Our engineers will cover every facet of design implementation. Our core strength is circuit development, with additional services to complement the core service. These additional services include PCB design and layout, schematic capture, mechanical CAD for housings and packaging, embedded microprocessor programming in C and assembly and Windows/Linux programming services that complement the product development. Pioneer Microsystems will also build and program custom test fixtures to complement production needs.
'How do I know that you can handle my project?' you ask.
Listed here is a partial bibliography of completed projects that have been performed.
Project example 1: One client manufactures power switches for the Internet industry,
which allow power source 1 or power source 2 to be selected for output to the rack.
Their existing design switched single source power, 240V. The client asked for a
3 phase system to be designed. Most of the original design data for the existing
unit had been lost, so it had to be reverse engineered. The 3 phase version was built
around an 80MHz 32 bit processor. The new system monitors the 60Hz voltages in real
time, using a software PLL to lock on to the line frequency. The unit has passed
safety tests and orders have been delivered.
Project example 2:One company came to us in need of all of the electronic controls
and software for a system that recycles and charges freon in automobiles and trucks.
A system was designed with a graphics LCD display with a 16 bit processor, and a
sensor interface board with an 8 bit processor. The unit has two USB ports. One serves
a printer, and the other a flash thumb drive. The system has a bootload feature,
where it checks for a file on startup. If present, this file is read in and used
to overwrite the whole application. When the application runs, it checks the flash
drive for files that represent new menu text in 3 languages, as well as database
files that represent data on cards or trucks. These files are loaded and stored in
memory. If the user wishes, a report or parameter settings file can be saved onto
the flash drive as well. The sensors board uses a weigh scale to resolve a 22Kg container
to mere grams, to allow highly accurate target charges to be achieved.
Project example 3:One of our clients manufactures transformer temperature control
panels for the large transformer manufacturers. Their old technology was an analog
based control scheme with a dash of relay logic. Due to increased market pressure
to offer a microprocessor based solution that has RS485 communications and temperature
trending, they decided to seek outside help. We have re-
Project example 4:One client in the tablet press industry has strong talents in the
mechanical design of tablet presses, but no inside expertise on electronics development. Three
devices have been designed for them. The first is the 'capture' of an old load cell
peak hold card of which the documentation and drawings had been lost. The second
was a low noise low drift load cell amplifier module. The third is a 0-
Project example 5: Pioneer Microsystems recently completed the fabrication and programming of two custom PCB production test fixtures for a local ventilator product manufacturer. One of the fixtures is intelligent enough to study the serial port data from the target board and determine the test success or failure of the test.
Project example 6: For the nuclear industry, over 50 individual projects have been
completed. The latest include a programmable 2500V ultra low noise power supply,
a 25V high reliability supply with error detection and indications, a for fit and
functional replacement panel meter, and a large SCR control board.
Project example 7:Another project involved designing a complete 3 phase DC brushless 6HP motor speed controller from scratch. High power DC brushless is not too common, so off the shelf controllers tend to be pricey. The customer wanted their own design, in order to sell a complete motor control package at a more competitive cost. The design incorporates a full 6 pack with three additional diodes in order to implement a true safe brake function.
Project example 8: Recently, a large SCADA manufacturer came to us with an issue.
Their system relied upon a custom designed workstation for use in the control room.
In 1990, this state of the art system had 4 high resolution color screens with one
mouse and one keyboard. Today, the hardware is dying, with no hope of building new
boards. Our task was to take the original embedded software (written in K&R C!) And
rewrite it to operate under Windows. All of the code was re-
Certainly, you can see that our company is serious about performing electronics product
design. There are many other examples of successful project designs as well. If you
have interest in our services, please call us at USA-
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Pioneer Microsystems, Inc.
1322 Regency Drive
Pittsburgh, PA 15237
Ph: 412-
Fax: 412-
ceddy@nb.net