the Startup Time and Shutdown Time are quick, these can dominate the Power Consumption

Now there are some Software Architecture issues that affect these, especially the last one, but we will look at that in another post. For the last part of this post we will address the Electronics Design issues that have been raised here.

Electronics Design – To Save Power

Electronics Design can address these Power Consumption issues. Here is an example of a Power Consumption curve where an RC Time Constant must be taken into account to minimise average Power Consumption.

RC Time Constant affect Power Consumption

Here is a list of general strategies to select from to reduce Power Consumption:

using the lowest feasible Clock Rate so Clocked Devices use less power
using shorter Settling Times particularly by controlling RC Time Constants
select semiconductors for lowest overall Quiescent Current taking awake and sleep operation into account
ensure streamlined Startup and Shutdown operation

The overall Quiescent Current issues often gives the most difficulty. This can be addressed through Design Simulation either by SPICE, Software Modelling or a spreadsheet. For simpler systems the spreadsheet is often the easiest solution to implement. For very Software Intensive Systems the Software Modelling approach is the most reliable method. This will allow you to construct scenarios and be able to predict the Power Consumption implications for each of them.

For our Electronics Design and System Test methodology we often create a full system Software Model and so it is easy to use this same Software Model to accumulate the power consumption as it runs. This can also be automated and so simulate months of operation very quickly.

Next we will look at the role of Embedded Software in ensuring Power Consumption remains as low as possible.

Green Electronics Strategies – Reducing Power Consumption

Ray Keefe — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 03:36:31 +0000

What is so good about Low Power Electronics?

If you read my last post, you would have noticed that this has the potential to reduce overall Power Requirements. Up until now, only Battery Operated Devices have really cared about Power Consumption. If you could plug it into a wall outlet then all was OK unless you were consuming more power than a standard circuit allowed.

Today, things are different. Climate Change is a global concern and reducing the Carbon Footprint for a product is important, regardless of what sort of power it consumes.

If we can reduce the Power Consumption of an appliance by 50%, then provided it’s Electronics Manufacture does not add that back again, we have a net Carbon Footprint gain. In fact, if we can do this across all products then we will meet our Global Carbon Reduction target of 50% by 2050 with this strategy alone.

How to reduce Electronics Power Consumption

This is not a new topic, and much of what I present here represents the combined experience of the Electronics and Embedded Software industry. Here is the short list:

reduce the Supply Voltage for Microcontrollers, Microprocessors and CMOS Circuits in general
use Sleep Modes and keep the Wake Periods as short as possible
replace High Power Consumption Devices with Low Power Consumption Devices
replace high utilisation Digital Filters with Analogue Electronics equivalents
replace Polled Operating Modes with Event Driven Operating Modes
use Low Power Smart Peripherals that Wake the rest of the System only when required
reduce the Time To Wake and the Time To Sleep
optimise the Software Execution Flow
use Energy Harvesting
Remove power from sections of Electronics Circuitry when not in use

There is overlap and interdependency between these but that is a good starting point.

Next I will start look at specific examples.

Electronics Design and Embedded Software Capability

Ray Keefe — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 02:01:17 +0000

Electronics Manufacturers are the people we serve

A common question we are asked is what sort of Electronics Manufacturers do we Develop Products for?

So I thought I would compile 3 lists:

The first is a list of the Electronics and Embedded Software product types we have worked on
The second list is a list of the industries we have Developed Products for
And the third list is the Technologies we have worked with so far

I might have to regularly update this third list since knowledge and technology are constantly expanding. Before I do the lists I’d like to present a video that specifically addresses this last point. This is very much worth thinking about. Enjoy.

Electronics and Embedded Software Products

Did you notice the section from 1:45 to 2:15? We are being prepared for jobs that don’t yet exist, technologies that haven’t been invented, and problems we don’t even know we will have!

Here is the list of some of the Electronics and Embedded Software Products that do already exist and which we have helped to create:

