EDN -- 05.09.96 1995 Design Ideas winner mends the cracks in Windows

Design Ideas: May 9, 1996

1995 Design Ideas winner mends the cracks in Windows

Paul Kemp

NASA engineer Paul Kemp says he is in shock after winning the annual grand prize as EDN's Best Design Idea of 1995. Kemp, who has worked as an EE in the hazardous-test area of NASA (Houston) for seven years, hesitates even to tell his co-workers about his achievement until he sees a published report. Until then, he says, the original congratulatory phone call from EDN Design Idea Editor Bill Travis will still seem like a dream. "EDN has published six or seven of my other ideas, but this one sat around longer than most before acceptance, so I was really surprised when I got the call," says Kemp.

Kemp's winning idea, "Program provides ISA-bus DLL for Windows" (EDN, Sept 28, 1995, pg 90), was something his team needed: a Windows-based program that provides 8- and 16-bit reads and writes directly to the ISA bus. "For whatever reason, Microsoft didn't include this capability with Visual Basic," Kemp says, adding that such omissions make programming a "necessary evil" in his job, which typically involves hardware—not software—engineering.

Kemp wrote his program, a dynamic-link library (DLL), with Borland's C++, because it lets you compile subroutines and functions as DLLs for Windows. To complete the project, he abandoned his usual hardware-related duties and put in two solid weeks of 10- to 12-hour days of programming. NASA is using Kemp's program, ISACOMM.DLL, in computer testing, pyrotechnical applications, and PC user-interface software for the space station and shuttle.

Kemp earned his BSEE from the University of Oklahoma—Norman. In his spare time, the 34-year-old enjoys surfing the Net and tracking the latest technological developments. He says he sent the idea to EDN because he likes the spectrum of articles and the format of the magazine.

Kemp's design not only wins the $1500 cash award, but also really works. That's the testimony of EDN Technical Editor Doug Conner, who is using the program in a Hands-On Project on programmable FPGAs. Says Conner, "The program lets software that works with Visual Basic talk directly to hardware. There's no way with regular Visual Basic you can do that. It works very nicely." Check Conner's results in the June 20, 1996, issue.

—by Fran Granville

Each issue, EDN readers vote for their favorite Design Idea. Winners receive $100 and automatically qualify for the annual grand-prize contest. The following list contains all of the 1995 winners. Congratulations to all of our Design Ideas contributors - and keep the innovative ideas coming.

Jan 5, 1995: "Simple timer remembers your rhythm," MS Nagaraj, ISRO Satellite Centre (Bangalore, Karnataka, India).
Jan 19, 1995: "Low-cost audio VCA has high performance," Mike Sims, Lectrosonics Inc (Rio Rancho, NM).
Feb 2, 1995: "Printer port hosts precision analog I/O board," Huw Jones, Gyrus Medical Ltd (Cardiff, Wales, UK).
Feb 16, 1995: "Switching regulator controls CCFT," Doug Vargha, Maxim Integrated Products (Sunnyvale, CA).
March 2, 1995: "Notch filter is dc accurate," Gary Sellani, Maxim Integrated Products (Sunnyvale, CA).
March 16, 1995: "Simple regulator has one active part," Kennan C Herrick, ESI Electronics Corp (San Francisco, CA).
March 30, 1995: "Two-lead solid-state breaker resets itself," Phil Harvey, Technology Integration Inc (Bedford, MA).
April 13, 1995: "Pass regulator's output ranges from 0 to 20V," Marvin Vander Kooi, Micrel Semiconductor (San Jose CA).
April 27, 1995: "Allpass network shifts signals 90Ą," Gary Sellani, Maxim Integrated Products (Sunnyvale, CA).
May 11, 1995: "Two cores marry, make swinging choke," Vincent Spataro, GEC Marconi Electronic Systems Corp (Wayne, NJ).
May 25, 1995: "Battery charger indicates rate of charge," Larry Suppan, Maxim Integrated Products (Sunnyvale, CA).
June 8, 1995: "Software implements digital potentiometer," Gary Creager, Xicor Inc (Milpitas, CA).
June 22, 1995: "Microcontroller watches, controls ac power," Samuel Kerem, Infrared Fiber Systems (Silver Spring, MD).
July 6, 1995: "Video fader preserves synchronization," Frank Cox, Linear Technology Corp (Milpitas, CA).
July 20, 1995: "Full-wave rectifier operates to 200 MHz," Rea Schmid, Comlinear Corp (Fort Collins, CO).
Aug 3, 1995: "Rotary controller positions stepping motor," TG Barnett and ME Rosenberg, Department of Physiology, Queen Mary and Westfield College (London, UK).
Aug 17, 1995: "Voltage controls sine-wave frequency," Yongping Xia, EBT Inc (Torrance, CA).
Sept 1, 1995: "DSP chip yields high-speed D/A conversion," James Hiller, Xactex Corp (Kennewick, WA).
Sept 14, 1995: "Two signals easily control tricolor LED," Bob Richards, Digital Audio Corp (Raleigh, NC).
Sept 28, 1995: "Program provides ISA-bus DLL for Windows," Paul Kemp, NASA Johnson Space Center (Houston, TX).
Oct 12, 1995: "Charger delivers 2.5A with 96% efficiency," Matt Schindler, Maxim Integrated Products (Sunnyvale, CA).
Oct 26, 1995: "Precision missing-edge detector also corrects," Paul Sofianos, Motorola (Chandler, AZ).
Nov 9, 1995: "Thermocouple interfaces to serial port," Daniel Segarra, Sipex Corp (Billerica, MA).
Nov 23, 1995: "Fractions eliminate floating-point multiply," Michael Gauland, Tektronix Inc (Beaverton, OR).
Dec 7, 1995: "Circuit linearizes, converts thermistor data," Matthew Beckner, Ball Corp (Boulder, CO).
Dec 21, 1995: "Zobel network tames reactive loads," David Albean, Thomson Consumer Electronics (Indianapolis, IN).