Greetings Donovan,
Yes, I am interested and available to work on this project. As a Senior
Software Engineer with an Electrical Engineering degree, this project
should be fun with no unexpected "surprises".
Regards,
David
At 06:47 AM 10/25/00 -0700, you wrote:
>Do you think you can handle a project like this? If so, please contact me
>at [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>The scope of the entire project is to create an instrument that counts
>radiation from a small sample in a tray, using a detector that is sensitive
>to multiple types of radiation, and presents this information to the user
>in a simple, easy to read format.
>
>The instrument consists of a radiation detector, a housing, a sliding tray
>mechanism to position the sample under the detector, a set of detector
>support electronics, and the Palm Pilot.
>
>We have an existing design for the smart detector support electronics
>(which we call an MDB for Modular Detector Board) which has an Intel 8051
>uprocessor on it, provides the high voltage required to operate the
>detector, provides the amplifier and sensing circuitry for handling the
>detector signal, has a limited size (1-2 kbytes) of EEPROM for non-volatile
>information storage, and a serial port which can communicate at speeds up
>to 38.4 kbaud. There is a communication protocol already defined which
>specified the type and format of information that can be sent to and from
>the MDB.
>
>We have focused on the Palm Pilot as the human interface for the following
>reasons:
>
>1. Limited cost compared to a PC or a Windows CE device
>2. Small size
>3. Relatively high computing power capability
>4. Standardized graphical interface
>5. Relatively stable operating system
>6. High level of general acceptance of Palm Pilot type devices
>7. Advancing our technology level above our competitors
>8. Expected long term availability of the Palm Pilot in one form or
>another
>
>Normally, for a project like this, we would design our own hardware from
>scratch, write a custom program for it to drive the display, keypad, lights
>etc. This is a time consuming effort and drives up both the development
>and production cost.
>
>What we are looking for is someone with significant Palm Pilot software
>development experience to write a human interface for this instrument that
>allows the user to operate the instrument by translating the user commands
>into the appropriate serial message and sending it to our MDB, then
>retrieving the appropriate information and displaying it back to the user.
>We will not need any hardware design services or programming efforts for
>anything but the Palm Pilot. We will create a specification that defines
>the user interface information required for each operation or mode. The
>communication specification for the interface between the Palm Pilot and
>the MDB is already defined, although we can change or add message formats
>if necessary. All communication will be RS-232 based from the Palm Pilot's
>hardware connection, but we are still investigating the most suitable
>method for performing file transfers from the Palm Pilot to a PC. The
>possibilities are:
>
>1. Use another Palm Pilot to collect information via the infra-red port
>2. Buy third-party infra-red connections which connect directly to a PC
>3. Create an RS-232 switch (smart or manual) that can switch the Palm
>Pilot's hardware connection from the MDB to the PC, and collect the
>information at the PC via the Palm Pilot hardware connection.
>
>The Palm Pilot software will have to support this data or file transfer
>from the Palm Pilot to the PC, as well as communications to the MDB.
>--
>________________________________________________________________
>Donovan Rittenbach, M.A.
>ph: 415-331-9110 ext. 402
>fx: 415-893-1128
>icq: 36547420
>Neko Media is a premiere provider of web based applications
>designed to make your website an integral part of the way
>your company does business.
--
For information on using the Palm Developer Forums, or to unsubscribe, please see
http://www.palmos.com/dev/tech/support/forums/
