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FEEDBACK ~ From Our Peers Safety Watch Survey - This survey was distributed to our peers This “Safety Watch” is designed to be a communication tools for potentially injured soldiers who need medical assistance immediately. This watch would include a GPS technology, WiMax and IMS technology, web cam and speakers, and a blood pressure and pulse monitor. This “watch” would also have a titanium shell and would be solar powered. Using the technologies available, this watch would enable injured soldiers to receive the quickest and best medical treatment as possible.
Yes - 60% -GPS in track shoes, Senior citizen emergency devices
Yes - 80%
Yes - 80%
Yes - 100%
No - 100%
No - 100%
Yes - 100%
Yes - 100%
Yes - 100%
Yes - 100% - Expense still a concern Analysis Most of our audience became interested with our proposal. They agreed that the problem at hand is a prominent issue on the battlefields as well as locally. However, others disagreed because they felt that our proposal did not address certain points. However, the main thing to note is that our idea is still in the development stages. Once approved, the idea will be revised and modified. Nevertheless, most of our audience understood our proposal. We presented ourselves as best as possible. The main concern of our technology was its expense. However, with new technological advances each day, this product may become a viable option for military safety in the near future. Much of our technology is also new to many of our peers. All of the students we surveyed had never heard of technologies such as WiMax or IMS. We believe that using these new advances in technology would enhance the safety of our troops. Lessons Learned What parts of the process were helpful to you as you did your project? Team work, diligence, and motivation were keys to successfully finishing this project. Endless hours of design, research and investigation within our group helped our team succeed in developing this product. Our mentor, Mr. Eisengrein, gave us insightful information about the technology related to our watch, especially his insights on the communication technologies involved in our product. What parts failed? Researching the problem was quite difficult and statistics were near impossible to find. A delay in receiving a mentor during the beginning of the project set our group back and put a lot of pressure on our team to complete this project. What would you do better next time? Communication between our group members was essential in creating this project. Better communication within our group next time would help us finish this product in a more efficient manner. What would you change? A more diligent and focused effort would be put into this project. A greater amount of time committed to this competition would be some of the changes considered. Interaction With Mentor Mentor Profile: Mr. Peter Eisengrein Our mentor works with ATX, a phone, Internet, and data service company. The primary goal of the company is to attract costumers to work with them in order for them to expand heir business. Our mentor is the Director of Engineering and he thus runs a department that is responsible for many different services. He is responsible for network architecture, capacity planning, traffic planning, writing standards, and methods of procedure. There are many components of our mentor’s job that contribute to our solution. He works with services over IP, wireless access, and IMS. They are all vital to the critical components of our project and thus they contribute greatly. Our technical mentor likes learning about new technologies, meeting and working with different people, and designing networks. Through interaction with other people, he was able to learn more and it is also a likeable job of his. Learning about new technologies intrigues him and thus makes our mentor interested in learning more. Our mentor holds a Bachelors of Music from West Chester University and 2 years of grad school in music from Temple University. He also attended numerous technical trainings while working with ATX. Interview: 1. What is your job? I work for a regional phone/Internet/data services company that competes against the likes of Verizon, AT&T, and others. Our primary target customer is small to medium sized businesses. My title is Director of Engineering and I have worked for ATX for almost 13 years.
As Director of Engineering, I run a small engineering department that is responsible for network architecture/design, capacity planning, traffic planning, writing standards and methods of procedure , and 3rd level escalations for troubles. I am also responsible for creating the capital budget. Network architecture is the overall design and determination of what equipment to use, and also encompasses some amount of research & development (R&D) as well as technology and vendor evaluations. Capacity and traffic planning are similar, in that we project how much equipment will be necessary to support our growth. Writing standards and methods of procedure is just that -- when appropriate, we determine a particular way something should be done and publish it to the Operations departments and it is expected that they will follow these unless otherwise specified. 3rd Level Troubleshooting entails getting involved in larger, more difficult problems. The engineering department generally has a deeper understanding of the various network components and is therefore called upon when a difficult problem arises. We generally try not to get involved in customer-specific issues, but rather, we focus on issues that may affect numerous customers simultaneously. The telecommunications field has continued to grow over the years, with better, more useful (usually) and interesting products always evolving. Additionally, there is constant change in the regulatory part of the business where telephony is no longer controlled by a monopoly -- although this is still largely true and we are starting to see them merge again. Competition is important to the end user and has spurred enormous growth of services, including the Internet boom of the late 90's. Over the years we've seen the rise of toll free services, pagers, cell phones, the Internet, and now Voice over IP and many other services being implemented over the Internet. I believe over the next 10 years we will see continued convergence of services over IP networks until the traditional PSTN is all but gone. In the next 5 years we will see a lot more development of fixed-mobile convergence and advances in wireless broadband, as well as other alternative forms of access. Services over IP, wireless access, and IMS are all critical components of your project. I hold a Bachelors of Music from West Chester University and 2 years of grad school in music from Temple University. I have attended numerous technical trainings while on the job at ATX. There are several: I really enjoy learning about new technologies, designing networks, and meeting and working with different people whether they are technical, sales, customers, or others. Mechanical engineering technicians aide engineers in designing, developing, testing, and manufacturing industrial machinery, consumer products, and others. They may make sketches and rough layouts, record and analyze data, make calculations and estimates, and report on their findings. When planning production, mechanical engineering technicians prepare layouts and drawings of the assembly process and of parts to be manufactured. They estimate labor costs, equipment life, and plant space. These technicians may test and inspect machines and equipment or work with engineers to eliminate production problems. The completion of approx. a two-year program for mechanical engineering technicians is usually required. Several different educational backgrounds can provide entrance to an occupation. Certification in mechanical engineering technology or in a related field is available through provincial associations of engineering and applied science. http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos112.htm Software maintenance design engineers maintain real-time embedded software for different GPS products. His/her duties include the design, coding, testing, and documentation of software maintenance related activities. Software maintenance design engineers are required to work closely with other software engineers and designers, as well as hardware, test, and applications engineers. Education qualifications include an electrical or computer engineering degree with a minimum of 2 years software development experience using C/C++ in real-time embedded systems. They must have strong knowledge of digital hardware and programmable devices. http://www.novatel.com/careers.html GPS Field Technicians use GPS to collect and record specific data about crops and farmland. This may include information about soil, water drainage, and pests, as well as crop abnormalities that may damage crop yield or reduce profitability for the farmer. Their computer can be handheld, mounted on a tripod, or attached to a bike or car, depending on the location needed to be surveyed. In addition, GPS field technicians work closely with GIS analysts who use the data they've collected to make informed management recommendations to farmers regarding crop production. They often work on farmland and possibly remote, previously unmapped areas as well. These individuals must measure distances, directions, and depths of a particular area or parcel of land using the GPS and also transfer data from GPS to GIS (Geographic Information Systems) In regards to education, GPS field technicians should have a minimum two-year degree in GPS/GIS studies or related field. http://www.pathwaystotechnology.org/jobs/jb_51.html
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