Automotive Siren
Automotive Immobiliser
Automotive Body Computer
Automotive Thermostat Monitor
Industrial Shock and Vibration Sensor
2D shock sensor with event logging and shock profile capture
3D shock sensor with event logging and shock profile capture
2D tilt sensor
3D tilt sensor
Remote Thermostat Monitor
Electronic level sensor – gravitic spirit level
Underground Cable Sheath Fault Locator
Pipe and Cable Locator
Cable Pair Identifier
Cable Cutover Set
Cable Fault Locator Bridge
Circuit Tracer
Portable Appliance Tester – PAT
Time Domain Reflectometer
Voltage Surge Arrestors
Automated Switch Tester – high volume production
Water Pump Controller
Programmable Air Blower
Pool and Spa Pump Controller
Touchpad Pump and Blower Controller
Pump Controller Protocol Converter
LCD Based Spa Controller
Temperature Probe
Thermal Cutout for Spa
Humidity Sealed Touchpad
Electrically Isolated Air Plunger Actuator
Digital Pump State Controller
Thermistor Based Temperature Sensor
Underwater LED Pool Light
Pump Loss Of Prime Detector
Earth Leakage Measurement device for Safety Certification
Loading Coil Crosstalk Measurement Tester with 120dB range
ADSL Service Detector
Communications Set for Telephony Service Technicians
Wireless Data Logger
Corrosion Protection Data Logger
High Voltage Disconnect Switch Controller
Electrically Held Switch
Temperature Controller for Reptiles
Smoke Alarm Repeater and Exit Indicator
Electromagnet Therapy Apparatus
Fork Lift Speed Limiter
Personnel Proximity Alerter using active RFID
Fork Lift Proximity Alerter using active RFID
Power Factor Correction controller
Ultra Low Power Battery Operated Telemetry
Septic Tank Sludge Level Meter
PIR Based Vandal Displacer
Bin Cycle Reminder
Parallel Banked High Current Capacity Battery Charger
UPS Battery Bank Controller
Trickle Charge Battery Manager
Epidural Procedure Simulator
Air Ram based Saline Syringe Simulator
USB Air Solenoid Valve Controller
Bluetooth Based RS232 Extender
Conveyor Belt Controller
Programmable Conveyor Step Controller
Gate Entry Keypad
Gate Entry Touchscreen
Horse Tracker with GPS
Kick Boxing Impact Measurement Device
Infra Red based communications system – IR
IR Vehicle Identification System
RFID Vehicle Identification System
Industrial Proximity Card Reader MiFare
Industrial Proximity Card Reader HID iClass
Industrial Proximity Card Reader HID Proxcard II
Industrial Proximity Card Reader Indala
Industrial iButton Reader
Protocol Converters For Security Systems
USB iButton Reader
RS232 iButton Reader
Wireless iButton Reader
Rugged Vehicle Management System
Automatic Rain Tank Valve Controller
Tyre Pressure Measurement and Reporting System for Trucks
Vehicle Area Network using Wireless Communications
iButton based Vehicle Access Controller with Event Logging
Custom Audio Mixer for English Language Training Assessment
Automated In System Programmer for Production
Countdown Screensaver for the Olympics
Studio Quality Microphone Preamplifier with Phantom Power
Studio Quality Instrument Interface
Passive DI
Brushless DC Motor Controller – BLDC
RS232 Based CRO for Windows
USB Based CRO for Windows
Differential Voltage Buffer for Data Logging
FLEXIO Platform Remote IO with Data Logging
Windows Based Fractal Generator Software
Windows Based GPS Tracking Software
Graphical Data Visualisation for Windows
Data Logger File Format Converter
RGB LED Lighting Controller
RS232 Protocol Analyser
RS232 Data Capture Wizard
Transit Sentinel Shock and Tilt Monitor for goods in transit
Industrial Timer Module
Concentrated Solar Power Dish Controller
Programmable Lathe
Safeturn Bicycle Turn Indicator
Container Terminal Vehicle Management and Container Tracking System
Exit Gate Access Controller
Truck Parking Wireless Keypad
Hand Held Vehicle Access Updater
Dashboard Mounted Intelligent Alert Module
Dashboard Mounted LCD Module with Keypad
RS232 Port Multiplexer
Active RFID 2D positioning System
Digital Compass
Load Dump Protected Power Supply
Load Dump Protection Module for Vehicle Mounted Telemetry
Remote Fuel Level Monitoring
PLC Protocol Converter
Infra Red 2D positioning System – IR
Lightning Protection Interface

Here is what it looks like visually. I used Wordle to create this.

Electronics and Embedded Software Products

Electronics Industries

Now for the list of industries we have supported with Electronics Design and Embedded Software Development:

