Mentor Blogs

I have written a time or two about my daughter’s piano recitals. As luck would have it, springtime is yet another popular recital season. This time my daughter had two – one for her own piano teacher’s studio, and the other as an invited duet accompanist to play in a friend’s recital. All-in-all, not a bad way to spend a mid-spring evening. As I listened to students play their prepared pieces, I noticed … Read More

Modeling, Mechatronics

It certainly isn’t news that I think Mechatronics is a pretty cool field of study. Whether you design and build mechatronic systems for your profession or your hobby (or maybe both), you have to admit it’s a fascinating subject. As I write this, I’m waiting anxiously for FedEx (or perhaps UPS) to deliver my latest toy – a 2006 Mini Cooper S remote control (RC) car kit. I’ve owned several RC cars over … Read More

motion control, Mechatronics

I’ll start this post, as I sometimes do, with a disclaimer: I am not a rabid football fan. I enjoy watching an occasional game, and my wife is an enthusiastic supporter of her college alma mater’s football team (think blue turf in Idaho), but I don’t live for the game. My wife does not become a football widow, nor my children football orphans, on weekends. Football is a pleasant pastime for me, … Read More

Mechatronics

Believe it or not, summer is fast approaching. My daughter is looking forward to the summer break from school. My sons, being a bit older and each completing a couple of semesters of university studies, are facing a summer busy with research or employment. When they yearn for leisure days of summers past, I usually respond with “welcome to adulthood”. The SystemVision crew is preparing … Read More

AUTOSAR, IESF, Mechatronics

Searching the Internet is like having a giant, international reference library at your fingertips. If you know what you’re looking for and have a reasonable idea of where to look, with a little patience you can usual find some pretty interesting material related to your search topic – okay, you can also find a bunch of stuff you aren’t looking for, but as I often say, “That’s a topic for a different … Read More

Mechatronics, Hardware/software co-design, SystemVision SVX

I’ve written before about the benefits of visiting customers to discuss their design challenges. If nothing else, I get a brief introduction to some really interesting mechatronic system applications and often learn about new ways to use system simulation tools. I recently visited a customer site as part of a Mentor Graphics sponsored Technology Day. During a typical Technology Day, Mentor Graphics … Read More

Mechatronics

This week I intended to continue my simulation experiments discussion (see Part 1 and Part 2) by introducing an example using Experiment Manager. But last week I watched a web seminar collaboration between folks from Mentor Graphics and Infolytica and thought you might find it interesting, particularly if your company’s systems contain motors. In the engineering tools software market there is a continuum … Read More

Mechatronics, motors, MotorSolve

SAE Convergence® 2010 is coming up fast on my calendar – October 19-20 at Cobo Center in Detroit, Michigan. Though I’ve been to more industry trade shows than I care to count, this will be my first time at the SAE Convergence conference, which is focused on advances in automotive electronics. There is no doubt that electronics is playing an increasingly important role in automotive system design. Automotive … Read More

LabVIEW, Mechatronics

Just returned to my office after spending most of last week at National Instruments’ NI Week 2010 in Austin, Texas. National Instruments’ focus is best described in two words: virtual instrumentation. They develop and market hardware and software tools that development teams use to create their own virtual test and measurement equipment. NI Week is a yearly technical conference and exhibition to which … Read More

Mechatronics, Mechatronic

The year: 2001. The product: Dean Kamen’s Segway® Personal Transporter. I was instantly intrigued, and to this day I still do a double-take, then gawk, when I see someone cruising around on their Segway. I’m secretly envious of anyone who gets to ride one, so much so that riding, if not outright owning one, is on my bucket list. To me, the Segway is the ultimate in personal A to B transportation. No … Read More

Mechatronic, Mechatronics

The next installment of Mentor Graphics’ Integrated Electrical Solutions Forum (IESF) is scheduled for March 18 in Detroit, Michigan. We usually do two or three of these events each year in different cities around the United States. Topics vary a bit, depending on the location. Each event is chock-full of technical sessions. The March 18 event focuses on automotive design and highlights development … Read More

IESF, Mechatronics, Rules-Driven Design