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EE
Web
PULSE
INTERVIEW
EE
Web
Issue 77
December 18, 2012
Becky Oh
CEO, PNI Sensors
TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Magneto-Inductive
Technology
Overview
TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Power Interfacing
the Internet of Things
Part 1
1
Electrical Engineering Community
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EE
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PULSE
TABLE
OF
CONTENTS
4
Becky Oh
PNI SeNSor CorPoratIoN
Interview with Becky Oh - CEO
13
Featured Products
14
Magneto-Inductive Sensor Technology
Overview
By
aNdrew LeuzINger
and
aNdrew tayLor
with Pni sensor
An overview of how magneto-inductive (MI) sensing works as well as some inherent advan-
tages of MI Sensing
20
MCU Wars 2.3: Running an RTOS for the
First Time
Two experts in RTOS sit down to discuss the initial challenges of getting an RTOS running and
where you can find additional information once you are up and running.
26
Power Interfacing the Fundamental Component
of the Internet of Things - Part 1
By
roderICk BaCoN
with intersil
How the Internet of Things is a new burgeoning field by combining sensing, embedded
computing and communication technologies.
32
RTZ - Return to Zero Comic
3
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EE
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PULSE
INTERVIEW
Becky
Oh
PNI Sensor
PNI Sensor Corporation is at the forefront of innova-
tion in the design, development and application of
sensor technology. we spoke with Becky oh, the
Ceo of the company, about her extensive resume
in chip design, PNI’s patented Magneto-Inductive
technology and the company’s unique and innova-
tive work culture.
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why don’t you give me a
bit of background about
yourself? How did you get
into engineering? and maybe
tell us a bit of your academic
background, such as going to
school?
But I stuck it through, and I’ve been
very happy that I did. I got my
EECS degree from MIT, and then
pursued a Master’s of engineering
degree from Cornell. I decided to
get my Master’s degree because
as a college graduate, I still didn’t
quite know what I wanted to do
in Engineering. Unlike my fellow
classmates who all seemed to
have a vision – “okay I want to be
a computer scientist, and I want
to build computers,” while I was
thinking, “Well, I don’t even know
what that really means.”
“If you come to the office, you’ll find a lot of
equipment that measures magnetic fields. It’s a
bit esoteric because you can’t see magnetic fields,
but it is all around us. If we were to draw magnetic
field lines around us, we would be covered in field
lines. You don’t see it, but it has an influence on
a lot of different things, and it’s hard to grasp.”
I got into engineering because of my
high school teacher, specifically my
Physics teacher. My high school
was a very liberal arts-oriented
preparatory boarding school. I
thought I was going to become an
artist – that’s what I was thinking!
But I did well in Physics and Math,
and my Physics teacher really
wanted me to try engineering.
I think I needed a year to take a
little breather and evaluate all the
material I had learned and then
decide what it was I really wanted to
do in the field of Engineering. Grad
school really helped me identify my
area of interest; Integrated Circuit
(IC) Design.” And that’s how it all
came about.
could have stayed another 6 months
and enjoyed my sabbatical but it was
more important for me to continue to
work on projects that were fulfilling.
working on. I learned about many
different designs, and the different
capabilities of engineers in Silicon
Valley. I never considered myself to
be a good engineer, but after my role
as field application engineering, I
realized, “Wow, I can support all of
these engineers, I’m not too bad –
I’m actually a pretty good engineer!”
Because I was at a boarding school,
during the summer time I had to
decide who was going to water
my plants. So my Physics teacher
said, “Well, why don’t we just build
this ‘gizmo’ that will actually do it
for you the whole summer?” It was
my junior year, going into my senior
year – the summer – and he and I
went out and built this gadget – with
a control board on it – that would
hook up to a faucet and then have a
drip system into my plants.
One of the reasons I left Apple
was that I wanted to see the bigger
picture. In chip design you do a
really small portion of the whole
system. In fact, we had probably 10
or 20 engineers working on this one
little chip. Well, it was a big chip –
but you know, I still wanted to feel
like I had more influence than just
a little portion – it was difficult for
me to work without the visibility of
how my portion of the design was
influencing everything else.
So you studied chip design at
Cornell? Is that the direction
you headed in the irst part of
your career?
That experience gave me a lot of
confidence, but I still wanted to do
a little more than just support other
engineers. And at that time I had
a couple friends, three guys, who
had started PNI in 1987. I went to
grad school with one of the founders
and got to know the other two later
on. So I said to them, “Hey guys, I
don’t really like what I’m doing...
and is there anything I can help you
with?” And they said, “Well, yeah
sure, come in and help, but we may
actually be going into bankruptcy
because we’ve made all these
products and we can’t sell them.”
And so I said, “Well bankruptcy
doesn’t worry me too much, let me
give it a try”
Ye s , I did. My first job was with
Apple Computer. I was part of the
chip design team that worked on
the PowerPC processors. That was
when Apple had decided to build
their own processor. They had
been using the Motorola 6800 family
of processors for a long time. But
Apple decided they needed a more
powerful processor and would build
their own. In the end the PowerPC
was a joint development between
Apple, Motorola and IBM.
So that was my first experience and
my Physics teacher said, “Well this is
engineering,” and I thought, “that’s
pretty cool!” So then he said, “Well
why don’t you try to apply to MIT,”
and I thought, “My interest is in the
field of fine arts but MIT will take
me into the field of engineering. I do
like creating and building things so
perhaps I will give engineering a try.
Besides, I do like the challenge.”
But when I went to MIT, I realized
that the other students had been
building entire computers, and
were so much ahead of me, and so
at first I really struggled. I ended
up calling my Mom every week,
saying “Oh my gosh, I’m probably
going to flunk out, I need to leave
this school.”
