Career history Michael J. Bauer
GBC Scientific Equipment Pty Ltd: October 2005 – August 2007 The company: GBC is an
Australian manufacturer of scientific analytical
instruments. My role at GBC was mainly firmware development. The project goal was to upgrade a number of products in the HPLC (High Performance Liquid Chromatography) range of instruments, replacing the aging "GPIB" (IEEE 488) communications interface with USB TMC (Test & Measurement Class). NeoProducts Pty Ltd: May 2000 – Nov. 2000, and May 2004 – April 2005 The company: NeoProducts is a successful player in the
world market for "information kiosks",
custom engineered in its Melbourne office and factory. My first job at NeoProducts was to help Neo's development group to "fast-track" the design of a critical component required for a very large-scale production run of kiosks (9000 units) for the UK Employment Service network. The component was a "kiosk equipment monitor" (KEM) -- a micro-controller based module intended to monitor and log operation of the PC and peripherals embedded in the kiosk. The unit also controlled AC power to the kiosk's computer and peripherals, allowing scheduled power-up and power-down of the kiosk, programmed via the kiosk PC's LAN. I handled just about every aspect of the "KEM" development, from project planning, costing, scheduling, client liaison, hardware and software specification, circuit design, component sourcing, liaising with board fabrication and assembly sub-contractors (both local and in Taiwan), design of test jig for automated testing, end-user documentation, factory test procedure, and development of the MCU firmware. (The only task I didn't do myself was the PCB layout.)
The second job, some years later, was to upgrade the KEM design. While the original model was very successful (with about 15,000 units shipped in kiosks), customers wanted new features that the hardware platform could not support, e.g. USB connectivity instead of (or as well as) the async. serial link to the host PC. The second generation KEM, "Guardian II", used the Atmel AT89C5131 USB micro-controller.
Bytecraft Automation Pty Ltd: August 1992 – April 2000, and May 2001 – March 2004 The company:
Specialising in electronics for the entertainment
industry, Bytecraft Automation designed,
manufactured and exported "high tech"
electronic equipment for use in theatres; e.g. lighting
equipment and stage machinery automation systems. Bytecraft
Automation (which was a "spin-off" from
the Bytecraft Systems and Entertainment group)
is now defunct, but in 2004 a new independent company State
Automation Pty Ltd took over much of the legacy
business activity. As "Project Engineer" (Projects and Systems Dept, 1992 – 1999) ... The position of "Project Engineer" involved the planning, systems design, custom engineering, supervision of installation, and on-site testing and commissioning of stage machinery automation systems, e.g. the "State" and "Status" Motion Control Systems developed by Bytecraft. I also became involved in customer liaison and marketing support roles, often with overseas clients. Major projects designed and completed under my supervision:
I was involved in the specification, systems design and on-site engineering of many other prominent theatre automation installations around the world, including:
As "Electronics Design Engineer" (R&D Dept, 1994 – 1997) ... The position involved conceptual design, product specification, and supervision of a small team of design engineers, including direct "hands on" activities in hardware design and firmware development. In this role, I helped to bring several new products to the market, most notably...
Also while in R&D Enginering, I developed firmware for various other modules incorporating micro-controllers (e.g. 68HC05, 68HC11, 68HC12, PIC16C64). Source code was written mainly in 'C', with some assembler. I also developed Quality Assurance procedures, many product test procedures, technical manuals, operator manuals, etc. (Unlike the majority of my peers, I thrive on producing high quality documentation!) As "Product Engineer" (R&D Dept, 2001 – 2004) ... Back with Bytecraft in a consulting role, I worked with Bytecraft management and a team of engineers designing a new-generation stage machinery control system for live theatre. A major design objective of the new system was to comply with IEC 61508, an international standard for safety-critical computer-based control systems. An essential focus of the job was to understand and put into practice design methods and techniques recommended by the standard to achieve a very high level of reliability, and hence safety integrity. For the hardware design, this was realised by the application of DFMEA, Fault Tree Analysis and MTBF reliability prediction methods. For the software design, the required level of dependability was realised through the application of semi-formal methods (including CASE tools) shown to be effective in minimising systematic errors. My responsibilities in the project were: System hazard and risk analysis, identification of safety function requirements, safety integrity level (SIL) determination, control system architectural design, conceptual design, requirements and functional specification of several modules (e.g. "Wincon V" axis controller module, pictured below), safety requirements specifications, design verification planning, safety validation planning, verification testing methodology and a significant part of the software design process.
