Electronic Product Development - Design Note #25

At Orchid Technologies we specialize in custom electronic product design. Years of successful electronic product development for a diverse group of nationwide OEM clients has made the engineers at Orchid an expert team. Expert at making performance-driven, cost-effective, manufacturable technology choices. Our experience and expertise are available to assist you.

Artificial Heart Pump Monitor - Design Note #26

Orchid Technologies' second generation heart pump monitor is designed for critical care of artificial heart pump recipients. Real-time data capture, analysis, and display of multi-channel ECG patient data is required to provide doctors with critical patient status.

Semiconductor Wafer Fabrication - Design Note #27

Silicon wafer fabrication requires precision control of pressurized bladders during polishing operations. Fail-safe digital signal processing (DSP) together with high precision 24-bit analog instrumentation enable high-quality materials handling techniques.

Industrial Motion Control - Design Note #28

High-power industrial motion control is a demanding art requiring a mix of power electronics techniques coupled with modern digital signal processing. Orchid's two board industrial motion control set provides multiple high power pulse width modulation drivers (PWM), precision analog servo circuitry, and digital signal processing.

Building Access and Security - Design Note #29

Building Access and Security is critical to our nation's needs. Orchid's building access technology integrates precision automatic door motion control electronics with sophisticated communications technology to enable low-cost networked building access control from a central security control center.

Audio Noise Reduction Controller - Design Note #30

Electronic Product Design at high volume Consumer Electronics levels is a challenge in its own right. Every penny counts when end-product volumes reach 250,000 pieces per year. Electronic product design is the art and science of blending low cost component selection with end-product performance. Orchid Technologies is expert in the design, implementation and selection of high volume consumer electronics products. Orchid achieves a product design in which each component is cost-justified and function-justified. Art, science, innovation, experience — high volume consumer electronics design is a discipline accessible only to professionals with years of industry experience and knowhow.

Advanced Medical Image Processing - Design Note #31

Orchid Technologies' newest TMS320DM642 design offers unprecedented video number-crunching abilities. Intended for Scientific and Medical Imaging use, this TMS320DM642-based design features 2500 volt input image isolation, a unique camera input interface, pixel and frame-oriented processing, PCI, and Firewire video outputs, as well as standard S-Video, NTSC and digital video outputs. This board is the Swiss-Army-Knife of video processing technologies.

X-Ray Video Image Processing - Design Note #32

Obsolescence threatened the future of American Science and Engineering's older generation X-Ray Imaging Security System. The now obsolete dual VGA imager used to simultaneously view transmission and backscatter X-ray images was no longer available at any price. Orchid Technologies was hired to evaluate the old design and provide an architecture and design implementation for a new, lowcost dual X-ray imaging board.

Altera FPGA Development - Design Note #33

Orchid Technologies' latest circuit board design features dual Altera Cyclone devices. Dual Cyclone devices perform high speed video image management, video enhancement and video capture services. Orchid's selection of dual Cyclone devices was driven by both Cyclone's lowest cost-highest FPGA performance advantage and Orchid's many years of Altera design experience.

Programmable Industrial Controller - Design Note #34

Switching high power electrical signals requires in-depth knowledge of isolation, cross talk, and safety techniques. High power electrical signals can generate large voltage or current pulse, when switched. Isolation between high power signals and low power controls is often mandated by regulatory agencies. Implementation of cost effective, manufacturable high power switching designs necessitates careful component selection, circuit board routing techniques and noise reduction design approaches. Orchid Technologies has successfully designed numerous high power industrial controllers.

Precision Instrumentation Subsystem - Design Note #35

Varian Corporation hired Orchid Technologies to perform the cost reduction redesign of their precision Ion Implantation control system. With as many as thirty subsystems contained within a single Ion Implanter, the potential savings were tremendous.

Advanced Micro Devices Opteron 64-Bit CPU - Design Note #37

When Advanced Micro Devices approached Orchid Technologies to perform the design of its Triple Opteron 64-Bit Video Server we realized that this would be one of the most powerful video processing computers ever designed. Each 64-Bit AMD Opteron Processor connects to its neighbor through two dedicated, extremely high- speed HyperTransport links. Each 64-Bit AMD Opteron Processor also connects to its own dedicated NVIDIA nForce3 media and communications processor (MCP). Finally, each MCP supports its own dedicated, high-speed sixteen-lane PCI-Express video slot.

Medical Electronics for Cardiac Care - Design Note #38

Excited by a laser light source, this sensitive, tuned amplifier system can detect the smallest variation in florescent light levels inside the human body. Invasive data collection inside the human body is a demanding art. Detecting the florescence of foreign materials inside the human body is subject to a variety of competing technical challenges. The need for a reliable, highly repeatable, and accurate result is paramount.

CAN-Bus Steering Angle Sensor - Design Note #39

This microprocessor based steering angle sensor provides real-time steering angle data over the CAN-Bus. Automotive electronics present demanding requirements to the electronic product designer. High volume, low cost and highly rugged, feature packed designs are necessary to win. This automotive steering angle sensor can sense high-resolution angle displacement of 1400 degrees of rotation and beyond.

