INNOVATE WITH THE INNOVATION MAKERS OF ALTRAN

Transcription

1 INNOVATE WITH THE INNOVATION MAKERS OF ALTRAN A PASSION FOR SHARING IDEAS ABOUT INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS 1

2 Innovate with the Innovation Makers of Altran. 2 3

3 The art of Software Engineering The whole world is connected Society is being linked up more and more cleverly by devices connected with one another and with the Internet (Intelligent Systems). From smartphones, through watches and thermostats, to cars. There are already experiments with online pacemakers that warn a doctor of problems via their own IPaddresses. The day is also approaching when you ll be able to sit back and let your self-driving car take you to work. Developments in connectivity between devices are racing ahead and this is a major challenge for the entire industry. There are challenges in real-time data processing, power management, communication protocols, privacy and security. In close collaboration with customers, our software engineers face these challenges on a daily basis. They drive the development of tomorrow s products. And that demands excellent knowledge of software. Software engineering encompasses the whole spectrum of developing and testing software for complex systems: from stating the requirements right up to delivery. It s a complex professional skill and involves more than just writing code. Intelligent Systems/Altran As global leader in innovation and high-tech engineering consulting, Altran accompanies its clients in the creation and development of their new products and services. Altran has been providing services for thirty years to key players in the Aerospace, Automotive, Energy, Railways, Finance, Healthcare and Telecoms sectors. Intelligent Systems/Altran is market leader in the Benelux in the area of technical automation and embedded software. Specific customers are ASML, Philips, TomTom, Vanderlande, Bosch, Océ, Thales, Alstom and Nedap. A passion for sharing ideas Our software engineers have a real passion for technology and are keen to share it with you. The ideas in this pocket book come from our own guys and the aim is to pass on their enthusiasm to young people in the field. The ideas are set out step by step and can be recreated at home. Some ideas are more for fun, while others pose more of a technical challenge. 4 5

4 Idea 1: Turn your smartphone into a remote control Has this happened to you? You re lazing around on the sofa and the remote control has vanished? It s very likely that your girlfriend or boyfriend, in a fit of tidiness, has put it somewhere very illogical. No problem: just turn your smartphone into a remote control! By connecting some small LEDs to your smartphone s headphone port, you can easily transform it into a universal remote control. This solution is simple, cheap and ready in no time. There are also various free apps available for iphones as well as Android smartphones. 6 7

5 What do you need? 2 x Infrarood LED (940nm, preferably 5 mm) 1 x Stereo Jack Plug (3.5mm) 1 x 68 Ohm resistor Heat-shrinkable tubing or tape for finishing Let s get started! Below is the diagram of the infrared transmitter. As you can see, it s a very simple diagram. PLEASE NOTE: : The resistor is optional: in theory it makes things safer for the hardware in your telephone. 8 9

6 Step 4: Bend the legs of the other LED, place them around the existing LED and solder them on. PLEASE NOTE: this LED must be connected exactly the other way round (the flat side of the LED must therefore be on the opposite side) Step 5: As a finishing touch you can put some heat-shrinkable tubing around the whole thing. Step 6: Install one of the apps below and operate your TV! User tip: It s also fun for fooling your parents while they re watching their favourite TV show or for startling your gran! Why are two infrared LEDs necessary? Remote controls often make the LED flash at a frequency of 38kHz. This frequency is far too high for humans to hear and many sound outputs don t support it. Sound works with alternating current. If you use two LEDs in opposite directions, one LED will flash at the positive part of the sine and the other at the negative part. This doubles the frequency, so that the telephone only needs to generate a tone of around 19kHz. This frequency is supported by most types of modern equipment. In order to create what is shown in this diagram, you have to complete the following steps: Step 1: Cut the connection of the sleeve (ground) from the connector. Step 2: Insert the legs of the first LED through the connection of the tip and ring of the plug, and bend them so that the LED stays in place. Download here the Android orapple ios APP for a TV Remote. Thanks, Arno! This idea was contributed by software engineer Arno Moonen. Arno is 25 and has been working for Altran since August Before that he graduated with us. What does Arno like about Altran? The diversity of products and projects that we work on and the varied knowledge of the staff. Step 3: Solder the legs to the plug

