In my last post I wrote about Consumer Reports, partly as it related to buying my new car. While I wrote that I was struck by two related testing issues.
My latest car, a Ford Escape Hybrid, has Sync in it. Although I've identified several bugs with it, and the voice recognition needs to be improved (especially when there's lots of road noise), I have to give them credit: it's a very slick piece of software with plenty of nifty features.
Back in 2004 I realized that, at least in America, cars were not going away anytime soon, although they would certainly need to change. Gas prices would have to go up as emerging markets like China and India increased their energy requirements. So I bought a Prius in February 2005 and have loved it ever since. But it now has close to 200k miles on it - I'll probably need a new car soon. So I've been considering an all-electric car like the Volt. In my preliminary research I found a great article that pointed out the huge amount of electronics and software in this vehicle.
I guess the point of this post is that software in vehicles is going nowhere but up. The integration of phone/MP3/bluetooth that Sync offers, management of electrical power generation and consumption in hybrid and electric cars, onboard navigation, or even future features such as automatic driving: this will all require huge amounts of electronics and coding, and therefore LOTS of testing.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
New car, part 1
As I said in my previous post, a lot of things were taking up my time last fall. I'd like to relate three of them right now. Bear with me - there is a test-related payoff.
I bought a new car in October. After a lot of thought and research, I decided on an Escape Hybrid. I've written before about my Prius, it has never given me trouble, so I decided to try the SUV version of a hybrid from Ford. I did a lot of research before I committed to buying it, and so far - four months and 7000 miles later - I'm happy with the results.
My water heater sprung a leak last fall, and I finally bought a new one in November. Again, I did a lot of reading up on water heaters, and for better or worse I know more about them than I ever thought I would.
In October my washing machine went kaput. It just stopped working. I debated the merits of a) paying someone several hundred to fix it or b) spending days of my time fixing it myself. It was more cost-effective to buy a new one. For a third time, I did a lot of reading up on the subject and decided on getting a front loader. It saves water, it saves electricity, and it's a nifty piece of engineering.
I love Consumer Reports. For a small yearly fee I can read articles, view customer ratings, and test reports. The test reports are detailed, comprehensive, and informative. I've had a subscription to their magazine, and then the website, for a decade. Needless to say, I gave their test database a workout last fall on the three items listed above. It truly helped out. I tip my test engineer hat to them.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
In mourning
A few days ago the Department of Energy announced that Fermilab will be shut down in December. The New York Times ran a story on it here, as well as an editorial.
As I've mentioned before, as a physics grad student I spent a couple years at Fermilab working on software at the D0 detector as well as testing new calorimeters for the now-defunct SSC. It was a fun, frustrating, exciting experience. It's a sad day for American science as well as physics in general when such a premier lab has to be shuttered.
I wish everyone still at Fermilab luck wherever their future takes them.
As I've mentioned before, as a physics grad student I spent a couple years at Fermilab working on software at the D0 detector as well as testing new calorimeters for the now-defunct SSC. It was a fun, frustrating, exciting experience. It's a sad day for American science as well as physics in general when such a premier lab has to be shuttered.
I wish everyone still at Fermilab luck wherever their future takes them.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
New Years resolutions
Unfortunately I haven't posted to this blog in over two months. A combination of issues - health, home improvements, work travel, kid issues - have contributed to my lapse. I have several items I planned on covering, but I perpetually delayed.
For the past several years I've kept a written document that lists all my new years resolutions. At the end of the year I write a review of how well I did for each resolution. I find it a productive exercise. On of my 16 resolutions for 2011 is write a minimum of two posts every month to this blog. We'll see how I do.
While I'm thinking about it, here's a list of things I want to write about over the next couple months (in no particular order).
So that will keep me busy through March. Happy New Year.
For the past several years I've kept a written document that lists all my new years resolutions. At the end of the year I write a review of how well I did for each resolution. I find it a productive exercise. On of my 16 resolutions for 2011 is write a minimum of two posts every month to this blog. We'll see how I do.
While I'm thinking about it, here's a list of things I want to write about over the next couple months (in no particular order).
- TestStand
- New cars
- Keeping track of things
- ATML
- Blog toys
So that will keep me busy through March. Happy New Year.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Interview
Every other month Test and Measurement World has a Test Voices section where they interview different test engineers. The engineers they talk with aren't necessarily the top of the field, just people working on interesting things. For November's issue they talked with me about the testing I do at my current employer. I have to say the process was enjoyable, interesting and efficient. If you're interested, the interview is here.
Friday, October 15, 2010
Blog Action Day - Water
The past two years I've participated in Blog Action Day (2008 - Poverty, 2009 - Climate Change). On both times I've tried to relate it somehow to testing or technology. This year's topic is water.
When I considered water in terms of testing, I first thought about all the DI water that's used to clean DUTs. Then there's the various water-cooled systems I've used over the years. I've also met people in the New England area who test fuel cells - they are often concerned with how well the water the cell produces is evaporated. So water is a regular part of my field, one way or another.
But then I ranged farther afield. When I first moved to this part of the country, I had to test the water in the new house since it was well-based. Biologically, it was okay. There was a fair amount of sediment the pump sucked up, so I had a filter installed. But the worst part was the radon. There's a LOT of granite rock where I live, and granite rock can have trace amounts of uranium. Radon is a decay product of uranium, and there was some of it in the basement as well as the water. I installed a system to keep the radon out of the air, but filtering options for the water were too expensive. I settled for "use it, but don't drink it."
What I'm trying to say is that we use a lot of water at work, and even the water we drink has to be filtered somehow. The United States is about the top of the food chain economically. Imagine what problems people may have with water if they don't have our resources. Very sobering.
When I considered water in terms of testing, I first thought about all the DI water that's used to clean DUTs. Then there's the various water-cooled systems I've used over the years. I've also met people in the New England area who test fuel cells - they are often concerned with how well the water the cell produces is evaporated. So water is a regular part of my field, one way or another.
But then I ranged farther afield. When I first moved to this part of the country, I had to test the water in the new house since it was well-based. Biologically, it was okay. There was a fair amount of sediment the pump sucked up, so I had a filter installed. But the worst part was the radon. There's a LOT of granite rock where I live, and granite rock can have trace amounts of uranium. Radon is a decay product of uranium, and there was some of it in the basement as well as the water. I installed a system to keep the radon out of the air, but filtering options for the water were too expensive. I settled for "use it, but don't drink it."
What I'm trying to say is that we use a lot of water at work, and even the water we drink has to be filtered somehow. The United States is about the top of the food chain economically. Imagine what problems people may have with water if they don't have our resources. Very sobering.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Bucket list: citizen science
Back in June I wrote a post about my Test Engineer Bucket List. One of the items on that list was "Develop a test system that measures a fundamental aspect of the universe." I think I've found an indirect way to scratch that particular itch: citizen science.
In the August issue of Dr. Dobb's I read an article about a recent success of the Einstein@home project: a new pulsar. Very cool. Also, in the June issue of Wired there's an article listing six different astronomical projects - also very cool.
I doubt any of these projects would give me a rush like building a calorimeter that sat inside the beamline at Fermilab, but it could still be fun. Maybe I'll discover a black hole.
In the August issue of Dr. Dobb's I read an article about a recent success of the Einstein@home project: a new pulsar. Very cool. Also, in the June issue of Wired there's an article listing six different astronomical projects - also very cool.
I doubt any of these projects would give me a rush like building a calorimeter that sat inside the beamline at Fermilab, but it could still be fun. Maybe I'll discover a black hole.
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