Hardware Engineer
Cattron Global
Montreal, Canada Area
This Business, originally Cattron, then acquired by Laird, then back to Cattron, designs and manufactures remote controls for cranes, trains and mining.I design the architecture, hardware and test jig of microprocessor based systems. This means processor, power supply, I/O boards, etc.Microprocessors: Renesas RX210, M16C/62P, M32C/84 and TI RM48L952CPLD: LatticeSchematic: PADS logic and AltiumLayout: PADS layout and Altium. Note that this portion is normally subcontracted, but for small boards we do in-house. We also have a PCB milling machine that allows us to do fast prototypes, In this case I do 100% of the layout. The machine allows down to 0.5mm pitch.I also write firmware to test the designed boards, therefore must also write low level drivers, which are often used by final application programmers. I also provide technical support to the firmware team.Major involvement in system engineering. Support to production and AE (Application Engineers)Products sell worldwide, therefore products must meet different EMC compliance testing.Work in tight relation with mechanical Engineer to ensure that everything fits together. Gained lots of experience in molding.Anecdote: A customer in Kentucky, was complaining about one of its locomotive remote control going in error mode several times a day. At least 3 technical visits occurred, without fixing it. Even if I was not involved in this line of products back then, I was asked to visit the customer, based on my troubleshooting capabilities. I asked for a couple of days to study the system, and then flew there with a technician from the head office. Took me 2 days, but fixed it. Never heard a single issue after.