Brian Bourne 

Welcome to my website

PERSONAL SKILLS

Able to quickly solve problems. Provide innovative solutions to problems. Good communicator with customers.   

Can work on my own using my own initiative or as part of a small team. 

Excellent supervisory abilities. 

Can learn new skills very quickly

EDUCATION

1981 BRIGHTON UNIVERSITY 

               BSc. Electronic Engineering

WORK EXPERIENCE

1989 - Present TIMEPLAN LTD Guildford, Surrey

Position Senior Developer/Manager

The company is a small business of eight people and I was responsible for all the software and hardware design. I would design and write the software myself or manage others to develop parts of the software as required. The company was sold to the largest competitor to Timeplan by the owner of the business in order to reduce the debts that had accumulated in another company he owned. The new owners of the business were only interested in acquiring the customer base and service contracts so in November 2018 they made, including myself, all the technical staff redundant.

Timeplan produces systems which monitors the fuel drawn at customers depots. Customers include many local councils, delivery companies such as UPS and Aspray and bus companies including Arriva. The drivers are given an RFID key which is presented the Timeplan system which is connected to the fuel pump. This key provides the system with the identity of the vehicle, type of fuel required, maximum amount of fuel to be drawn etc. The data in transferred using GPRS to a hosted server and stored in an SQL database

I joined company with sole responsibility for the design and specification of all software and hardware. Software was all in assembly code and was very user un-friendly. Most of the programs have been rewritten in C++ using Microsoft Visual C++. Other software routines developed by me allow communication via modems in C., C++ and assembler code.

Provide Technical support of software for customers with very different abilities.

If custom software is required then I would be involved in liaison with the customer to develop a specification and provide a quote for the cost of producing the software.

One of my tasks is supervising the testing of all software.

I have re-designed the processor board in the Timeplan System to use a more powerful microprocessor and to increase the memory capacity of the system. The board uses an embedded processor and records all of the fuel drawn from the pump using interrupts or serial protocol. It also contains the code to communicate with the hosted server. It also contains the code to allow user entry using the keypad and LCD display.

I managed the development of a web based software that allows our users to create fuel reports and connect to the Timeplan system. This is programmed in C# and uses Microsoft SQL server.

I also provide IT support to the business.

1984 - 1989 FRAZER-NASH (ELECTRONICS) LTD Leatherhead,Surrey

Position Senior Design Engineer

The company was a design consultancy. The company would provide solutions to meet a clients specific requirement. The solution could be a combination of software or hardware.

The types of projects worked on include the following :-

1. Control of the movement of studio lights by radio link for the BBC.

2. Data protection device for British Telecom.

3. Automatic test equipment for M.O.D.

4. Data measuring devices for the Transport an Road Research Laboratory.

5. Calibration equipment for National Physical Laboratory.

6. Control logic for a remotely controlled data collection device for Central Electricity Research Laboratory.

7. An interface card for an IBM PC which used DMA to transfer data from a video processing system.

My responsibilities were as follows :-

The design and development of software and hardware.

Liaison with customers to prepare quotes and specifications.

Operating the UNIX computer.

Experience gained included writing of code in C and in assembly code for Z80, 8086 and 68000. Design of computer interfacing circuitry in CMOS, TTL logic. Developed software run on IBM P.C.’s and indigenously designed embedded systems. Supervised the manufacture of equipment to ensure the equipment met the specification. Wrote test specifications. Prepared quotes for customers. Provided technical support to customers.

1981 - 1984 SGRD LTD. London, W3

Position Development Engineer

The company is part of Lucas and is responsible for the research and development of car engine controllers.

I was responsible for the design of digital and analogue interface circuitry. Writing of assembly code for 8052 for a microprocessor controller.