Consulting: IoT Design

My first full-time project was the design and deployment of a specialized transmitter for the US Navy.  The design was based on the Intel 8748 microcontroller.  While my development tools were primitive even for the time (I had to hand assemble my code and enter it by hand into a PROM programmer), I can’t imagine a better first project.   It was a lot of fun and I learned more on that design than I had in the previous year or two at school (that’s not a knock on the school).  Since that time I’ve been largely focused on Unix based systems and TCP/IP based networking which I was fortunate to be on the ground floor of with Silicon Valley startups in the later 1980’s.

I’ve returned to microcontroller based design in recent years.   Initially my foray into education got me involved in Arduino and other architectures targeting the maker markets.  Initial designs were for small robotic cars that could do simple collision avoidance.  The sensor and motor design were simple enough but I was not happy with the lack of task management (there is none).   My solution was to build a simple multi-tasking kernel built in with the application.  The result worked well in that I could deal with multiple sensors concurrently while not having to worry about any ‘thread’ taking over.  Not the best choice for an introductory course in microcontroller programming though.

Recent work as been on personal projects using the Raspberry Pi Pico W.  I’ve built a small electronics lab to build and debug basic circuits including microcontroller and other SOC based designs (the Raspberry Pi).  Wi-Fi and IoT (MQTT in my case) security has been an interesting way to merge my hardware microcontroller roots with my systems, networking and security background.   Tools such as Node-Red add to the fun and functionality of these projects.   My current project that I do in my spare time is a Pico W based system for managing home water storage systems (multiple pumps and storage systems running via Wi-Fi and autonomously).  My IoT work has been for my own enjoyment but am open to working with others on commercial projects where it makes sense.

For more information or if you have any questions please feel free to reach out to me at any time.  I can be contacted by email, instant messaging or you can call me anytime.