SPENCER KENNETH HOWE

EMPLOYMENT OBJECTIVE

I seek responsibility directing the development of embedded firmware that relates to the physical world.

EMPLOYMENT QUALIFICATIONS

My training in Physics (MS '81 MIT) and Chemistry gives me an excellent understanding of basic underlying principles. In addition, I have twenty successful years of software engineering for real-time applications, including:

Industrial instrumentation,
Industrial process control for Food, Pharmaceuticals, Paper coatings, Lubricant oils,
Inertial measurement,
Image processing,
Animation.

My most recent experience was the design and implementation of firmware for a family of industrial pH and electrochemical instruments. My involvement included the entire firmware development process from start to finish. This includes:

Product specifications
Operator interface design
Instrument functional block specifications
Compiler/ IDE tools selection
Engineering estimates
Software test specifications
I/O assignments for software modularity
Hardware reviews for efficient interfaces
Software module interface specifications for abstraction
Manpower scheduling and management
Source control
Program design using Structured English
Module programming to coding standards
I/O simulation
Module testing
Firmware installation (emulation, PROM, download)
System integration
Firmware performance testing
Bug and enhancement tracking and accounting
Operators' Manuals
On-site start-up support and maintenance
Technical sales support

These steps rendered quality products from a deliberate, predictable effort. I am now able to apply this expertise to optimize the engineering effort by which products and new features are created.

SOFTWARE ENGINEERING EXPERIENCE

Applications:

Operator interfacing,
Real-time firmware for industrial instruments
(pH meters, gas chromatographs, IR Analyzers, etc.),
Data transmission and collection protocols
Scientific data reduction,
I/O drivers.
Device performance verification (self-test)
Industrial process control:
(Grains unloading, Pharmaceuticals Paper coatings, Lubricant oil blending)
Inertial measurement including imaging stabilization,
Image processing support,
Animation,
Tool enhancements (macro cross-assembly, structured language pre-processors, etc.),

Techniques:

Real-time interrupt driven programming,
Multi-tasking (UCOS, CMX, ByteBOS).
Distributed control,
Emulation and bus analyzers, Oscilloscopes

Languages:

C, embedded C++
HART Device Description Language,
Assemblers for: M68HC11 (20 yrs.), TMS-320 DSP (4 yrs), i8051 (2yrs), Z8002, M6502, i8085,
WonderWare,
Foxboro's Intelligent Automation (I/A) System: (Ladder Logic, Control Blocks, etc.)
FORTRAN,
BASIC, VBA.

Hardware:

ARM-7 Cortex (2 yrs)
Discrete I/O, Analog-to-Digital, Digital-to-Analog,
Memory mapped I/O, Direct Memory Access (DMA) I/O,
Dual ported memory,
Digital signal processors,
Allen Bradley PLC-5,
Foxboro's Intelligent Automation distributed control system.

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY

Dates	Employer	Position
Dec. 1995 - Present April 1994 - Oct. 1994 April 1985 - May 1992	The Foxboro Company Foxborough, MA 02035 General Process Industries Analytical Division	Consulting Software Engineer Consultant Sr. Application Engineer Senior Software Engineer
Nov. 1994 - Oct. 1995 June 1992 - April 1994	The Cellier Corporation (out of business)	Consultant Automation Engineering Manager
Aug. 1982 - Nov. 1984	The Singer Company, Kearfott Division 150 Totowa Road Wayne, NJ 07470	Senior Engineer
Sept. 1981 - March 1982		Self-employed
June 1977 - Sept. 1981	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Research Assistant (funded by NASA)
Sept. 1974 - June 1977	Bridgewater State College (Massachusetts)	Undergraduate employment

EDUCATION

Degree	Awarded	Institution	Disciplines
M.S.	Sept. 1981	Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139	Physics
B.S.	June 1977	Bridgewater State College Bridgewater, Massachusetts 02325	Major: Physics Major: Chemistry Minor: Biology Honors: Computer Science

PERSONAL

ADDRESS: 31 Vinal Avenue, Scituate, MA 02066
EMAIL: skh@ziplink.net
TELEPHONE: 781-545-9457

Last modified: July 1, 2010