Ross Brinsdon of Can-Tek

We are so pleased to announce that Ross Brinsdon of Can-Tek has won the latest episode of the ABC program The New Inventors with his water based aerosol touch up paint product which allows you to get exactly the custom colour you want in an aerosol can that is loaded in store and is water based so you can clean it off before it dries if you make a mistake. And it is environmentally friendly as well.

The secret is in the chemistry added to the can that reduces the surface tension of water so the paint sprays and coats evenly.  This is a major challenge for water based paints and to be able to do it in store with the colour of your choice is a major advance in this area of technology.

We have had a couple of electronics products we worked on win on The New Inventors so we really appreciate the work it takes and that you don’t get these awards without having a serious advance.  You can also check out our Electronics Awards.

So well done Ross Brinsdon.  Keep up the good work.

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  Successful Endeavours Pty Ltd.

A funny thing happened to me the other day during the Christmas shopping rush at our local shopping centre in Endeavour Hills.  Our daughter had purchased some clothes for her nieces for Christmas and used the self serve checkout. When she got home she discovered she had not had one of the security tags removed so she asked for my help.

OK, I might be an Electronics Hardware and Embedded Software Engineer but I did do a year of Physics and Chemistry at Deakin University before switching to Engineering and I have had a role in the design of Multidisciplinary Systems with Electromechanical Actuators and Variable Frequency Motor Drives including Multi-Axis Robotic Handlers.  So I thought, “How hard can this be?”

The first step was to review the problem and identify the information.  Those familiar with Edward De Bono‘s Six Thinking Hats will recognise this as the White Hat stage.

I had:

• circular plastic sealed tag with an alignment  feature – a hole through it to accept a tapered pin
• a metal pin with a large head inserted into the centre of the plastic disk
• no other visible connection points

So assuming the tag was made at a minimum price, needed to be aligned correctly to be released and could be disconnected without an external power source; I concluded that the release mechanism was probably magnetic.  So I got a magnet and did some experiments and I could hear something click inside the security tag as I moved the external magnet around.  Now I am very confident that it is a Magnetic Latching Mechanism.  But no orientation of a single magnet released the pin.

I got 2 magnets and worked around the unit until the pin released and the problem was solved.

Having released the tag I gave the garment to my daughter to wrap in Christmas paper and put the tag with pin inserted back into it by the front door.  Since we were shopping the next day I thought I would return the tag.  At the very least it would get recycled.

What’s so good about being an Engineer?

At the shops, I went to the help desk and offered them the tag.  They were very confused.  I explained that it had been accidentally left on one of the items we purchased so I took it off and was returning it to them.  The stunned reply was, “You took it off yourself”?  “Yes” I said.  “I’ll have to call security” was the next reply.  So I said, “It’s all right, I’m an Engineer“.  “Oh, that’s fine then” was the reply and I wandered off to collect some final groceries for Christmas dinner.

So apparently there was a connection in the shop assistants mind that made being an Engineer something special.  They may not have know what that connection was.  And that got me wondering about Engineers and what is so special about us.  Here is a bit of a list of my initial thoughts if I ignore specific Engineering Disciplines:

• we create the future by designing and constructing the machines and systems that it requires
• we routinely solve complex problems that others do not know even exist
• we do all of this because we want a better world and are prepared to do our part to achieve it
• we have learned that covering up a symptom is not the same as solving the underlying problem

You might have some thoughts of your own so please leave a comment.

And of course, I hope you had a Merry Christmas in 2009 and that 2010 is a very good year for you all.  Happy New Year!

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  Successful Endeavours Pty Ltd.

This is not as straight forward a topic as it might at first seem to be.  And this is because there isn’t yet a unified agreement on exactly what Green Manufacture means.  And like most Design Issues, you cannot do Electronics Design without clear requirements.  So what are the requirements?

Here are some Green Manufacture requirements or targets:

• reduce product Power Consumption
• reduce manufacturing Power Consumption
• add Renewable Energy options to the product
• add Renewable Energy options to the manufacture process
• reduce pollution or waste in the manufacture process
• reduce energy involved in upstream or downstream processes
• reduce pollution or waste in the upstream or downstream processes
• increase product life
• increase product utility
• increase manufacturing plant utilisation

I guess you can see the dilemma.  It can be hard to know which target to aim for.  Am I doing the Electronics Design with the product, process, life cycle or ecosystem issues as the primary concern?  And how do I balance these concerns?

