Dave Raymond has a BSEE from Stanford University. Originally he was a circuit design specialist and has a patent for a circuit to measure extremely low currents. As circuits moved to the digital age, nearly all the work of circuit design became software creation. He has spent the last 15 years primarily developing software for embedded projects.

Dave currently writes software for automotive applications at Gale Banks Engineering, Azusa, CA. Banks builds power-enhancement systems in a range of price levels that improve engine performance in gasoline and diesel vehicles. Banks Sidewinder turbos, PowerPack, Stinger systems, and Git-Kits provide significant-to-monumental power gains, optimize mileage, and prolong engine life. Dave is currently developing a braking system that works as a cruise control in downhill conditions.

The AVR family is the choice at Banks for economy, speed, and flexibility. Dave can remember when you were lucky to get 0.1 MIP from a processor with a board full of support parts. Now everything is in one package.

Dave is 56 years of age and has way more hobbies than time. One of them is collecting major league baseball parks (i.e., seeing a major league game in a new stadium). He is up to 40. The 2001 All-Star game will be 41.

Erick Oberstar holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and currently works at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. Erick works there in the Mechanical Engineering Department as the Mechatronics Lab Manager. At the UW, Erick has/is developed/ing several embedded systems for motion control, automotive applications, and general product automation to be used as teaching tools in the Mechatronics Lab. Several of these systems are based on Atmel AVR microcontrollers. Previously he worked at an aerospace research and development company working on various embedded control and robotics projects targeted for the International Space Station. One of which is a plant growth chamber scheduled to fly to the space station in early 2002.

Erick is also a part time graduate student working towards a M.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. An AVR even found its way into one of his graduate lab courses for an audio band signal processing application. Erick has a fondness for microcontroller development and has worked with various Atmel, Microchip, TI, and Rabbit Semiconductor controllers.

University work page: mechatronics.me.wisc.edu

Personal page: http://kickme.to/oberstar

Jack Tidwell has been the Engineering Supervisor for Pruett Industries International for the past 11 years. He is responsible for development of microprocessor-based monitors and controls for the Geothermal, Oil, and Gas industries. Jack is currently involved with developing interface equipment for the emerging DTS technology (laser based Distributed Temperature Sensors). Using the effects of Optical Domain Reflectometry enables temperature to be measured at any point along the fiber.

In 1970, (pre-uC mania) Jack retrofitted a US Navy air field lighting system for nighttime arresting gear illumination. The system was adopted by the Pacific Fleet as a standard upgrade for land based naval air stations. Reports of naval aviators nearly "nose diving" their aircraft into the runway due to instantaneous flash effects diminished. In a consulting capacity with the USDA, he has recently converted an existing, discrete logic controller, to an AVR based, elevation control for automating seed planting, thus enhancing seed germination, and higher initial crop yields.

He has written some small, fast, basic floating point arithmetic routines for the AVR currently being utilized by CodeVisionAVR 'C', ImageCraft AVR 'C' compilers, and also by Mark Alberts' BASCOM-AVR compiler. AVRCalc is a simple Windows executable that performs AVR baud rate and timer calculations as well as IEEE754 FP and simple HEX conversions. Jack also authored a small, but capable AVR Basic language compiler, JAVRBasic. The primary goal for JAVRBasic was to introduce an AVR teaching tool for new AVR users, thus lessening the learning curve associated with AVR RISC devices. The JAVRBasic compiler and tools are free for downloading at www.javrbasics.com.

Current fun project is assisting a small Island in the Indian Ocean with the monitoring of 50 power generating stations. The public works engineer selected Lars Wictorrson's SIM100 (AT90S8535 AVR) boards for the remote MCUs. The second phase of the project is to integrate an AVR based camera interface for video surveillance, as each station is in a remote, highly vegetated location.

When Jack is not in the lab, he enjoys Scuba Diving, and travel.

cyliax@iucf.indiana.edu