1. Damian Andrew John Budd
B.Sc. Eng Electronics (Hons)
26 Kingsford Avenue
Chase Valley
Pietermaritzburg, KZN
Cell: +27(0)820770459
Skype: daj_budd
Email: damianbudd@googlemail.com
Web: http://daj-budd.webs.com
PROFILE:
A highly experienced Electronics Design Engineer and team leader, with skills in systems engineering, team leadership,
and hands on hardware and software design. Strong leadership and management skills and ability to co-ordinate effort
of team members and sub-contractors on project work. Good theoretical and maths skills. Good customer facing and
project documentation skills.
Software experience includes a multitude of embedded processor families using commercial and open source tools, with
C, C++ and assembly language in embedded environments using RTOS and embedded Linux. Windows and Linux
application development on desktop PCs. Experience with Linux kernel driver development. Skilled at designing
complete software applications and systems with top down approach.
Hardware experience covers conceptual design, schematic capture, PCB layout, assembly, testing and industrialisation
in the following fields: analog, audio power amplifiers and intercoms, RF transmitters, receivers and sort range wireless
devices, digital circuits, ADCs, DACs and DSP, micro-processors, sensor and data logging, power electronics (SMPS)
and VHDL. Experience with EMC testing and designing for EMC compliance. Simulations in Matlab, SPICE and
Aplac circuit simulator.
Desire for continual personal skills improvement through tackling new and varied projects in the work place, as well as
personal hobby work. Very high standard of work, can-do attitude with dedication and thoroughness to the task at hand.
Ability to take a project from concept through to productisation.
21 years continuous experience in the electronics industry (South Africa/United Kingdom)
For much more detail please visit my web site: http://daj-budd.webs.com
MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS:
Bi-directional secure STAR RF Network design and implementation for security sensors (both hardware and
software implementation).
16-channel Multi-pixel LASER range finder sensor hardware and FPGA design with PCIe interface.
Developed complete fixed site vehicle speed measurement camera system software.
System Designer and managed team development of a mobile radar camera system.
Baseband circuit and audio hardware and software for spread spectrum cordless communicator.
Developed a number of antenna designs including an EMC/EMI Biconical reference antenna.
Developed components for a 1kW HF power amplifier, including harmonic filters and power combiner.
WORK EXPERIENCE:
EnviroVision Solutions (www.evsolutions.biz)
August 2014 – Present (contract 1 day of the week whilst working 4 days at Inhep/Nortech)
Position: Senior Hardware Engineer
2. EnviroVision Solutions provide remote camera systems to detect forest fires and as such the equipment operates
in a harsh environment. Did an analysis on the surge protection and filtering of the existing equipment and made
some recommendations to improve the filtering for EMC and surge protection requirements.
Developed some custom power supply filtering and surge protection PC Board for use in the existing and new
camera monitoring equipment.
Investigated various solar MPPT chargers and recommended a replacement for the existing charger that was
being used in the field.
Developing an intelligent mains powered Active power factor corrected switch mode battery charger and power
supply with extended wide mains input capabilites as well as comprehensive surge protection and health
monitoring of the supply. The supply is intended for use in the field where the mains voltage fluctuates outside
normal levels and where no other existing off the shelf solution is available. The supply also has the facility to be
supplied from a solar MPPT inverter where solar power is available and to serve as a backup for mains failure.
Extensive simulations of the above supply using APLAC simulator.
Nortech International (www.nortech.co.za)
October 2015 – Present
Position: Senior Hardware Engineer
Worked with video based people counting sensors. The sensors used a single overhead mounted VGA camera
and a neural network to detect people passing a count zone for the purpose of counting people entering or leaving
shopping malls etc.
Wrote a simple tracking algorithm using OpenCV to try to improve on the existing sensor.
Investigated various different technologies to replace the existing product including 3D Time of Flight sensors
and Stereo depth cameras.
