of Microprocessors

(Communication) Minor - Computer Science 1970 - BS Electrical
Engineering
SONIK : What do you do at Kurzweil R&D on a "day to day" basis?
HAL : Before going to Korea full time about three years ago, I was listed as a
"Senior Systems Engineer". At the time that title was assigned (somewhere
around 1993). There was no standard list of titles and job descriptions so all of the
senior people were just asked to suggest a title they felt was descriptive.
Basically I did product development - about 2/3 hardware and 1/3 software.
Analog hardware is my specialty but half of my board designs also include a
microprocessor and digital circuitry. And if a micro is involved, I'm usually the
one to program it. Often I'm called upon to help in systems integration and solve
puzzling system problems. Perhaps the toughest such problems are the dreaded
"spontaneous hard reset" which is memory loss at power-down or power-up, and
audio hum. While the former usually has a "magic bullet" solution, the latter often
is a tug-of-war with radio-frequency emission and safety regulations.
Around 1992 I began visiting the Young Chang piano factory in Inchon, South
Korea. At first it was very short trips of up to 2 weeks to oversee manufacturing
startup of a new product or to solve a specific problem.
Later, from about '95 - '98, it became a 3 months on 3 months off arrangement as
they began to embrace computerized automatic testing of boards and complete
units.
By February of '98, precisely on my 50th birthday, I left Waltham for a 2-year
residency that was renewed last year. I still do product development, about half
the time, but now must also maintain the test systems and program them for new
products.
A typical day starts with a bike ride to the factory complex at 6:55AM, stopping
at the company weight room (where all the piano movers train) for a 30-minute
workout, then on to the Development Office where we are expected to be at our
desks promptly at 8:00. After receiving e-mailed questions and issues for the day
from Waltham (which has just finished its workday), I conduct an hour "class" for
some new engineering recruits.
The remainder of the morning is spent chasing down answers to the e-mail and
often solving manufacturing problems like a sudden increase in failures of a
particular production test.
Lunch is at the factory cafeteria from 12:00-1:00 then the afternoon is, hopefully,
free to work on whatever my current development project(s) is.
Presently that is the remote front panel for the KSP8 and up until a couple of