Holiday Elves

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♫It’s the most wonderful time of the year♫…..DISTek continues the tradition of giving back:

Once again this year, as in previous years, the DISTek Cedar Falls office adopted two families from the Waterloo school district to help make their Christmas a little extra special. We received a wish list from each of the families and shared these with DISTek Elves (employees) who set about fulfilling everything (and even some extra items) on their lists. As usual, Elves were very generous…

Automated UI Testing for VT Clients

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Much of the software engineering industry uses testing techniques that aren’t often available to those of us in the embedded industry. In my experience, this has definitely been true of automated UI testing while working on ISOBUS VT clients. In a previous position, I spent much of my time creating test frameworks, including those for testing web applications through the UI.

Regular DISTek blog readers will have noticed that we took a VT server implementation to AEF PlugFest in spring 2017. Part of our motivation from the start of this project has been to give VT client developers the ability to automate functional testing of their applications.

DISTek Turns 25: Past, Present, Future

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The Present – Part 2

In the last phase of DISTek’s 25 years, we expanded our engineering services again. The concept of model-based software development (MBSD) had been in use for a few years at several of our off-highway customers and we had gained experience with it. But as we surveyed the market landscape……..

Our Commitment to STEM: Preparing the Next Generation

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DISTek has been encouraging youth in STEM and problem solving by sponsoring FIRST teams for many years. This year is no different. DISTek is sponsoring ten FIRST LEGO League (FLL) teams and eight FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) teams. We will also be sponsoring FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) teams when their season officially kicks off in January. In addition, we have ten DISTek team members that have committed their time to either coach or mentor teams.

Reducing Bugs with Simulink Dashboards

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Have you ever played the game “telephone”? It’s where you have a line of people and starting on one end someone whispers something into someone’s ear. That message is then passed on to the next person and so on and so on. Once it reaches the final person, you may find out that the message was misinterpreted. “Big dog” may have changed to “bed bug”. This is one of the major problems that have plagued software design and something I see on a regular basis. Engineers receive requirements that were already passed down through other people, so the engineer is left to interpret them the best they can.

ISOBUS Plugfest – Fall 2017 Wrap-up

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As I write this, we are less than two weeks removed from the most recent ISOBUS Plugfest, held at the Maritim Hotel in Stuttgart the week of 16 October 2017. As in past years, the Plugfest itself was held Tuesday-Thursday while several other AEF meetings were scheduled Monday-Friday. The Plugfest this year was either the biggest ever, or at least quite close……

DISTek to Present November 8th at ESC 2017 Minneapolis

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Human Nature and Requirements Elicitation: Lessons Learned

You would think that the easiest, least challenging, part of developing a software solution for a customer is to ask them, “What problem do you need solved?,” to which the customer would simply and clearly answer it in one or two paragraphs. Yet, that is far from the case. Of the various phases that occur during the development life cycle of a software project, the phase with the greater opportunity for cognitive interference is the requirements phase.

DISTek After Hours

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DISTek’s employees aren’t just all work and no play. We frequently do a variety of different activities after hours. Let me tell you how I got into some of the after hours activities almost instantly after I started working at DISTek, including how I implemented Board Game Night, as well as my thoughts on the LAN Party, which was my first interaction with the DISTek Activities’ Group.

DISTek to Attend Fall 2017 ISOBUS Plugfest

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The ISOBUS Plugfest is nearly upon us once again. Each spring in Lincoln, NE, and each fall in Europe, the AEF (Ag Electronics Foundation) coordinates a Plugfest during which ag electronics from different manufacturers are tested for interoperability. This fall, Plugfest is October 17-19 and engineers from around the world will be meeting in Stuttgart, Germany. I counted quickly so my numbers may be off, but I think there will be 74 Ag implement systems (“Clients”) and 42 Ag displays (“Servers”).

Intern Testimonial: Parting Thoughts from David

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Here at DISTek, we place a strong emphasis on our internship program. Every summer we hire a handful of interns to work alongside our teams to not only provide mentor-ship for those entering the field, but also to, hopefully, entice some of the best and brightest to join our ranks after graduation. This summer we were lucky enough to have David Schmadeke, an Electrical Engineering major at Iowa State University, join our internship program.

Summer Send-off: Back-to-School Tailgate

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On a gorgeous evening, after work, employees gathered in the back lot of the DISTek Cedar Falls office, while Jeff donned his apron and manned the grill. Employees were treated to brats, burgers, sides, and beverages, while at the same time getting the chance to bolster camaraderie with their fellow DISTekians.

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