Container Terminals
Container Terminal Management Systems
Fleet Vehicle Management
Container Tracking
Vehicle Access and Management
Vehicle Tracking
Industrial Telemetry
Renewable Energy Generation
Telecommunications Carriers
Warehouses
Road Freight
Rail Freight
Sea Freight
Domestic Pools
Domestic Spas and Spa Baths
Commercial Pools
Irrigation
Farming
Telephony Carriers
Telephony Service Technicians
Plumbers
Trench Diggers
Excavators
Automotive Assemblers
Automotive After Market
Security
Councils
Churches
Not For Profit Agencies
Charities
Electronics Manufacturers
OEM
Capital Asset Management
Pipeline Integrity Monitoring
Storage Tank Integrity Monitoring
Solar Power Conversion
Wired Telemetry
Wireless Telemetry
Tamper Detection
Remote Asset Monitoring
Bicycle Safety
Fork Lift Safety
OH&S
High Voltage Power Distribution
Electrical Safety Testing and Certification
Goods in Transit Monitoring
RFID
Automotive Load Dump Protection
Data Logging
Data Visualisation
Legacy System Support
IR Communications
Fuel Monitoring
LED Lighting and Illumination
Full Colour Control Lighting
Cable Video
ESD Protection
Lightning Protection
Exporters
Web Services Developers
Power Supplies
English Language Training
Medical Training
Sewage
Septic Tanks
Electricians
Technicians
Software Developers
Embedded Software Developers
Medical Practitioners
Councils
Ratepayers
Tenants
Automotive Component Manufacturers
Precision Machining
Repetition Machining
Repetition Engineering
Authors
Musicians
Studio Technicians
Recording Studios
Live Audio Mixing
Music Equipment Manufacturers
Test Equipment Manufacturers
Power Distribution Equipment Manufacturers

And a wordle of this:

Electronics and Embedded Software Industries

Electronics and Embedded Software Technologies

And the third list is the Electronics and Embedded Software technologies we have worked with so far (but Shift Happens so it will continue to expand):

Printed Circuit Board Design
Printed Circuit Board Layout
Surface Mount
Through Hole
Track, Pad, Via, Buried Via, Plane, Power Plane, Layer
Connector, joint, plug, socket, inline
Wire, Cable, Harness, Bundle, Screen, Shield
Strip, Crimp, Insulation Displacement, Crush
Cable Tie, Grommet, Edge Strip, Trim
IP40, IP54, IP64, IP65, IP66, IP67, IP68 enclosures
Battery Powered
Mains Powered
Solar Powered
Energy Harvesting
RS232, RS422, RS485
USB
TCP/IP
Ethernet
GSM, GPRS, CDMA, HDSPA
Battery Backed Real Time Clock – RTC
Battery Backup
FLASH memory
Electronic Circuit Simulation
Electronic Circuit Design
Electronic Circuit Prototype
EMC Testing
C-Tick, A-Tick, CE, FCC, TUV, CSA, UL, CISPR, AS
Safety Testing
Microcontrollers
8 Bit, 16 Bit, 32 Bit
Windows
DOS
Linux
Analogue Electronics
Power Electronics
Stepper Motor Controller
Brushless DC motor Controller – BLDC
DC Motor Controller
Speed Control
Position Control
GPS
ASK, OOK, FSK, PSK, QPSK
iButton
Thermistor
Resistor
Capacitor
Bipolar Transistor
MOSFET
CMOS
LED
Inductor
Coil
Choke
Transformer
Winding
Component, Part
Parts List, BOM, Bill Of Materials, Kit
Charge Pump
Switch Mode Power Supply – SMPS
Passive Filter
Active Filter
Low Pass Filer, Band Pass Filter, High Pass Filter, Notch Filter
SCR, Triac, Diac
Diode
Schottky Diode
IGBT
Overvoltage Protection
Load Dump Rated
Supercap, Super Capacitor
Tuned Circuit
Switch, Microswitch, Rotary Switch, Momentary Contact Switch, Latching
Relay, Latching Relay, Bistable Relay, Mechanical Relay
Solid State Switch
Pot, Potentiometer, Trimpot, Linear Potentiometer, Slider, Fader
solder, lead free, ROHS, solderless, solder free, soldering iron, solder bath, desolder
encapsulate, pot, conformal coating, seal, water tight, water proof, weather proof
sensor, MEMS, strain gauge, accelerometer, gyroscope, gyro
piezo, piezo film, piezo resistive
beeper, buzzer, speaker, microphone
PIR, IR, LVD, LDS
Battery Charger, Battery Management
Antenna
Trasnsmitter, Receiver, Transceiver, Line Driver
CAN, LIN, J1939, Packet, Checksum, CRC, Forward Error Correction, ECC, Error Correction Coding
UDP, TCP, HTTP, IP, FTP, SMTP, SNMP, SNAP, RSS, Streaming, Stream
Secure, Encryption, AES, DES, Triple DES
Low Power Radio
Ultra Low Power, Pico Power, Microwatt, Milliwatt, Watt
IC, Integrated Circuit, Silicon Chip, Chip, Module, Assembly
Assembler, C, Source Code, File, C++, Delphi, programming language
AC, DC, Hertz, Hz, Frequency, UHF, VHF, AM, FM
2.4G, 315MHz, 433MHz, 433.92MHz, 434MHz, 868.3MHz, 915MHz
Unit Test, Integration Test, System Test, Verification, Validation
Specification, Functional Test, Test Specification, Test Plan
Coding, Debug, Debugging, Allocation Matrix, Review, Peer Review
Code Review, Code Walkthrough, Test Suite, Test Driven Development
Functional Test, Stress Test, Thermal Stress, Accelerated Life test
Design Documentation, Architecture, Achitectural Design
FMEA, Design Audit, Design Review
Mock, Simulate, Simulation, System Simulation
JTAG, ISP, Debug Wire
Bootloader, module, system, embedded system, embedded software
Firmware, Hardware, Software, FPGA, EPLD, CPLD
Altium Designer, Protel, IAR, Borland, Code Gear, Microsoft, Embarcadero Technologies
SDL, Doxygen, GraphViz, ESB, Gimple PC-Lint, RSM, Greenleaf, Novamind
VMWare, Virtualisation, Solidworks, Ultraedit, Ultraedit Studio, Programmers Notepad, Eclispe
RAM, ROM, FLASH, EEPROM, Peripheral, Port, Register, Memory, Harvard, Address Space
Call, Routine, Subroutine, Pass, Pointer, Parameter, Return, Global, Static, Local, Table
Compile Time, Run Time, Design Time, Type Safe, Execution, Boot, Reset, Reboot
Abstract, Encapsulate, Embed, Hide, Structure, Class, Object
Power Up, Power On, System Startup, Run, Launch
Multiply, Multiplier, Analogue Multiplier, PLL, Phase Locked Loop
Comparator, Amplifier, Operational Amplifier, Gain, Phase, Margin
Buffer, Gate, OR, XOR, AND, NOR, NAND, NEXOR, NXOR
Dual, Triple, Quad, Hex
Binary, Boolean, Octal, Decimal, Hexadecimal, Base 2, Base 8, Base 10, Base 16
Pole, Zero, Stable, Transfer Function, Laplace Transfer, FFT, DCT
Time Domain, Frequency Domain, Phase Domain
First order, second order, third order
Differential equation, rate, delta, change
debounce, median, range check, bound, time constant
settling time, conversion time, ADC, dual slope, DAC, Multiplexer
Analogue Switch, Router, Address, Data, IO, input, output
Timer, Input Capture, Watchdog, Brown Out Detector
UART, USART, I2C, TWI, SPI, Microwire, Bit Bang
Operating System, Scheduler, Timed Task, Scheduled Task
Round Robin, Poll, Polled, Preemption, Premptive
Multitasking, Multitask, Interrupt, Volatile Data
Diagnostic, Error, Error Manager, Error Log, Fault
Audio, Electret, Headphone, Crosstalk, Intermodulation Distortion
Low Noise, Low Distortion, Preamplifier
Instrumentation Amplifier, Balanced Circuit, Hum Immunity
Interference, Rejection, Transducer
Noise, Signal, DSP, Process
Motor, Haptic, Feedback, Resist
Sleep, Wake, Shutdown, Halt
Clock, Oscillator, Crystal, RC
Atmel, AVR, ARM, TI, MSP430, TMS320C, Microchip, PIC,
6805, 6801, 8085, 80188, 80186, 80×86, 6502, LPC2000
NEC, 78K, V850, Freescale, On Semiconductor, NXP, Analog Devices
SAM7, Arm Cortex, Vector

