Erich's Personal Page

(short CV)

NAME: Erich Häussermann
B Sc.(Eng)(Elec) BHons(control sys)

BORN: 31 March 1950 in Backnang, W-Germany

MARITAL STATUS: married with two children

LANGUAGES: English / Afrikaans / German

vocational website: Mercutech Electronics

contact:

Erich

PROFILE

My career started in 1975 with the design and specification of electrical reticulation systems and lighting installations.
Since 1978 I have been designing and developing electronic devices and products for users which includes the mining industry.
My special interest lies with embedded programming for microcontroller based devices and analog circuit design.
Software development has fascinated me since first learning to program (in PL/1) in 1971.

I consider my dedication to solving a problem economically with a meticulous approach, loyalty, honesty and open-mindedness as outstanding characteristics besides standing prepared for any kind of work.

What has made engineering a fulfilling experience during the past is the enjoyment of working creatively, doing prototyping and seeing my innovative and efficient designs becoming practical reality.

Expertise

Design and development of analog and mixed signal electronics and microcontroller based devices
(using Microchip's PIC processors since the early 1990's)
Embedded systems programming. and software development (assembler, C and many others)
Prototype development
System engineering and integration
PCB design – Schematic capture and PCB layout
PC software development (C++ Builder and others)

Services

Electronic product design
Development of microcontroller based devices
which may contain analog and mixed signal circuits, wireless and sensor modules
Embedded software development

Recent Projects

Solid state earth fault protection Relay using a low-cost magnetic sensing core and operating from 110 – 550V
engineering the electronic hardware redesign of a GPS based fleet control system.
development of a medicine dispensing system, based on the PIC and serial Flash RAM including remote data connection via built-in modem, touch-screen and radio-ID tag system.
development of multifunction protection Relay with SCADA networking (Profibus)
Protocol software development (Profibus)
design of switch mode power supplies
1996/98 as independent contractor, all based on PIC processors:
Neutral-Earthing-Resistor monitor for 1100V (mainly for the mining industry)
Pilot wire cable monitor
Safe Earth Path Tester
contactless sensitive DC earth leakage monitor
Earth leakage/overlaod contactor electronics
Nurse call system with logging functions
low-cost house alarm
DC motor speed controller

CAREER SUMMARY

DATES	COMPANY	POSITION HELD
Mar.1999 to present	Various companies and corporations on a contractor/consulting basis	Product Development Engineering consultant and working on patent preparations
	Sinesonics Edenvale (on contract basis)	Software development for RTU's and protocol converters in SCADA systems
March 1995	Own (Mercutech Enterprises cc)	Subcontracting in product design and development, based on micro-controllers (mainly PIC) and PC.
	I S T	System & Design Engineer
	Switching Systems, Jhb	Development Engineer
	Kempton Park Technical College	Part-time Lecturing: Basic Computer Principles (N6 level)
	Atlas Aircraft Corporation Kempton Park	Senior Engineer
	Electrical Protection Co. (E P C) Boksburg	Design Engineer
Dec 1974 to Jan 1977	Public Works Dept, Pta	Assistant Engineer

I am especially proud of the following projects and tasks:

medicine dispensing unit, using 4MB serial Flash RAM, remote data connection via built-in modem, touch-screen and radio-ID tag system to monitor 12 medicine holders.
Industrial low-value-resistance monitor operating at up to 1100Vac and 10Vdc on the resistor to be measured. Automated calibration with built-in Eepromand data comm.s.
Patented contactless sensitive DC earth leakage monitor.
Complete design, development and installation of a nurse call system using a digital bus, with nurse identificatoin, logging and hardcopy. (Mercutech)
A field tester based on the 8751 programmed in "C" and Assembler for a system with a CCD camera, RF output and movement detectors. This supplemented my previous development of a field tester and simulator, including EPLD technology and 3-phase synchro motor drive.
General purpose database program with many smart features and other specialised databases written in Clipper. (part-time)
2MS/s data capture system with isolated analog inputs on a plug-in card for the IBM PC including graphics software (Pascal).
5 kVA inverter for all power factors.
TACAN Radio simulator based on the Z80 as part of the instrumentation control system, including digital and analog interfacing, using serial comm.s for external monitoring.
Eprom programmer based on the Z80 / ZX-Spectrum (part-time in 1984).
Motor protection unit based on analog simulation of an accurate thermal model.
Patented earth fault detection and timing circuit.

TRAINING AND EDUCATION

ACADEMIC TRAINING

Feb.1988 - Nov.1990	University of Pretoria: B.Hons. El. Engineering: Control System Design (5 April 1990)
	University of Pretoria: B.Sc. Eng. (electrical & electronics) (13 September 1975)
	UNISA: Business leadership course: "Management Development Program" at the SBL of the University of South Africa.
Jan.1966 - Dec.1968	HIGH SCHOOL: Pretoria "Central" Technical High School. Included Electrician training. A-level Matric (First Class)

PERSONAL DETAILS

RECREATION

Ham radio, playing accordeon & piano (light music), cycling, reading non-fiction, philosophy and health, hiking, chess, canoeing.