TAC's senior developers each have more than 25 years experience in
the design and development of embedded microcomputer systems.
Hardware development experience in a wide variety of environments
including ARM7 and ARM9 (Atmel, Marvell/Intel, Cirrus and OKI variants),
Atmel AVR, and Intel x86 and x80 processors,
PC (PCI and ISA) and various proprietary busses,
process sensors (mass, temperature, pressure, and flow), and
motor controls (AC, stepper, and DC Servo).
Extensive software development in C, C++, C#, Java, Visual Basic and assembly language of
real-time machine control, user interface, and network communications. Web applications and services programmed in Java, ASP and ASP.NET.
Computer system experience includes BIOS, BSP, kernel, and applications programming in Microsoft Windows, Pocket PC / WinCE, JRun, Unix (BSD and Linux), pSOS, and VxWorks environments.
CAD system experience includes AutoCAD for mechanical design, Orcad for schematic capture, and PADS for printed circuit board layout as well as
Actel and Xilinx programmable gate array toolsets.
Fine pitch surface mount design and prototyping capabilities.
Digital audio system experience includes hardware and software
development of AES/EBU and SPDIF interfaces, MPEG audio compression
and decompression, high quality A/D and D/A conversion, sample rate
converters, and hard disk record/play systems.
Developed carillon musical instrument controller and synthesizer. Windows CE 5.0 based system for ringing physical bells as well as synthesizing additional bells. Project included developing custom Intel PXA270 based controller, WinCE BSP for controller hardware, all application software development as well as analyzing and synthesizing realistic bell sounds.
Developed RS-232 to IrDA data bridge and Windows Mobile PDA applications for PDA based data collection from intensive care medical devices. The system comprises three components: A hardware "bridge" which speaks to a wide variety of patient care equipment and beams the data to a hand-held PDA, A suite of PDA applications for data capture and medical notation, and ASP.NET web server applications for medical charting and report generation.
Developed hardware and software for RIOT Remote I/O Terminal. Interfaces PC-based radio station automation systems to general station hardware such as mixers, satellite receivers, and transmitter controls. Hardware based on Cirrus EP9302 ARM9 CPU running embedded NetBSD operating software with Apache web server and PHP. Hardware includes USB host and device interfaces, Ethernet, RS-232, and industrial-quality parallel I/O.
Developed high power precision LED illumination system.
System features a custom-designed off-line switching power supply.
System uses temperature and illuminance sensors to maintain tight
control of illumination strength and exposure time.
Developed control system for an industrial animal feeding system.
System delivers tightly controlled concentration of additives in
animal's water supply. System includes precision temperature control,
flow metering and pumping control as well as monitoring and inventory
management of additives. System sends usage history and additive
inventory information to hand-held PC using IRDA infra-red link.
Developed animatics control system.
System used in theme park environment to control DC servo motors
and various solenoids and sensors in character bodies.
System includes a peer-to-peer ZigBee networking system allowing
for real-time control and monitoring from laptop and hand-held PC system.
Developed networked real-time control system hardware and software
for the video post production and broadcast industries providing
Ethernet control of video tape recorders, audio mixers, and video
effects and routing switchers. Systems based on these designs
are on-the-air at major networks, independent television stations, and
video post-production facilities world-wide.
Developed hardware, software, and packaging of the Steadi-Gate II
pin-registered film transfer control unit. Dual microprocessor
controller which drives stepper motors and multiple professional video
tape recorders providing field accurate, pin-registered film-to-tape
transfer.
Developed hardware, software, and Windows based user interface for
digital audio workstation hard-disk based audio recording and playback
system for on-air radio station broadcast use. Multi-user system
uses a Remote-Procedure-Call (RPC) based communications system to
interface PC workstations to individual and shared digital audio
systems.
Developed and enhanced software for Video Tape Associates Fastrack
and MEV editing, switching, and video effects system. These
systems provide a complete high-end television post production
environment integrating control of networked video tape recorders,
switchers, routers, and effects devices.
Developed hardware and software for the DCA IRMA family of IBM 3270
to PC interface communications products. These products use an
8X300 RISC processor to interface personal computers to IBM
mainframes. Products developed principally by TAC personnel
include IRMA, IRMAline, IRMAKey, and SmartAlec. Several million
IRMA interface cards have been sold.
Developed various microcontroller based industrial control systems
including stepper motor and solenoid drivers, pressure, temperature,
and flow sensors, as well as LED, LCD and CRT displays. Provided
development services including product definition, specification,
hardware, software, packaging design, and prototype construction.
Developed Windows based Elevator Status Monitor hardware and
software. Hardware includes PC interface to capture proprietary
synchronous communications between Westinghouse/Schindler SMF elevator
dispatcher and individual car controllers. Software presents a
user configurable color display of elevator position, status, service
requests, and emergency conditions.
Interfaced communications and printer products to OEM equipment
including Monarch Marking tag printers, Addressograph Farrington card
embossers, Xerox letter quality printers, and Printronix and Okidata
matrix line printers.
Developed TAC Label/300 I & II printer controller hardware and
software. Hardware included dual 8085 microprocessor with memory
management hardware and dual-ported memory. Software printed OCR
fonts, large characters, barcodes, and custom graphics.
