Career history Michael J. Bauer
Present occupation: "Freelance Consultant" Currently taking on casual or part-time contract work, most likely in electronics design or firmware development, but I'm open to a broad range of possibilities. Click here to view a summary of "professional services" I offer. Click here to view my profile on Linked-In Agilent
Technologies (Instruments): August 2007 – June 2010 The company: In 2010, Varian Inc., a U.S. manufacturer of scientific analytical instruments, was acquired by Agilent Technologies, a spin-off of Hewlett-Packard's Test and Measurement Division. A large part of the R&D and manufacturing, formerly done by Varian Australia, is still done in Melbourne where the company was founded as Techtron Pty Ltd. The position: As a "Senior Electronics Engineer" with Varian Australia, I was involved in a project to upgrade a UV-Vis spectrophotometer marketed as "Cary 60". The role included a complete re-design of the instrument electronics, development of automated test firmware and manufacturing test procedures for the instrument controller circuit board. GBC Scientific Equipment Pty Ltd: October 2005 – August 2007 The company:
GBC is an Australian manufacturer of scientific
analytical instruments. The position: My main role at GBC was firmware development, in the HPLC (High Performance Liquid Chromatography) range of instruments, replacing the aging "GPIB" (IEEE 488) comm's interface with USBTMC (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. 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, I developed firmware for various modules using micro-controllers (e.g. 68HCxx, PIC16C64). I also developed Quality Assurance procedures, many product test procedures, technical manuals, operator manuals, etc. 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. 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. 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, specification of several electronic modules (e.g. "Wincon V" axis controller module, pictured below), safety requirements specifications, design verification, etc.
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. 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 ("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. 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) ... I took this position 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 My job at NIE involved electronics design and firmware development for a digital AC kilowatt-hour meter, intended for the measurement of domestic electricity consumption. The product reached 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. These days, it is called a "smart meter". A 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). The firmware was built
around a unique innovative real-time kernel, efficiently
coded in assembly language, fitting 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. 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.
"New
Generation Meter from NEI scores world first" 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 current generation of "smart" meters use an ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit) to monitor electrical energy flow. Prior to 1982... I worked at Deakin University as a tutor 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). Patents:
Publications:
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