I thought I was going to do more in
Engineering than just a little sliver.
So what ended up happening was –
we were using a Synopsys EDA tool
for chip design – so I thought, “you
know what, maybe I can hedge my
bets a little bit and become a field
engineer, which will give me a little
sense of sales and marketing, but
still utilize my skills as an engineer.
I responded, “Well, what is that?”
in chip design everything’s on a
computer and you’re using the tools
to create the design. So I had never
dealt with a bill of materials before.
I was given a list of parts I had to
purchase and have built somehow.
I didn’t know what to do or know
where to source these parts, but I
had to figure it out because nobody
else was going to do it.
asked them what I should do to help,
and they said, “Well, figure it out.” I
said, “Okay, there’s this thing called
‘operations,’ do you think I can just
do that?” They responded, “Yeah,
sure, go ahead, try it.” So that’s what
led me into PNI. I started from there
and I realized ‘Operations,’ meant
that I had to answer the phones if
nobody else was answering it, and
be the customer service agent. Then
they said, “Here’s a bill of materials,
we have to make these things.” And
what brought you to PNI?
were there other companies
along the way?
So I worked for Synopsys as a
field application engineer for
about two years. That experience
really opened my eyes to what
all the other engineers were
I was at Apple for about four and
a half years, and Apple at that time
provided a 6 week paid Sabbatical
after five years of employment. I
This was before I was thirty so I
thought it didn’t matter and though
they really couldn’t pay me much
I decided I would work for them. I
So that’s how I learned all the
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was good about manufacturing
product for the military was the
smaller production volumes and
slower ramp up; this gave us time to
refine the sensor, and we were able
to create something that was really
robust for that market. But these
first contracts were not that big, and
the founders still had a vision that
everyone wanted a digital compass.
First we needed to determine who
would truly benefit from a digital
compass.
Sharper Image. The Wayfinder
compass made it on the cover of
Sharper Image and the Wall Street
Journal published an article about it.
But the problem was we were young
and inexperienced – and one thing
we were lacking was the ability to
manage our finances properly: We
lost money on every one we sold.
Sharper Image needed a 60 percent
margin, so for them to sell at $99 they
needed to buy it for $40, it cost us $50
to make the product. But we figured,
“We can drive the manufacturing
cost down so let’s continue to make
the product.” And that’s about the
time I joined the company. That’s
why I mentioned that the founders
said, “Well we might be going into
bankruptcy, but you can help.” It
was an interesting time to join, but
I figured that I was young and had
nothing to lose. If it didn’t work, I
could just find something else.
“We make the
highest-performing
sensor in the
market, which
gets used in a
wide range of
applications and
markets; military
and consumer
electronics – it’s the
same technology.”
One application that would benefit
from the features of an electronic
compass would be a car compass.
A compass needs to just measure
earth’s field. However the magnetic
field a car generates is much greater
than the earth field. An electronic
compass would have the smarts to
just separate out the earth’s field and
provide accurate compass heading.
That is the roots of our company.
Even now we make magnetic
sensors. We make the highest-
performing sensor in the market,
which gets used in a wide range of
applications and markets; military
and consumer electronics – it’s
the same technology. Because we
were initially targeting the consumer
We then tried to convince people of
its benefit, but people responded,
“oh we don’t want it – who needs
a compass in a car?” But we still
believed if we built it, there would be
a demand for it. So our first product
was the Wayfinder car compass that
mounted onto the windshield of a
car. The product was sold through
Once the sensor was created, the
founders thought, everyone will
want a digital compass. But in 1987
few consumer electronic products
needed a digital compass. One
market that saw the benefit of a
digital compass and really liked
what PNI had was the military
market.
different aspects of the business.
I grew into the role of Business
Development because of my field-
application engineering experience
and familiarity of the company’s
technology. And then was promoted
to president of the company. I’ve
been here for about 13 years now.
magnetic fields, specifically, Earth’s
magnetic field, in order to be able to
make a digital compass. That’s how
we got started, we’ve been making
our sensors, and writing software,
and creating products based around
our magnetic sensor, since 1987.
Stanford they attended an electrical
engineering class where the
professor (who was a really avid
sailor) said, “Okay guys, now that
you’ve been in my class, if you guys
could build me a sensor that could
be used in a digital compass for
my sailboat, that would be great,
because there’s no sensor in the
market that’s low power enough to
be battery operated. After that class,
they were just kicking the idea
around, and then decided, “Okay,
well, let’s go build this sensor.”
The initial seed money for PNI
was raised in the Stanford dorms
– they had shareholders putting in
anything from two thousand dollars
to a couple hundred dollars – and
so obviously they needed more
money. They got their first contract
– an SBIR contract, which is a
small business innovative research
contract through the Department
of Defense – and it was to create a
sensor that could be put in all of the
military hand-held compasses. This
was the first of many products we
created for the Military market. What
If you come to the office, you’ll find
a lot of equipment that measures
magnetic fields. It’s a bit esoteric
because you can’t see magnetic
fields, but it is all around us. If we
were to draw magnetic field lines
around us, we would be covered
in field lines. You don’t see it, but it
has an influence on a lot of different
things, and it’s hard to grasp.
why don’t you tell us a little
about the company? what
would you say if you wanted
to sum up the products and
services offered by PNI?
PNI is very highly specialized –
you’re probably not going to find
anyone else in the world who knows
magnetic fields better than us.
We’ve been working with magnetic
fields since 1987 – the first product
was a sensor that would measure
The magnetic sensor was actually
created to make a digital compass,
so it can measure earth’s magnetic
field precisely to enable high
accuracy digital compassing –
probably the best one out there.
The way we started is interesting
because the reason the founders
made this sensor was because at
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