Toby Haynes
Electronics Designer
Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada

Resume

Work Experience
Owner and Sr. Designer
Phasor Electronics Design (Jan. 2005 - Present) 

Phasor provides electronics design services to client companies that require expertise in high-speed mixed digital/analog/RF circuitry, digital signal processing, microcontrollers, and I/O. Available services include embedded system design, circuit design, schematic entry, PCB design, mechanical design, software development, test, and manufacture.

Sr. Hardware Technical Lead, Wireless Systems Business Unit
Spectrum Signal Processing Inc, Burnaby, B.C. (Sept. 1991 - April 2004) 

For 12 years I designed digital signal processor and I/O hardware at the PCB level, specializing in A/D and digital down-converter hardware for processing intermediate-frequency radio signals. My products are used in software-defined radio systems for signals intelligence and two-way communication. As a Project Engineer, I have written specifications for many new products and led the development of a number of them. I prefer hands-on design work and have had a direct design role on these products: 

Software-Defined Radio I/O Cards. These card are part of a 3-card set for digital IF processing (up to 140MHz) in many-channel multi-mode radio transceivers. They provide multiple channels of A/D and D/A conversion at 80 and 200 megasamples per second with 70dB dynamic range. They include a phase-locked sampling clock, time-stamping circuit, and  multi-card synchronization for coherent multi-antenna applications. I specified and designed the I/O cards and was involved in the architectural definition and specification of the SDR card set. 

Six-Channel Software Radio Digitizer. This card filters and coherently digitizes six 455-KHz bandpass signals with 90 dB of spurious-free dynamic range, with two digital signal processors to run demodulation algorithms. The sampling clock is phase-locked to an external GPS time-code receiver and A/D samples are time-stamped. I specified the board and designed the analog signal conditioning, A/D, PLL, and time-stamping circuitry. 

Digital Radio Software Library. Developed in C for the TMS320C40 processor, this library includes functions for channel filtering, demodulation of AM, FM, SSB and CW signals, baseband filtering, and automatic gain control. I designed and implemented the algorithms. Matlab was used for the design of digital filters for this library. 

Digital Drop Receiver. This is a set of two circuit board modules that digitize signals up to 30MHz, then tunes and demodulate many signals simultaneously using digital down-converters and DSPs. I designed high-speed PECL and CMOS circuits and served as project leader on a team of three. 

Landing System Protoype. Developed by Lockheed-Martin, this VME-based avionics system navigated an aircraft to landing using synthetic-aperture radar, GPS, and inertial sensors. As a hardware designer, I wrote the specifications for custom portions of the digital electronics hardware and chassis. I designed the analog portions of two custom circuit boards including the I/O circuitry and baseband digitizers for the radar. Hundreds of successful test landings were made with this system. 

DSP Module with DRAM. This circuit board DSP module for VME image-processing systems includes a 50 MHz TMS320C40 DSP and large dynamic RAM. I designed the DRAM controller section. 

Audio Encoder/Decoder and Echo Canceller. Two DSP daughter modules were developed for the audio section of a video teleconferencing system. One performs G.711/722/728 speech encoding and decoding, while the other implements acoustic echo cancellation. I wrote specifications and designed the hardware for one module, using the TMS320C31 DSP. 

GMSK Modem Board Set. This includes a DSP IndustryPack module and a VME rear panel transition module board with analog I/O for interface to a radio transceiver. These boards form the MODEM in a Motorola cellular radio base station for CDPD data communication. I served as project leader, wrote specifications, and designed the analog I/O module. 

DSP Video Processing Board. This PC image-processing board uses a TMS34020 graphics processor to capture video from a camera and display video on a CRT. A TMS320C31 DSP is used to process images stored in the frame buffer. I wrote specifications and designed all of the hardware.

Hardware Design Engineer, Base Station Group
Motorola Wireless Data Group, Richmond, B.C. (Oct. 1989-Feb. 1991) 

I served as a hardware designer on the development team for the 2100 Base Station Controller. This VME-based system with a 68000 processor and a 56001 DSP controlled a radio transceiver and served as the modem in base stations for Motorola's digital radio dispatch and data network products. I wrote specifications, designed DSP and I/O circuitry, wrote test software, and performed accelerated life testing of the completed unit.

Hardware Design Engineer,
Gemini Technology Inc., Richmond, B.C. (May 1985 - Oct. 1989) 

Gemini produced single-chip ASIC implementations of IBM video controller cards for PC's. As one of a 2-man team, I implemented the IBM "Enhanced Graphics Adapter" in a 12,000 gate array. I was also on a team of 5 that implemented the VGA in a 15,000 gate array. My contributions included specification, logic design, test vector generation, in-house and foundry simulations, and prototype testing and debugging. I was also involved in the design and testing of an 8088-based PC-compatibility upgrade board for the Zenith Z100 PC, and an 80286 PC motherboard.

Education 

B.A.Sc in Electrical Engineering, University of British Columbia, 1985.

Publications 

"Wireless Base Stations Benefit from Performance DSP Architectures." RF Design Magazine, Intertec Publishing Corp., Overland Park, KS. June 1998. 

"DSP Technology Optimizes Multichannel Digital Receivers." RF Design Magazine, Intertec Publishing Corp., Overland Park, KS. April 1997.

Awards 

1997 Spectrum Signal Processing Innovation Award 

1997 Spectrum Signal Processing Quality Award

Skills Summary 

Hardware Design Skills 

  • Software-Defined Radio Devices and Techniques. Digital up-converters, digital down-converters, high-speed A/D and D/A converters, dynamic range and intermodulation measurement, software algorithms for baseband I/Q modulation, demodulation, filtering and gain control.  
  • Microcontrollers and Digital Signal Processors. Atmel AVR, Microchip PIC, 8051, Analog Devices Sharc 2106x, TI TMS320C3x and C4x, Motorola 56000.  
  • Analog and Interface Circuitry. A/D and D/A converters and signal conditioning, phase-locked loops, passive and active filters, oscillators, amplifiers, switching power supplies, antennas, ultrasonic transducers 
  • High-Speed Digital Circuitry. CMOS and PECL logic, multiple supply voltages, transmission line effects and terminations 
  • Complex PLD and FPGA Design in Verilog and Altera AHDL. 
  • Mixed-Signal Circuit and PCB design. Local power supply isolation and filtering, ground plane cutting, electromagnetic shielding. 
  • Bus and Card Standards. PCI, cPCI, PMC, VME, PC104, ISA 
  • Signal Processing Software. FIR and IIR design, FFT and windowing, baseband I/Q modulation and demodulation, PID control. 
  • Printed Circuit Boards. Design of 2- and 4-layer boards using Eagle, subcontracting large designs up to 18 layers, surface mount with 0402 and BGA packages.

Software Skills 

  • Test programs and diagnostics for debugging and production 
  • User libraries and example code in assembly language and C 
  • Signal processing and embedded microcontroller application code in C
  • Windows programs for user interface

 

Personal Interests 

In addition to spending time with my family, my interests include hiking, skiing, and amateur astronomy with my home-built telescope. I also work on personal electronics projects have been an amateur radio operator for 28 years.

(c) Toby Haynes. July 2005

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