Previous Commercial work
Our work generally covers electronic development, software development, business systems – and the integration of all three.
We make some utterly pointless things too, for our own amusement.
The customer:
A regional cricket club.
The problem:
a customer approached us looking for a reliable way to live stream their cricket games at high quality, even in an area of the club with no broadband and no power connectivity at all. They were also unable to use solar panels due to the danger posed by cricket balls.
Our solution:
We developed a custom power unit with easily obtainable, hot-swappable batteries.
We also implemented a radio link between the scoreboard hut, the clubhouse, and a sight screen to ensure reliable connectivity all around the site.
A PTZ camera was mounted to one of their sight screens to provide an excellent viewing angle, connected it to the scoring software and integrate the video stream into their website.
Skills utilised:
Low-voltage electronics. Wireless networking. Play-Cricket Scorer Pro. IP-CCTV.
An infinitely scalable low-resolution interactive LED screen suitable for indoor or outdoor use.
The customer:
Us. We did it because we wanted to.
The problem:
A particularly nerdy festival was coming up, and we wanted to make something nice for it.
Our solution:
Public art installations work best when they’re interactive. We devised an infinitely-scalable LED wall using jerry cans as light diffusers. Members of the public could send their own custom messages to the wall, where they would display in 3m high letters in a public area of a festival. We also added a sound-to-light module to turn the wall into a disco lighting effect.
Software was written in PHP, which linked the electronics with a Discord server to permit public interaction.
Skills utilised:
Low-voltage electronics. Web app development. Audio processing.
For further information, see this specific page – and associated YouTube videos.
The Customer:
One of the largest web-based wholesalers of bicycle components in the United Kingdom
The Problem:
Our customer was rapidly scaling sales, and the e-commerce platform had too many manual steps involved and was hindering company growth.
Several manual processes were involved in producing & labelling products as they were shipped out. An automated solution was required and there were vendor-side restrictions preventing API access to their ecommerce platform.
Our solution:
Because we could not gain backend access to the e-commerce platform, we built a frontend tool that monitored their platform for new purchases and generates a pick-list for warehouse operatives. It also generates the labels required for each product that needed to be shipped out.
Full handover and training was provided, including ongoing support.
Skills utilised:
Software Development. Business Process Analysis & Optimisation.
Custom hardware designed to extract dangerous fluids from live systems, analyse them and report back to a centralised control panel.
The customer:
A company specialising in the management and maintenance of industrial heating systems.
The problem:
The company had to carry out up 4 site-visits per annum to over 200 sites – each one a hazardous working environment.
Our solution:
We developed a system to extract the required samples automatically, make them safe for testing, test the samples, make them safe to re-introduce to the system and return them to the system.
The system was made to be fail-safe in cases of electrical failure, and maintenance free for up to 5 years. We also developed systems to supply all of the sample-data on a minute-by-minute basis, allowing the customer to perform trend-analysis upon the data.
Skills utilised:
Electronic prototyping. High-temperature piping systems. Hazardous environment operation. Remote location data connectivity. Data capture. Data analytics.
Rural power system for off-grid location.
The customer:
A team of electrical engineers, working on behalf of the Church.
The problem:
The church is located in a highly remote area, extremely far from an electrical connection and in a position where solar panels would be impractical.
Our solution:
There was room for a single solar panel, so our challenge was to develop an efficient energy storage system, plus minimising the energy requirements of the church itself.
We looked at the church event schedule to ascertain how much power would be required for each ceremony, and how much charging-time would be available between ceremonies.
We re-designed several electrical systems within the church to reduce power consumption, and implemented a solar panel & trickle-charger system with enough batteries to provide continual power through all ceremonies.
Skills utilised:
Re-development of existing systems to function under low-power conditions. Battery & solar charging design & installation. Planning applications within listed buildings.
Digital Health solution, gathering data from self-administered medical equipment for remote analysis.
The customer:
The executive team of a new start-up
The problem:
The team required a prototype for their revolutionary new product idea.
Our solution:
We produced a system specification, provided electrical engineering support to develop prototype models, produced mockups for presentations, secured PR engagements and provided support for the team during international conferences and provided expert assistance to their patent lawyers.
Skills utilised:
Embedded system development. Software & web development. PR assistance. Board-level representation. Financial modelling.
Audio streaming technology for sports fans to listen to events live.
The customer:
An expert in the Audio-Visual industry
The problem:
A customer had approached our client requesting audio broadcasting technology for use in a campus environment. They were currently using disposable products that were expensive and not environmentally friendly . They wanted to make low-latency audio broadcasts to client-owned mobile devices.
Our solution:
We helped the customer design, develop and launch this product.
We sourced and made strategic partnerships with major international AV companies and met with several clients on their behalf. We used high
quality commercial audio technology and integrated it with IOS and Android software applications to handle the broadcasting.
In testing, latency was less than 0.1s and the software was compatible with the most popular telephones at the time.
We also helped the client with financial forecasting, competitor analysis and pitch-deck.
Skills utilised:
Creation of strategic partnerships. Representing the customer in multiple overseas meetings. Mobile application development. Professional audio hardware. Financial forecasting. Competitor analysis.
The Customer:
Caterpillar
The Problem:
Our client ran tests on new engines for long periods of time in highly controlled test environments. When an engine failed, it could take up to 12 hours before this was noticed, which factoring in the cost of the test environment was leading to significant costs.
Our Solution:
The test environment was strictly controlled, so integration into the existing systems was impossible. We developed a completely stand-alone system that non-intrusively monitored the existing equipment, and through a customer web-based system it used SMS to alert whichever engineers were on-shift at the time.
Skills utilised:
PLC programming, custom electronic development, non-intrusive integration, web-application development.
The Customer:
Midlands-based live events venue
The Problem:
Our client has various facilities available to rent for live events, and were using an antiquated system to manage bookings. They also required “at a glance” calendar views for ease of management.
Our Solution:
We took over the existing system and completely re-wrote it. UI improvements were made and staff training was carried out. Antiquated elements of the system were removed completely and the system stripped back to only provide the key functions that were actually required.
The system also works with an A0 printer, as the client wished to have giant printouts of the bookings for each venue they managed.
Finally, we developed a digital signage solution for the client and integrated it with the event management system, so that signs would automatically update depending on what events were taking place.
Skills utilised:
Web-application development, digital transformation.
A platform to allow for many different types of sensor to be connected to existing standardised network equipment
The customer:
A Fortune 50 technology manufacturer of network equipment.
The problem:
The customer approached us, looking for assistance adding data-logging functionality to their existing router products.
Our solution:
We developed a prototype of the technology in-house, the software was then virtualised and implemented directly onto their equipment.
The data logger software interrogated various pieces of electronic hardware, and network devices. A combination of MODBUS, Dry contacts, USB, RS232, RS485 & SNMP were all tested successfully, and the system was designed in a modular format so that any new sensors could easily be integrated.
A centralised monitoring & remote-deployment tool was then developed, allowing for management of huge numbers of remote devices.
Skills utilised:
Low-voltage electronics. Embedded system programming. Web app development. Highly-scalable database development. Virtualisation.