Past Projects

Lost Language Archival Linguistics Tool

We were approached by a linguist to help preserve and promote language. We built him an embedded device that could speak two languages, changing to a new language was easy, had an intuitive tactile human interface, was power efficient and had a custom enclosure that met his marketing goals. We will post a picture as soon as he goes to market with his product.

Pictured to the left is an early prototype. While prototypes may bear no resemblance to the final product, they are very important to product development. They allow circuits to be tested and firmware and software to be developed.

Acceleration and Pressure Displays

We have done man project for researchers through the years. Our longest relationship is with Dr. George Pantalos at the University of Louisville in Kentucky. He has flow over 27 research missions on the NASA Zero-G airplane and our instrumentation has gone along for many of those flights.

Pictured above you can see Dr. Pantaolos floating above his work. To the left is a dual independent pressure display that measures up to 200 mmHg and has a display large enough to be seen easily from across the plane. We have also designed him a G-Meter that displays the acceleration felt by the experiments (+/- 2G’s) and is used on each of his Zero-G flights. Read his endorsement here.

Adapter boards

Projects come in many sizes. Some are as simple as creating an adapter that allows the customer to use a smaller JTAG connector to program their target MCU.

PCB's with Embedded components

With the push for smaller and faster boards, many companies are finding a use for PCB’s embedded with both passive and active components. Pictured here is a board with three cavities for placement of bare die.

Inertial Monitoring System

Projects evolve as we move from concept to product. On the left is the first prototype of a project to help amputees to learn to how to walk with a prosthetic. The image on the right is the final product and they are roughly to scale.

The product PCB is installed on both feet of the patient. Then a physical therapist can watch the patient walk, as well as get real time information from the Bluetooth device that is monitoring a 3-axis inertial navigation system. This tells the PT when a patient is favoring one leg or the other, if they are walking smoothly, or struggling with the prosthetic.

Relearning how to walk is not easy, but this tool helps speed the patient toward a comfortable new life and it gives their physical therapist the tools they need to help them.

Powered Life Test Station

One of our long-time clients had an issue with a powered life test they were doing. This test lasts for years so they only check on it once a week. During that week if one of the units failed, it would stop the test for all the units attached to the test station. What they needed was a test station that connected to each unit and would remove that unit from the circuit when it failed allowing the other units to continue testing un impeded. An optical indication of the health of each unit is shown and allows the test engineer, at a glance, to tell if any of the units need attention.

Mini Weather Station

This was the Phase II PCB for a mini weather station. The concept was to have temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, wind speed and direction be readily available in the palm of your hand. The bottom of the board connected to an LCD screen that displayed the various pieces of information by scanning through a series of screens. The unit has a USB port for easy charging of the internal LiPo battery.

4-20mA eavesdropper

Industrial process control is usually done by employing 4-20mA signals. The data, pressure, temperature, flow, level, acidity, etc. Is transmitted from the sample location to a Distributed Control System using current. Our client wanted to install an eavesdropping system that would allow them to connect to a critical system while walking through the plant. This system would not disturb the normal function of the plant but would allow you to pull up the datapoint on your phone. Above you can see the first prototype.

3-Axis Motor Control

This board was for a 3 Axis motor control system. Each motor had its own STM microcontroller seen on the right. In the center there is a supervisor STM and an integrated Raspberry Pi controller. In addition, the PCB has and accelerometer, audio and optical actuator controls. While a complex design, the client was pleased that the board powered up properly on initial test.

Road Hazare Mitigation

This small board is the control center for a road safety system designed to make breaking down on the road less dangerous. The unit displayed a series of light patterns, had an internal flashlight and could run off of batteries or be plugged directly into the car.

Click here to learn more about our Free Consumer Awareness Guide.

Learn More