Jacobs Design is the vehicle through which Carl Jacobs has made his intellectual property available to the open market since July 2000. This page is the brief summary of some of the projects undertaken by Carl during the course of his engineering career. It is proudly presented to allow you to access the suitability of Jacobs Design for your computer software and electonic engineering needs.

This role has several aspects:
Data is logged by scrutineering specific data aquisition systems located in each of the V8 Supercars. The analysis of the data is not as concerned with relative performance of the vehicles as it is with conformance by the competitor to the rules of the category. The data collected is also used in incident investigations.
Loom inspections (visual, electrical and x-ray) of controlled looms are performed to confirm compliance with the various requirements of the rules.
The data aquisition systems used by the V8 Supercar teams is subject to random inspection to verify compliance with category rules.
The role is primarily performed at V8 Supercar race meetings, but has also been extended to tyre testing (when changing the control tyre used by the categorty) and aero testing (to ensure equity between the aerodynamics packages fitted to the vehicles).

The global financial crisis (GFC) of 2008 caused a return to casual employment at a large engineering company. The work centered around a train bourne safety-critical computer system. The work involved using DOORS and Telelogic Synergy in the specification and verification of the product requirements.

Programmed using Delphi. This forth compiler for the Parallax Propeller was developed to provide a higher performance language environment. More details can be found here.

Contract Development # 1. This project involved the development of firmware for two interlinked ATmega-based micro-processor boards (main controller and user interface). The firmware for both boards was written in C using the IAR C Compiler. Most notable inclusion was the Vinculum chip used to store information on a removable USB memory stick.

Contract Development # 2. A delphi based application written as the user interface to an industrial processing machine.

The accelerometers where designed as a spinoff of another project, combined with the knowledge that a more cost effective sensor was sought.
They have a separate page which may be found here.

This hardware, firmware and software project consists of an automated pitstop timing and driver identification system used by the V8 Supercars. The project is based on a Philips ARM processor, as well as some PIC processors and Propeller processor. The embedded firmware is primarily C (with some small amounts of assembler and Spin). The software is written in Delphi. The final application consisted of six different hardware items, five embedded firmware items and three PC-based applications. This project also required an anodised aluminium housing which was profiled to suit the application - a relatively complex CNC machining operation.
More details here.

Delphi based software project which used a graphical interface to trigger management and maintenance actions on a limited inventory of parts.

Delphi based software project which connects to a timing system information feed which is used as part of the V8 Supercars. The software presents the data in the form of tabulated information as well as a graphical track map.

A Delphi based application used to analyse data retrieved from a data aquisition logger. The hardware for this project was developed by Perkins Technologies.

A Texas Instruments (forget which processor) based hardware project to record and display up to 99 lap times in a handheld device.

A Delphi client/server application has been developed to perform Point of Sale functionality on a PC compatable platform. Primarily touch-screen based operation is supported. Database backend started as DBF but has migrated to include some sqlite.

A Delphi application used to generate orders and invoices for Jacobs Design. Originally based on flat files, then moved to DBF format files. All Jacobs Design Tax Invoices and Purchase Orders are still generated using this application.

The company was formed. Started as two directors with company name MSE Technologies Pty Ltd. Changed to one director in 2002 with new name of Jacobs Design (Aust) Pty Ltd.

This software project involved writing firmware for 8051 equivalent processors which implemented a hierarchical intercom system used in some of the prisons of the Queensland Correctional Service.

A Delphi based application used to analyse data retrieved from a data aquisition logger. The hardware for this project was developed by (then) Col Higgins and Adrian Ball of Motor Sport Electronics.

The dual port Ethernet board was designed to provide redundant Ethernet support to a SCADA system.

The FDDI Concentrator was a hardware design that was based on a 386EX processor and the National Semiconductors FDDI chipset to build a four port FDDI Concentrator. The Concentrator was used as part of the communications backbone on the Kowloon-Kantong railway system.

Based on the Texas Instruments TMS320C25, this firmware project involved a foray into C and DSP assembly progamming to perform the task of power measurement and some related control tasks on a three phase power system. The board was integrated as part of a larger SCADA system.

The first two years of tertiary education took place at the University of Natal, Durban, South Africa. The last three years of tertiary education took place at Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia.
Qualification obtained: Bachelor of Microelectronic Engineering (with first class honours)