Inhep Digital Security (South Africa) (www.idsprotect.com)
November 2013 – September 2015
Position: Senior Electronics Engineer
Developed a proprietary Bi-directional STAR RF network for battery powered security sensors (PIR, door mags
etc) with emphasis on longest battery life and minimal time on air to avoid transmission collisions and extend
battery life. The network protocol was similar to the IEEE 802.15.4 standard and used the Texas Instruments
SimpliciTI stack as a starting point also making use of the Texas Instruments CC1120 Radio transceiver operating
at 868MHz.
The network was designed to be able to operate in a stand alone fashion and was implemented in a modular form
to be able to integrate with the existing alarm panel bus protocol but also to be able to be used with any other panel
or future design with minimal alteration required to the application layer.
The network was designed to operate with co-located networks and with minimal setup requirements for an
installer.
Developed a bidirectional keyfob remote to integrate with the network design and provide visual feedback to the
operator.
Experience with Texas Instruments CC1120 radio and MSP430 Micro-processors.
Teledyne Cormon Ltd (Worthing, West Sussex) (www.cormon.com)
October 2011 – October 2013
Position: Senior Electronics Engineer
Designed a highly configurable PC based application for sensor data processing in real time, including
synchronization to sensor inputs, with data display in tables and charts and logging to disc. The application
supported both Modbus and CANbus interfaces. Wrote the specification for the design - the application was coded
3. by a sub-contractor.
Developed and coded a configurable dynamic mapping software mechanism from CANopen Object dictionary to
Modbus registers to re-use same core source code for both CANbus and Modbus devices.
Managed development and testing of sub-sea and topside sensor circuits hardware and software (embedded and
PC software).
Managed and coordinated hardware and software development with external sub-contractors as well as own
hands on software development.
Introduced into the company source and version control using SVN for managing hardware and software
documentation. Also introduced release procedures to production for ISO9000 compliance.
Responsible for hardware and software testing, verification and formal releasing to production/customer
including release documentation.
Direct interfacing with customers to define and agree on specifications for products and software.
Represented the company at an industry standardization forum. (www.siis-jip.com)
Experience working with European and American customers.
Participated in the interview process to find a replacement for my own position as well as a junior electronics
engineer role before I left Teledyne Cormon.
Instro Precision Ltd (Broadstairs, Kent) (www.instro.com)
October 2008 – September 2011
Position: Senior Electronics Engineer
Wrote specifications, designed Analog Front End and designed/wrote FPGA VHDL for multi-pixel laser range
finder. Tested and verified the VHDL and hardware.
Performed comprehensive detailed system simulations using MATLAB for the above.
Software digital servo controller for motorized goniometer tripod head, using ARM CORTEX M3 processor and
small DC servo motors.
Altium Designer for PCB layout, Raisonance RIDE7 and Eclipse IDE with GCC software tools, SVN Source
Safe version control. Introduced Doxygen software documentation utility to company.
Natcom Electronics PTY Ltd (www.natcom.co.za)
January 2004 – September 2008 (Full time)
May 2002 – December 2003 (Part time)
Position: Senior Design Engineer
Vehicle Speed Measurement and digital camera systems. Developed embedded software application and kernel
drivers for complete fixed site and mobile radar speed camera systems using Firewire cameras and a Powerpc
based processor with Yellowdog Linux operating system. Technical team leader of a team of 3 engineers on
Project. Took the camera system through type approval, EMC compliance and certification.
Developed embedded software for short range Spread spectrum RF bidirectional communication devices in the
433MHz and 2GHz band.
Developed hardware, embedded software and antenna for 400-500MHz DSSS mobile crew radio. (Atmel
ATMega2561 processor, FreeRTOS and AVR-GCC)
DSP embedded software demodulator application for digital communications reception. (Freescale DSP56F826
and Freescale CodeWarrior)
Developed Low frequency RFID wireless tag access system.
Experience with Atmel AVR8, Motorola HC08 microprocessors, DSP56F800, Motorola PowerPC. Firewire bus,
digital firewire cameras (DCAM). GPRS connectivity.
Experienced Linux programmer for both desktop (Debian) and embedded systems. Experience with device
drivers for Linux Kernel. Experience with FreeRTOS real time embedded kernel.
Mentor Graphics Pads for PC Board layout.
