E-M Designs, Inc.

EE Group

Established in 1975

171 Ocean Blvd.

P.O. Box 97

Half Moon Bay, CA 94019

PH (650) 728-3406

FX (650) 728-3436

Other E-M Designs Webpages

www.emdesigns.com

www.emmanufacturing.com

ENGINEERING SERVICES

E-M Designs offers a full range of electronic engineering services, including Circuit / System Design, Research and Development, Printed Circuit Design, General Consultation, and Forensic Studies.

The following is a sample of some of the more important projects that have been completed by E-M Designs:

Li-FePo4 (A123) battery based DC power supply for use in a medical computer cart. Features: USB Interface w/application software, two primary DC outputs (3 to 24VDC @150W), One Auxiliary output (3.3 to 18VDC @ 36W), Charge rate < 1 hour with cell balancing on charge.

Several Multi Vehicle Remote Control Systems.  Systems consisted of up to 21 Helm stations, a central RF transmitter (900MHz), and 21 Decoder / Receiver boards mounted in the vehicles.

Similar to a pager, this wrist mounted device is used for a scuba diver to signal other divers via a vibrator and LED indicators.  Ultrasonic technology is used for data transmission.  The alerts could be sent to a dive buddy, dive master, group of divers, or boat.

This system is currently under development. In addition to 72 EEG channels this system includes EKG, EMG, GSR and Impedance Pneumograph circuits. It is designed to be portable and uses a standard USB port for communication and power from a host PC.  The analog front end pushs the state of the art in tolerance to high electrode impedance.

In addition to 32 EEG channels this system includes EKG, EMG, GSR and Impedance Pneumograph circuits. It is designed to be portable and accepts a standard notebook computer into a specially designed docking station. The analog front end will push the state of the art in tolerance to high electrode impedance.

Test Station for Component used in National Missile Defense Program.  This system consisted of a rackmount industrial computer with a National Instruments Data Acquisition System and a custom electronics rack that was capable of controlling 15 servo actuators for burn in tests.  The systems were also used to automate acceptance testing and documentation of the test results. 

NLX is a new form factor for PC motherboards. We were contracted to design the Generic Riser that was given to OEMs incorporating the new motherboards in their designs. The riser card includes ISA and PCI add in slots, Floppy and IDE connectors, USB, Infrared I/O, I²C, etc.  Gerhard Engineering has designed over 100 different Riser cards for many major PC suppliers.

Our team completed the initial design of the microprocessor controls and power supply for a telescope mirror servo in a new military satellite program. An 80C88 microcontroller was used as the interface between the spacecraft computer and the mirror position servo. The redundant power supply system converts the spacecraft’s raw power for use by the mirror servo, calibrator and digital systems.  

This seven-year project started with several years of basic research on the adaptation of switching power supply techniques to power gas discharge lamps. Meeting the stringent price/performance criteria necessary to be competitive with conventional core and coil ballasts required the development of innovative circuitry that resulted in several U.S. and foreign patents. This product was one of the first competitively priced electronic ballasts on the market.

This system was designed for a leading manufacturer of pool and spa control products. Our  Engineers designed two generations of this product. The first was a circuit board that was integrated into the company’s existing pool and spa controller product. The second generation was a stand-alone network based design.

To see this product, follow this link:  Jandy

The family of laser radar systems currently under development are designed to be used for wide variety of applications such as accurately measuring volumes and creating a detailed 3-D image of complex surfaces. The laser is modulated at frequencies up to 400MHz and the detectors are capable of measuring large surfaces with a resolution to 0.01".

Our Engineers were called in to complete the design of the Mars Observer Camera Electronics after the original contractor failed to complete the design. The design was successfully completed, by the new team, in time for the scheduled launch.  To get more info on the Mars Observer Camera follow these links: Malin Space Science Systems   NASA  LA Times Article

This REG system, using newly developed technology, has a great potential for non-invasive blood flow monitoring. A precision, variable frequency current source is applied to the patient and is used to measure body impedance. The resulting voltage is then demodulated and the phase and magnitude of the impedance is calculated. The development was funded by a grant from the National Institutes of Health and resulted in the publication of several technical papers on the subject.

This bulk battery charging system was developed for a local theme park for use in charging a large number of battery powered props. The system consisted of a rack- mounted enclosure that accepted up to 16, 5 channel charger boards. Several of these systems were delivered in 1993 and are still in use today.

This system consisted of a 4 channel analog interface to the focal plane array. Four 12-bit 10MSPS analog to digital converters were use with the outputs digitally multiplexed and interfaced to the spacecraft computer. The entire system was configured on four daughter cards ranging from 1.7" x 1.4" to 3" x 3" and a motherboard measuring 3" x 1.5".

This system consisted of an experiment tray with 60 channels of data on strain , temperature, radiation, accumulated mass, and ablation. Gerhard Engineering’s portion of the system included the transducer signal conditioning, analog multiplexing, and analog to digital conversion. The entire project from first meeting to successful completion of flight qualification testing spanned only 12 weeks.

We developed a family of digital siren / PA systems for a national leader in emergency vehicle systems as well as a number of Associated products. This long term relationship has lasted over 15 years.