Dr. Kenneth Macpherson

Real-time embedded system specification, design, implementation and delivery for tier 1 German defence suppliers. Responsible for all technical aspects of system development including software and FPGA development. Customer application integration assistance and support. In-depth customer application specific troubleshooting (also on-site) and on-site delivery, demonstration and training. Software & FPGA development. Key technologies: C++, Intel, Linux, VHDL, Xilinx, MicroTCA, XMC, VME

System design, development and delivery of real-time embedded commercial off the shelf (COTS) based systems. Delivered systems for major German defence programs to tier 1 suppliers. Involved environmental qualification and acceptance testing including for airborne applications. Direct on and off-site customer involvement (presentations, relationship management, system delivery/support/troubleshooting). Software and FPGA development. Key technologies: C, C++, VxWorks, Linux, VHDL, Xilinx, XMC, VPX

Strategic direction of FPGA aspects of the development of software to automatically generate bittrue VHDL from fixed-point DSP schematics (specified using SystemVue by Elanix - now Agilent). Development, testing and maintenance of numerous and diverse synthesisable VHDL models. Responsible for the concept, design and development of C++ software to automatically generate generic VHDL implementations of FIR filters suitable for efficient FPGA implementation.

Independently performed specification verification for the All-Digital Frequency Control sections of a Digital Video Broadcasting-Terrestrial (DVB-T) chip using the Synposys COSSAP simulation environment.

Designed and developed software related to user-updates of the real-time concurrent databases that form the backbone of the GE Harris Electricity Network Management And Control (ENMAC) systems. Developed a software tool to demonstrate new proprietary technology and subsequently acted as a development consultant to engineers based in the Florida office.

Designed and implemented software using Visual Basic to enable engineers to perform electricity network configuration changes more quickly and easily than existing methods. Performed installation, training and testing of the software in-house and at customer sites in the UK.

Performed research into the synthesis of “shift and add” multiplier blocks for low area FPGA implementation of FIR digital filters (disseminated in several publications). Developed VHDL filter generation software in C++ that produces filters more area efficient than the FPGA manufacturer's.