My blog posting this year seems to be following the Steve Miller Band lyric, “Time keeps on slippin’ into the future.” It is now a full month since the AEF ISOBUS Spring Plugfest and I am just now writing my recap. I normally try to get these out sooner, especially since the Fall Plugfest is not too far away…
Steve Jobs, the person behind Apple and Pixar, famously said: “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.” [1]. At DISTek Integration we take that quote to heart when it comes to Functional Safety. In our efforts to provide Functional Safety services to our customers we have resolved to not only follow the standard procedures and services that are part of Functional Safety, but to strive toward leadership by innovating within the field. A case in point is our efforts to make Functional Safety contributions in the form of published papers and conference presentations. The latest such contribution is a paper DISTek published in collaboration with researchers at the University of North Texas (UNT); the paper is entitled: “A Combinatorial Approach for Exposing Off-Nominal Behaviors” [2].
In the past, DISTek faced long and challenging development cycles with single individuals assigned to complete projects in isolation. Projects were often plagued with schedule delays, cost overages, and quality problems. Guided by a SAFe champion and small team of coaches, DISTek successfully implemented the Scrum framework within SAFe 4.5.
Here at DISTek one of our top priorities is investing in the next generation of innovative technology leaders and engineers. One of the ways in which we do this is through our internship program. We are fortunate to have so many qualified experts on staff that can mentor and foster the skills necessary for these college students to be successful in the industry upon graduation. This past fall, we were joined by two sophomores from the University of Northern Iowa. Johnny Pham is local to the Cedar Valley and is working on obtaining his B.S. in Computer Science. Varina Timothy is an international student from India and is majoring in Electrical Engineering Technology.
Hardware in the Loop (HiL) systems are used in the development and test of real-time embedded systems often found in Electronic Control Units (ECU) within almost any on- or off-highway vehicle today. HiL systems are comprised of both hardware and software that can simulate the larger entity (i.e. car, tractor, etc.), so that the smaller ECU can be inserted into that larger system to determine whether or not it’s internal real-time embedded system is performing as intended. While this may seem like a mountainous task for vehicle manufacturers in industry today, DISTek has invested in tackling the design and production of an internal HiL solution.
As an engineering services company, what are the keys to DISTek’s future success? We believe it’s: 1) hiring and developing top notch engineers, 2) a best place to work culture, and 3) great leadership. With “great leadership” in mind, we recently established DISTek U and kicked off our first leadership track (DISTek U 101: Potential Leads).
Another ISOBUS Plugfest week is almost here. From May 14-18, the AEF will once again host engineers from around the world for ISOBUS testing and some related events in Lincoln, NE. I have previously explained the mechanics of a Plugfest, so go take a look at some of my old blog posts if you want more info on that. The initial schedule I saw for this year showed 66 different pieces of equipment that will be tested during the three days of the Plugfest. DISTek will be participating with our VIRTEC stack and with our VT Server application. In total, DISTek expects to have 5-7 people attending Plugfest.
DISTek has been supporting FIRST® programs for many years through donations of time and financial support. This past March, DISTek was a sponsor of the Iowa Regional, which featured FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) teams, and took place on the campus of the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls. The four day competition featured robot matches where two teams of three robots navigate a field to test each robot’s engineering prowess.
How does application software pass data within an AUTOSAR-compliant system? The answer depends on what the application wants to communicate with. There are two main methods of communication for AUTOSAR-compliant application software: sender-receiver communication and client-server communication. Let’s begin by discussing application software in AUTOSAR before diving into communication.
Prior to the annual planting/growing season, the ag industry holds an annual trade show and convention called the Commodity Classic. This year the event was held in Anaheim, California from Feb. 27th-Mar. 1st with the theme “Grow Beyond!” The Commodity Classic is the largest farmer-led, farmer-focused trade show held in the U.S.
Here at the DISTek products department, we’re always looking for ways to make our user’s lives easier. As engineers that use our own products, this is doubly important to us! We’ve identified that open source tools can be one possible solution to alleviate potential issues down the road.
We spend a lot of time designing user interfaces for ISOBUS VT clients. There are a few tools currently on the market, and while these tools get the job done, we’ve found a few shortcomings…