4. GG Acoustics (Now Vivid Audio – www.vividspeakers.com)
April 2002 – December 2003 (Part Time)
Position: Design Engineer
Developed 120 Watt, 250 Watt and 150 Watt audio amplifiers
Worked on 3 kW Class D amplifier and DSP for sub-woofer application.
Developed short range RF remote control for audio visual equipment, including custom embedded software
using Freescale HC08 processors.
Digital signal processing software algorithms for speaker frequency response correction and room response
correction.
Nanoteq/Prism Secure Solutions
April 1999 – March 2002
Position: Development Engineer
Software Development in C and C++ for the PC including Windows Programming with Visual C++ and MFC.
Embedded software in C and Assembly for security modules using 8051 derivatives.
Development of PCI cards for security modules.
Knowledge of encryption algorithms such as DES, RSA and Hashing algorithms e.g. SHA, MD5.
Grintek Comms Ltd
January 1996 – March 1999
Position: Development Engineer
Design of 1kW HF power amplifier, including harmonic filters, combiner, Automatic level control (ALC)
amplifiers and digital microprocessor controlled ALC.
Cordless communicator using direct sequence spread spectrum communication.
100W HF Antenna tuning unit.
OTHER EXPERIENCE:
Hobby Work:
I have designed and constructed all of the following for my own use:
750W Power Factor Corrected off-line SMPS for Audio Amplifiers.
Extensive simulations of Switch mode power supplies for active power factor correction, DC-DC conversion,
flyback conversion.
SPDIF digital audio decoder and Hi-Fi preamplifier.
Portable “Flight Computer” featuring a G-meter, altimeter, density altitude, temperature, time and stop watch
readout on LCD display.
150W Dual mono Audio Power Amplifier.
Digitally synthesized, microprocessor controlled, hand-held AM VHF aviation receiver.
30W stereo integrated Hi-Fi Amplifier.
6 Channel 220V incandescent lamp phase control dimmer with Infrared remote control.
10Hz –100kHz low distortion audio sine wave generator for the testing of Audio Amplifiers.
Bench top power supply. +- 30 Volts variable dual supply, 3A rating with overload protection.
Please visit my web site http://daj-budd.webs.com for full details on these projects.
5. EDUCATION/QUALIFICATIONS:
Tertiary Education:
B.Sc. Electronic Engineering (Honours) – University of Natal Durban, South Africa, 1992 – 1995
First class pass
Graduated Cum Laude (2nd
final year student)
Awarded Full study bursary (Eskom)
Schooling:
Pinetown Boys High School (1987 – 1991)
Matric Exemption – 'A' Aggregate
Subject 'A's – Mathematics, Science, Technical Drawing, Electronics, Supplementary Maths.
Personal Details:
Date of Birth: 29 January 1974
Nationality: British, South African
Languages: English, some Afrikaans
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
Hold full SA and UK drivers licenses
Private Pilot:
Holder of valid South African private pilots license for fixed wing aircraft.
Flying experience in the UK.
Night Rating
Safety Pilot Rating
7 aircraft type ratings (C182, C172, C150, PA28-140, PA28R200, AA5B Tiger, Jabiru)
440+ hours total flying time
6. EDUCATION/QUALIFICATIONS:
Tertiary Education:
B.Sc. Electronic Engineering (Honours) – University of Natal Durban, South Africa, 1992 – 1995
First class pass
Graduated Cum Laude (2nd
final year student)
Awarded Full study bursary (Eskom)
Schooling:
Pinetown Boys High School (1987 – 1991)
Matric Exemption – 'A' Aggregate
Subject 'A's – Mathematics, Science, Technical Drawing, Electronics, Supplementary Maths.
Personal Details:
Date of Birth: 29 January 1974
Nationality: British, South African
Languages: English, some Afrikaans
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
Hold full SA and UK drivers licenses
Private Pilot:
Holder of valid South African private pilots license for fixed wing aircraft.
Flying experience in the UK.
Night Rating
Safety Pilot Rating
7 aircraft type ratings (C182, C172, C150, PA28-140, PA28R200, AA5B Tiger, Jabiru)
440+ hours total flying time