7 Idea 2: Make a Killer Brushbot! Has this happened to you? It s the summer holidays, it s extremely hot and you re bored to death. All your friends are on holiday and you re sick of sitting in front of the TV or the computer. You ve got absolutely nothing to do and the only thing that still makes any sense is building BrushBots! Yeah! Make a mini-robot without a single line of software. check! 12 13

8 Let s get started! Materials: Button cell battery (e.g. LR1130) Mini vibration motor Wire: 2 x 3cm Toothbrush Double-sided foam tape Sellotape Tools: Wire cutters Small pliers Scissors Wire strippers Soldering iron + soldering tin Optional: hot glue gun Step 1: Heat the soldering iron and the glue gun, if you re using one. Cut off the handle of the toothbrush with the wire cutters. Cut the wire and, with both pieces, strip 15mm at one end and 5mm at the other end. Step 2: Shape the long stripped parts of the wire into a spiral. Bend the short stripped parts of the wire at a 90 upwards angle. Solder one piece of wire to the vibration motor with the right angle pointing upwards and the other with the right angle pointing downwards (the polarity doesn t matter). You now have an assembly into which you can fit a battery

9 Step 3: Stick a small piece of foam tape 3/4 of the way along the head of the toothbrush and put a second little piece of foam tape at the other end. For added strength, replace the second piece of tape with a small amount of glue from the glue gun. Place the vibration motor on the end of the toothbrush head and press the lower wire spiral firmly into the tape, taking care that the rotor of the vibration motor can spin freely. Step 4: Take a button cell battery and press it onto the lower wire spiral. Stick a small piece of Sellotape over the upper wire spiral and the battery, so that there is contact. The motor will now start to turn. Let your BrushBot loose on a smooth surface! Off it goes! User tip: Bend the toothbrush bristles backwards and the BrushBot will run forwards, or alter the weight distribution to make it move differently. Build a maze or a race track for your BrushBots. Thanks, Lex! This idea was contributed by software engineer Lex Nicolaes. Lex is 26 and has been working for Altran since August Before that he graduated with us. What does Lex like about working for Altran? The challenging work for well-known customers and the opportunities. Altran offers you to develop yourself at an individual level

10 Idea 3: Has this happened to you? It s snowing, it s cold and you re still lying snugly in Connected Senseo bed. You have to get up and go to work, but you re having trouble opening your eyes. Wouldn t it be wonderful if at that moment you could make the coffee from your bed? Expensive new coffee machines probably have Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connectivity. But why buy a new machine if you can make your old Senseo connected? What do you need? 1 x old Senseo Microcontroller of your choice (in this case a PIC microcontroller) Wireless module of your choice (in this case Bluetooth module HC-05) Relay breakout board Soldering iron Breadboard Multimeter Hot glue gun USB TTL cable 18 19

11 Let's get started! will remain intact. So, unscrew the Senseo, open it up and look for the device s switches/controls. Tip: look for a repair manual on the Internet. Step 2: With your multimeter, measure through which pins of the switch the connection is made at the moment of switching Step 3: Solder a number of wires, each one metre long, to the contact points through which the connection is made at the moment of switching. Tip: use wires of different colours! This makes it easier to debug and connect up. Step 4: Test whether you ve got hold of the right wires. Plug the Senseo into the mains and short-circuit the 2 wires that you ve redirected from a switch. If all is well, the Senseo will react to this. In the case of the power on/off button, the LED will light up. The other two buttons, for 1 or 2 cups, cannot be tested until the water reservoir is back on. If the power button works and we carried out the same procedure for the other two buttons, we ll assume, for simplicity s sake, that it works.. Step 5: Solder a one-metre-long wire to the negative leg of the LED. This can be used to read out the Senseo s status messages. Hardware preparation PLEASE NOTE: You ll be working with an open setup of 230V. At all times make sure that the device is not live when you re working on it. Always pull the plug out of the socket when you are going to handle the electronic parts! Step 6: Note down somewhere which wire (note the colour) is connected to which switch. This can be very helpful once you ve closed the device again. Step 7: Run the wires to the back of the Senseo, behind the water reservoir. Step 8: Stick the wires down in a number of places using a hot glue gun. This way you can avoid pulling the soldered connections loose if you accidentally pull too hard on a wire once it is shut in. Step 1: What we re going to do is to look for the Senseo s controls. We ll then redirect these controls and operate the redirected controls using a microcontroller. In the case of a Senseo it s fairly simple. The appliance is operated by 3 buttons. There s also a status LED, which we ll redirect too. By redirecting the buttons in parallel, the existing operation using the buttons 20 21

