The front page - Industrial Control & Communication

Feasibility study

Advise on possible technical and commercial forward paths, and estimate development and production costs.

Specification

Once it has been decided that a development should go ahead we can help by writing accurate, clear and concise requirement and functional specifications.

System design

The selection of architectures for communication, processing and control and the partioning of system functionality across hardware, firmware and software elements.

Electronic design

This includes circuit design and simulation, schematic capture and printed cirecuit board layout.

Firmware development

The design and implementation of firmware for any micro-controllers, microprocessors or programmable logic devices.

Software

Development of applications for PC, PLC or other COTS platforms, with or without user interfaces.

Automotive

high accuracy fuel meter

Designed and constructed a high accuracy fuel metering system for use by a car in the Le Mans 24 hour race. The system was implemented entirely in hardware and took only two weeks from conception to completion.

J1939 monitor unit

ICC has developed both hardware and software for a range of J1939 (CAN) monitoring units for use in commercial vehicles.

hand-held automotive diagnostic tester

ICC produced new applications and ported existing applications for a hand-held automotive diagnostic unit targeting the engine control units of the majority of major car manufacturers

Educational

interactive meal calculator

The Interactive Meal Calculator is a museum installation which, given a menu selected by a museum visitor, responds with a variety of nutritional information regarding the chosen meal.

space pointer

ICC designed a dual axis chopping stepper motor controller for this outdoor installation which indicates the current distance and direction for the planets and a variety of other celestial bodies. The controller has full, half and micro stepping capability and constant torque acceleration control.

Industrial

industrial SCADA system

This software project for a major supplier of control systems supported alarm condition monitoring and logging, data logging, and communication with a variety of controllers using a number of protocols. A central unit may be connected to a number of graphical user interfaces directly, via a modem or via the Internet.

mixed-signal semiconductor test system

This system performs a full automated test and burn-in on a range of mixed-signal ICs, including analogue and digital stimulus/response, and measurement of key performance characteristics such as current consumption.

medical imaging system

ICC developed the software for a medical imaging system, including both the firmware for a micro-controller within the optical head, and a Windows application handling image capture, storage and analysis.

Environment

sonde RF link

Designed microprocessor-based units that use licence-exempt RF transmitters and receivers to enable a Sonde environmental probe to be interrogated remotely. The system was designed to run from batteries and with a very low average power consumption. This work was performed for a UK government organisation.

solar-powered illuminated traffic sign controller

ICC designed a controller to illuminate a TR2136C-compliant LED-based traffic sign to an appropriate brightness for the ambient light level when a speeding vehicle is detected. The unit controls the charging of batteries from a solar panel and provides a serial connection for set up and uploading logged data.

methane monitoring system

System engineering for a solar powered methane monitor for landfill sites. The system used a GSM modem to allow remote access to data logs and real time information gathered in a central data concentrator via a license exempt wireless network of sensors distributed over the site.

hand-held gas detection unit

ICC took over and completed the software for a hand-held gas detection unit.

Communication

XML gateway

ICC developed both the hardware and the software for a unit providing an XML interface to an industrial network. The unit collects status and alarm information from a number of industrial controllers using an RS485 multidrop link, which it makes available via a streaming XML protocol over TCP/IP.

proprietary industrial communications network

This comms system developed for a control systems company offered reliable point-to-point and global message delivery at the lowest level. Layered on top of this was a group addressing scheme based on pattern matching of controller attributes, and support for a remote procedure call mechanism.

SNMP interface

Development of an SNMP protocol converter for industrial controllers to allow these to be connected to an end user's asset management system.

Control

supermarket system controllers

ICC has worked on hardware and software for a range of supermarket systems including embedded controllers for a variety of refrigerated cabinets, compressor paks, water chillers and a refrigerant gas leak detector.

sluice gate control

Developed software for a system based on an Allen-Bradley SLC500 series PLC, which included the use of both electrical and hydraulic actuators to operate river sluice gates. This multi-site project required totally automated control of river levels on one section of an important waterway and included telemetry to allow operation locally and remotely.

drinking water dosing system

ICC provided software development support for a chlorine dosing and monitoring system used by water utilities. Logged and real time data was made available remotely via GSM modem. A closed loop PID algorithm for dosing control was also developed.

ICC

Innovative embedded system design

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