Brushless DC Motor Controller - Design Note #40

This low cost, miniature, brushless DC motor controller packs enormous power into a tiny electronics package. Designed to drive 48-Volt brushless DC motors up to 1400 watts, this miniature controller may be the smallest in its class. Small physical sizes make it possible to develop high torque and operating speeds when overall product size and weight are application limited.

Internet Enabled Industrial Controller - Design Note #41

Four weeks to ship first product, and our client's original in-house controller design was non-functional. Hundreds of on-campus laundry facilities nation wide were waiting. Internet-enabled laundry control and monitoring services to thousands of college students might have to wait yet another semester. Orchid was called in to design, build, and test a new controller—in record time!

Fluoroscopic Drug Discovery - Design Note #42

The detection of pico watt fluoroscopic light using low cost pin photo diodes makes it possible to scale up discrete channel count. Orchid performed the design of a scalable, extremely low noise, high sensitivity, 24 bit transconductance amplifier. Advanced features such as pico amp sensitivity, auto-zero functionality, temperature compensation and microprocessor control make this eight channel transconductance amplifier truly unique.

Microwave Radio Communications - Design Note #43

Microwave baseband modulation by digital means permits precise control of harmonic energy content in the transmitted signal. Orchid Technologies was selected to perform the design of a dual channel giga-sample converter for use in satellite communications networks.

VRM Power Supply Design - Design Note #44

Today's high speed Pentium and Opteron Processors require large amounts of adjustable core, memory, and termination power. Power supply modules do not always fit in small places. Embedding the VRM Power supply onto the motherboard can save circuit board area. Embedding the VRM Power supply onto the motherboard can save cost and reduce time to market. Embedded VRM power supplies can provide higher performance than similar modular designs.

Miniature Color CMOS Video Imager - Design Note #45

Color CMOS Imagers for use in scientific applications take many shapes. Our micro-miniature CMOS imager operates perfectly in tiny, noisy, remote locations. A remote CMOS imager presents power, noise rejection, control signal, and circuit board size design challenges. Add to that high speed shutter capabilities, automatic gain control, and automatic color correction, and we have an entire micro-miniature camera subsystem.

Paper Handling Sensor Application - Design Note #46

The processing of paper at high speed requires precision and repeatability. Today's modern paper processing equipment processes paper at the rate of many hundred linear feet per second. Accurate and repeatable positioning of the paper handling equipment is vital to product quality. Orchid developed a multi-position sensing system which measures equipment operation in real time.

Laboratory Instrumentation Controller - Design Note #47

The coordination and integration of multiple, unrelated electronics is a daunting task. Multiple electrical interfaces together with connectivity, isolation, noise immunity, and precision operation made this instrumentation controller special. Working closely to understand the end application, we made certain that every facet of the design was covered – with contingency planning just in case we missed something.

Cryogenic Vacuum Pump Controller - Design Note #48

Cryogenic pump control requires input from a number of unusual cryogenic temperature and pressure sensors. Silicon diode temperature sensors are accurate at temperatures below 10 degrees Kelvin. Thermocouple pressure sensors provide accurate gas pressure measurements down to 1 micron. Combined sensing systems permit the control of cryogenic instrumentation with a high degree of accuracy. Orchid developed low noise, accurate sensing systems to control cryogenic equipment near absolute zero.

WinCE Marine Engine Control - Design Note #49

An ARM9 class processor and Window CE makes this marine engine controller ready for action. Real-time sensor processing integrates inputs from diverse sources such as paddle wheels, GPS Receivers, steering sensors, ballast sensors and CAN Bus high-speed engine sensors. A high-visibility color graphics LCD display provides operator visibility in both daylight and low-light conditions. A stylish low-cost, backlit keypad completes the package.

Medical Electronic Product Design - Design Note #50

Medical electronic product design can take many forms. The medical electronic product shown below assists patients in the seemingly simple act of coughing. Simply coughing can be most difficult for people with certain illnesses. Orchid begins by embracing both the unique technical and human-factor design challenges. We work closely with our client to develop a deep understanding of the product requirements. We develop a robust and effective electronic architecture. That architecture is reviewed through risk-assessment, design fault management, change procedures and rigorous design verification processes. The result—a medical electronics product which makes it possible for her (and her parents) to sleep more soundly.

Cable Television Power Supply - Design Note #51

Cable television repeaters take a beating. Vibration, extremes of heat and cold, line voltage variation and lightning exact a heavy toll. Cost effective field deployment demands flawless electronics performance—year after year. Orchid Technologies' ultra-reliable, high-efficiency cable television repeater power supply provides the foundation for high-reliability operation. At 80% efficiency, this 100,000 hour mean time between failure, 150-watt power supply provides a firm infrastructure upon which repeater amplifier electronics may build. Operational from 40 below zero to over 80 degrees C, this power supply simply won't quit.

SOHO Telecommunications with Xscale ARM Processor Running Linux - Design Note #52

Based on the Intel IXP425 Xscale Processor, Orchid's SOHO Telecommunications Hardware offers choices. Daughter boards permit expansion from four to eight to sixteen POTS FXS or FXO Ports. Four Ethernet 100BaseT LAN ports, Two Ethernet 1000BaseT WAN ports, a single ADSL port and a single WiFi (802.11) daughter board make this hardware cost competitive and flexible. Power loss line fail-over switching completes the hardware feature set.