12 Step 5: Open putty/minicom/screen to send commands over the UART via the TTL cable. If it works, you can hear the relays click at the time of switching. Step 6: Test the Bluetooth module by sending the same commands as were sent over the UART interface. In the case of the HC-05 module there is already an Android app available, called BlueTerm. This makes it easy to test whether it works. Please note: this application only works with the stock Android keyboard. As a final step, everything needs to be embedded in the appliance. To do this, make a circuit board. This can be a prototype circuit board or an etched board. Try to keep it as small as possible and fit it tidily into the space behind the water reservoir. Be very careful not to put anything on or against the boiler or the transformer. Glue all the parts in the empty spaces and you have a connected Senseo. Microcontroller Using this basic arrangement, you can extend things further. For example, you can read out the status of the LED. The protocol can be figured out by hanging a logic analyser on the wire and analysing the different flashing intervals. Now you can also write a nice Android app to operate your Senseo. Step 1: Connect the breakout boards of the relays with the microcontroller. Step 2: Connect a USB TTL cable with the UART of the microcontroller and the PC. Step 3: Write a short program in order to switch the relays on and off via the UART interface. The relays can be switched by making the signal line either high or low. Step 4: Connect the redirected wires from the Senseo switches with the relays. Make sure that each button is connected up to its own relay. The loose wire of the LED can be connected to an I/O of the microcontroller. Thanks, Christian! This idea was contributed by software engineer Christian Litjes. Christian is 24 and has been working for Altran since Why does Christian enjoy working for Altran? Because we re an innovative company with a lot of motivated people. We re just that little bit different from other service providers; we allow a lot of space for new initiatives and give a lot of encouragement to those who indulge their electronic hobbies at home. This encouragement ranges from an innovation budget to a hackerspace/workroom where people can pursue their hobby. In short, this is a company with many opportunities and many like-minded people

13 Personal innovation budget Altran s Innovation Makers are always busy with software and technology. Not just during office hours, but also at home! To feed this passion, they are given a personal innovation budget every year. They can spend the money as they see fit and it s intended for buying the hardware and/or software they need. We ve seen some great ideas emerge as a result! 24 25

14 Working for Intelligent Systems/Altran The field of activity of a software engineer at Altran is dynamic and constantly shifting, because to stand still means to go backwards. This certainly holds true for a software engineer s knowledge and skills. A career with Altran offers great variety and many challenges in serving diverse customers. It involves large and complex projects. On one occasion you ll be working at the interface between hardware and software and another time you ll be involved in more highvalue software projects. But you ll always be working in a technical environment. What does this work require of you? To be able to play such a role, you need to have a broad interest in programming languages, operating systems, and development methods and techniques. You also need to be a passionate person, with technology in your genes. Desired training backgrounds include Computer Engineering, Embedded Systems, Computer Science and Electrical Engineering (in combination with software). Contact How to contact us? Eindhoven office: +31 (0) Apeldoorn office: +31 (0) Leuven office: +32 (0) Ghent office: +32 (0) Or mail to recruitment.netherlands@altran.com or recruitment.belgium@altran.com Where can I find current job vacancies? See Are you still looking for graduates? Yes, certainly but only in the Netherlands! Write an to recruitment. netherlands@altran.com and ask for our graduate booklet. Or contact our recruiter Iris Henst on +31 (0) or iris.henst@altran.com. Disclaimer We have made every effort to ensure the correctness and safety of the examples in this pocket book. Altran accepts no liability for any damage that may occur while carrying out the examples provided. If you have any doubts, always consult one of our staff before proceeding

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