In addition to the above control system project, I later took on a software development role left vacant by a departing engineer. The role involved enhancement and maintenance of embedded processor firmware in lighting products, i.e. high-power digitally-controlled dimmers. Bytecraft dimmers are networked using DMX, C-Bus or LONworks. Ecotech Pty Ltd: March 1991 – August 1992 The company: Ecotech supplies ecological monitoring equipment to industry. As "R&D Electronics Engineer", I was engaged in upgrading the design of Ecotech's 9200-series data loggers, including the development of firmware (in C for 6809), plus documentation for manufacture and testing. As "Systems Engineer", I designed custom solutions for ambient air and smoke-stack gas monitoring applications (using mostly imported instrumentation). Commissioning of equipment and customer training, in some cases, was also required. Industrial Control Technology Pty Ltd: 1988 – 1990 The company: ICT is a small company specialising in plant automation, control systems design and (at the time) custom electronics development. As "Senior Design Engineer", my most memorable role at ICT was to undertake the complete hardware design and operating system software development for an industrial "weigh-feeder" controller (called "MasterWeigh II") for ICT's client Web-Tech, of Queensland. MasterWeigh II used a Motorola 68000 processor and a Maxim 7135 dual-slope A/D converter (for high accuracy load-cell signal measurements). The custom RTOS firmware was developed in C and 68K assembler. I also did the board layout (using Protel under MS-DOS). Several design innovations were incorporated into the product, resulting in a world-class instrument. Ballarat
College of Advanced Education: 1986 – 1988 As "Lecturer" (in Electronics and Software Engineering) ... This position was taken primarily to investigate the possibility of teaching as a career path and to refresh academic knowledge, but also to investigate the possibility of an "alternative" lifestyle in the country. Duties at BCAE included development of new course material, lecturing in digital and analog electronics and embedded software engineering at undergraduate levels. After two years or so, I decided not to persue a teaching career, and plans to build a mud-brick house in the bush were shelved. Nilsen Industrial Electronics Pty Ltd: 1982 – 1985 As "Software Engineer", my job at NIE involved the firmware design and development of a digital AC kilowatt-hour meter, intended for the measurement of domestic electricity consumption. The product was required to reach a level of performance exceeding that of conventional electro-mechanical devices, with new capabilities including load control and a communications link for data transfer and/or automatic remote billing. All prototype design objectives were met. The prototype firmware was built around a unique innovative real-time kernel. It had to be efficiently coded, in assembly language, into 2K bytes of Motorola 6805 object code, in order to implement all of the required features. Perhaps the biggest challenge was to achieve an accuracy for AC power measurement of better than 0.1%FS using an 8-bit A/D converter. (Some academics at the time stuck their necks out saying that this would be impossible!) The effective resolution of the 8-bit ADC was enhanced by the application of a dither signal to the ADC input, and various other analog and digital signal-conditioning techniques. One special feature was "Time-of-Use metering", i.e. the ability to accumulate energy consumption totals for different time zones during the day, e.g. peak, off-peak and economy time zones. A Nilsen proprietary synchronous comm's protocol was designed for the meter's data link, which used IR opto devices for wireless interfacing to external equipment. The meter also supported the Zellweger Decabit "ripple control" receiver protocol (a very low bit-rate comm's protocol utilising AF tones superimposed on the AC mains power line).
Product history The meter design has since been refined for commercial manufacture, originally marketed under the name "EMS-2000". The metering arm of Nilsen's business grew so big that a separate company (NIE) was formed. Other electrical companies (e.g. Email, GE, Zellweger) jumped on the bandwagon. In 2004, the giant electrical manufacturer Email (Westinghouse) bought NIE and closed it down. The meter, as developed by Nilsen, is still produced and continues to enjoy market acceptance (at the time of writing). Acknowledgements At the onset of the digital metering project at Nilsen, there were only two engineers, myself and the Project Engineer, Richard Schurmann. There was also a very competent technician, Michael Guy, who later went into the marketing field. Richard developed the first viable prototype hardware design and contributed many clever ideas to help meet the software challenges. Later, a 3rd engineer, Jordan Metikovec, joined the team and refined the hardware design for commercial manufacture. Prior to 1982... I worked at Deakin University as a Tutor, and later as a "Professional Officer" in the Division of Computing and Mathematics. Much time was occupied gaining and imparting knowledge in the emerging field of computer science, also designing and building computer interfaces and micro-processor based equipment for Deakin's computing laboratory. It was during this phase of my career that I designed the "Dream 6800" hobby computer, published as a DIY project in Electronics Australia (1979). Deakin maintained a
variety of computing equipment in the 70's, from the
sublime (DEC "System-20" mainframe) to the
ridiculous (MITS "Altair" 8800 - the world's
first commercial micro-computer - sold as a kit of parts),
along with Data General "Nova" and General
Automation "SPC-16" mini-computers, all of
which are of course now thoroughly obsolete. Publications and Patents:
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