Resume

James Brown  Del Mar California (858) 243-4798 Jim@SETI.Net

Career Experience

5/99 to Present - SETI Net, Del Mar. Ca

SETI Net is working to develop the software and hardware for amateur SETI stations.  It is a one person business.  Some of the products are:

  • Astronomical Clock - This clock calculates RA/DEC and Az/El for pointing a telescope.  Also displays the heavens in a Mercator projection and allows the telescope to track a specific point on the map.  The clock is also an OLE server so that the user can extract data from it with other programs.
  • SETI Markup Language (SML) - SETI net organized and published a schema for SML to manage data collected by a SETI station.  This resulted in a File Manager that creates XML markup for WAV files and then embeds the data in the WAV file.  This is the only known tool that can be used to organize SETI data .
  • File Manager - A tool that creates the SML for a station setup and attaches it to the WAV data file
  • Spectrum Analyzer - A specialized instrument that runs from a computers audio card.  It displays a spectrum quickly with as little overhead as possible.  It also records the incoming data in a WAV file and tags it with XML .
  • Antenna Control Hardware - SETI Net runs a 12 foot dish using a control system of my own design.
  • Chess - A graphic chess game using E-mail or it will challenge you with its own chess engine.
  • Receiver Modifications - Modified a commercial receiver to obtain the needed 20 kHz bandwidth to operate a SETI station.
  • Client/Server -  A three tier client/server for remote operation of a SETI station and collection of the resulting data files.   

6/90 to 5/99 Principal Engineer, SAIC San Diego (now L3 Communications)

Army Remote Diagnostics - I was the team leader and system engineer for the Army Remote Maintenance Concept Demonstration (RMCD) project.  This is a vehicle monitoring and diagnostic system using the Qualcomm JTRACS satellite communication system augmented with an analog measurement subsystem and an Interactive Electronic Technical Manual (IETM).  

Marine Remote Diagnostics - I was the team leader in the development of a remote diagnostic system for the US Marine Corps Sea Dragon project.  This system was able to collect engine operation parameters and control the operation of military  vehicles (HMMWVs and heavy trucks) of a distance of 180 miles using a combination of UHF radios (SINCGARS), troposcatter radios and TCP/IP over the internet.  This system also made use of client/server technology. 

Army IETM - I was the designer of the worlds first Interactive Electronic Technical Manual (IETM) and chief architect for the creation of series of Interactive IETMs for the US Army.  I originated the concept of coupling test hardware, engine data bus, and the user interface with a series of embedded tags in an English language document.  This was the first use of an active tag in a document that I know of and predated HTML.  This technique gives the author of the IETM complete control over the hardware with no programming knowledge necessary.  Most of the IETMs in the US Army today make use of these ideas for diagnostic test equipment. 

Lightweight Computer - Principal engineer on a rugged portable computer for the US Army.  This Pentium based machine was supplied to the Army and runs Windows and UNIX application.  I was responsible for the selection of the internal suite of cards, (DMM, counter/Timer, LAN, Modem and others) and also responsible to insure that the completed unit passed a series of stringent environmental qualifications tests

10/78 to 6/90 Principal Engineer, General Dynamics Electronics - San Diego Ca

I created the concept of flight line testing of the F-16 aircraft with a directly connected portable computer.  This project (IMIS) presented IETMs to maintainer of the aircraft using an UNIX based arm held computer and connection the aircraft 1553 data bus.  It was based on an SGML definition worked out in conjunction with the Air force Human Resources Lab at Wright Patterson AFB. 

Principal investigator for several IRAD projects designed to drive the state of automatic testing for the Air Force.  Managed the creation of the first fully functional MATE test station (6 bays of equipment) and led a team of 23 engineers in its development.  Software written Borland Turbo Pascal

Designed portion of the RF hardware and test software for the F-16 aircraft test station.  I wrote the ATLAS code for the station and debugged the hardware and software for the first 5 of 90 stations delivered.

Achievements

  • Winner of the SETI League 2005 Bruno Award for development of astronomical, coordination, and signal analysis software.
  • First Client/Server system for control of a complete Radio Telescope or SETI system.
  • First XML based language to collect and tag SETI data - The SETI Markup Language (SML) 
  • First independent SETI station.  Started in 1978 and now at work classifying narrowband carriers at 1.42 gHz. This is Argus station DM12jw.
  • Email chess Allows players to send move and contains a chess engine in Delphi)
  • A Sidereal clock that computes star position in real time
  • First known computer created by a single person.  This machine design was started in 1971 and finished in 1976.  It was built completely from TTL logic
  • First Fully MATE compatible test station for testing the F-16 RF avionics - GDE 1989

Publications

  1. Authoring Guide for the Creation of Interactive Electronic Technical Manuals (IETM) - SAIC 1996
  2. Today's Maintenance in the Modern Army - Maintenance Update March 1995
  3. The US Army IETM One year Later - IEEE Aerospace and Electronic Systems Magazine Volume 10 issue 7  and Proceedings of AutoTestCon 1994
  4. A Capable 'O' Level IETM - At Last' - Proceeding of AutoTestCon 1993 and IEEE 0-7803-0646-5.93 
  5. Integrated Maintenance Information System Diagnostic Demonstration (IMIS-DD) - Human Resourced Lab Document AFHRL-TR-90-41, August 1990
  6. Two articles in Kilobyte magazine concerning logic design - 1975
  7. SACE Programmers Manual - Lockheed Missiles and Space 1973

Education

  • American College of Computer and Information Sciences-two years
  • Weber state College - EE
  • Many classes in "C", C+, C#, Pascal, Delphi and Visual Basic at UCSD and others
  • Many software, hardware design and management classes
  • Self taught in several assemblers and compilers. 

Computer Skills and Tools

System Design 

  • Data base organization using ER/1, IDEF1x.
  • Process definition using IDEF0
  • Concept documents, Product Specification, Software Requirement Matrixes, Software Development Plans, Test Plans and Test Procedures all to the PACE system and Mil-Std-2167

Software Design 

  • Language Development - SML, and  RSL (XML based),  IETM equipment control,   SACE (Automatic Test equipment for the Navy)
  • Client Server
  • User interface with Delphi, "C", and Pascal
  • Data base creation using SQL, Paradox, Oracle, and Interbase
  • Test Equipment control using Assembly, ATLAS and Delphi

Hardware Design 

  • Antenna positioning hardware using RS-485 data bus
  • Receiver modifications for high bandwidth use
  • Mini computer test equipment (IBM)
  • RF Switching system for F-16 test equipment (GDE)
  • TTL, CMOS, Test Equipment, control systems, phase lock loops, motor control systems, and RF amplifiers using OrCAD and Spice.

Marketing

Many proposals, reviews and customer presentations using Power Point, and rapid prototype development systems.

Management

I have managed many development teams of engineers, programmers, technical writers, and logisticians using Microsoft Project, PS-7, and Excel

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