OK. That is a lot and I’m not fully done even. Here is the Wordle.

Electronics and Embedded Software Technology

EDN Innovation Awards 2009 – 2 trophies

Ray Keefe — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 07:41:24 +0000

Analogue Design Awards

You might recall we were finalists in the EDN Innovation Awards 2009 . Yesterday, we were in Sydney for the EDN Innovation Awards dinner held at Dockside, Cockle Bay Wharf.

We came away with 2 trophies. The awards were:

Best Application of Analogue Design – Highly Commended
Best Application of Design Software – Highly Commended

Successful Endeavours - EDN Innovation Awards 2009

Ray Keefe receives the EDN Innovation Award for Best Application of Analogue Design

We are very pleased to have had Australian Electronics Industry leaders recognise our work as being of the highest standard.

And thanks again to Pablo Varjabedian of Borgtech Pty Ltd for his support and encouragement and for having a vision as we do that products like the Borgtech CPL2 can and should be Made in Australia.

There have also been several newspaper articles focusing on the role of local businesses in the Australian Electronics Manufacturing Industry.

Casey Weekly Berwick 31 August 2009 Electronics Whiz Wired For Success

Wyndham Weekly 30 September 2009 It’s A Pipe Dream

Casey Weekly Berwick 5 October 2009 Electronics Firm Delivers The Goods