Here is one excellent article that also discusses this topic Green Supply Line.

Electronics Design can be Green

One major thing we can do is reduce the product Power Consumption.  We are coming out of a phase where a mains plug pack power supply was considered an ideal way to avoid compliance costs when designing new products.  This has led to a proliferation of low efficiency always on powered devices.  A recent look under my desk reveals the problem we have as Product Developers where every device I use is either USB Powered or mains plug pack powered.

So a first step is to review this whole approach to supplying power to devices.  We have made steady gains in the area of Power Consumption reduction for the devices themselves.  Now it is time to do a similar thing on the Power Supply side.

Energy Harvesting

This is a new area that hasn’t yet reached mainstream development.  The idea is that you can utilise the ambient environment to get power for free.  Or at least you aren’t directly requiring extra Power Generation.  Hence the name, Energy Harvesting.

How you do it and the Electronics Design and Electronics Technology required to make it work are still being defined but there has been some interesting new progress.  Some key players are:

Linear Technology – new Energy Harvesting Integrated Circuit

Enocean – are front runners in bringing Self Powered Wireless devices to the market

What is Energy Harvesting?

This is where we use Electronics Design and Electronics Devices to generate power from the Ambient Environment.  The result is a product that doesn’t need to be plugged in and recharges itself automatically. Some of the Energy Sources that are used are:

• Light
• Thermal differentials
• Vibration
• Chemistry
• Pressure differentials
• Air Flow

One example of a product that does this is the Enocean Light Switch where you can just put it where you want it.  And if you change your mind, just move it. Now wiring required.

Right now the technology is still more expensive and so take up is slow.  But as it develops and the price comes down that will change.

We are in for some interesting times.

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  Successful Endeavours Pty Ltd.

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.

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 © Successful Endeavours Pty Ltd.

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.

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 © Successful Endeavours Pty Ltd.

There are 2 ways to reduce your Carbon Footprint.  The first is to get the same power from a Green Power Source that reduces the Carbon Footprint at the power generation phase.  This is where Wind Power, PV PhotoVoltaics, Wave Power, Geothermal Power and other such technologies come in.

Wind Power Generator

The second way is to use less power from the same source, which is a Power Reduction Strategy.  This is a bit different to the concept outlined in Unlimited Wealth by Paul Zane Pilzer where he shows that we keep finding ways to meet the expansion needs of the future. That is also happening.  The ‘use less power’ approach is about getting more from the existing. The great thing about this is that you can effect a reduction in you Carbon Footprint independent of the Power Generators and so this strategy can run ahead of large scale system changes.

First you have to have a baseline to measure from.  This will become critical for businesses that must show Carbon Footprint reductions once legislation in this area is brought in around the world.  The issue isn’t if, but when this happens, and what the specific details are.  Carbon Trading is an interim measure that allows money to be made off the problem while not actually ensuring there is real progress.  Eventually significant net reductions must happen.

Carbon Footprint Calculation

There is a Carbon Footprint Calculator available at IEEE.  You can see what your Carbon Footprint looks like by clicking on the IEEE picture below

IEEE Carbon Footprint Calculator

How did you go?  Some of the questions are not that easy are they?  We often don’t know the source of some of our power or the real Carbon Cost of our lifestyle.

Carbon Footprint Reduction

So reducing the Electronic Power Requirements for Electronic Devices is a primary Green Strategy for reducing your Carbon Footprint. For a complete system the calculation is of course much more complicated.  The survey above is aimed at households but the principle is the same.  A true Carbon Reduction Strategy requires you to consider not only your own operation but upstream and downstream operations as well.

This is of course only one strategy and we will look at others in the near future.  But for my next post I’ll concentrate on design techniques for Reducing Power Consumption in Electronic Appliances so that they become Low Power Electronics Appliances and help to reduce the overall Carbon Footprint.

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 © Successful Endeavours Pty Ltd.

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

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 © Successful Endeavours Pty Ltd.

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

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 © Successful Endeavours Pty Ltd.