Think robots, touch screen point of purchase displays, medical monitoring devices, sensors and even micro-computers that can run mobile devices and transportation vehicles. Now think Menomonee Falls.
Menomonee Falls-based D&H Global Enterprise LLC provides custom engineering and design of computer on modules that can be used to power just about anything, said Jehan Hamedi, business development manager for the company.
“Our design allows custom baseboards to be implemented that will allow the computer on module to do basically anything you want it to do,” Hamedi said. “Everything can be tailored to fit your needs.”
The company also can design with manufacturing in mind, Jehan said.
“Production is available throughout our sister company, Electro-Connect, Inc., which shares the same facility,” he said.
D&H Global Enterprise was founded in 2003. According to Hassan Hamedi, vice president of D&H Global, he and his wife, Debbie Hamedi, the company’s president, saw a need in the marketplace for a company that could provide custom engineering, manufacturing and production services in the technology market.
The Rockhopper Computer on Module was officially released in December 2010. The Rockhopper is a two-inch computer on a module square stacked on top of a baseboard that can include everything from a video HDMI connector, an LCD touch screen interface to stereo audio ins and outs and USB connectivity, Jehan said.
“The COM (computer on module) is essentially the brain while the base board functions as the specific application,” Jehan said. “Having the USB connector and other peripherals along with the open source data allows a user to implement the product in industry-specific ways.”
The Rockhopper hardware and software is all free and open source, Jehan said. In the technology world this means that information regarding the components of physical design, schematics, technology and even the coding of the software is available for users to use, copy, study, change, and improve.
“Our goal from the beginning was to provide an engineer with an entry point to development of zero dollars,” said Gary Nutbeam, engineering manager at D&H Global. “Once he or she purchases the hardware they can begin interfacing with their own unique applications that same day.”
By giving users and other engineers the open source information D&H benefits from having a peer reviewed product. The quality is a lot better and the design and technology can be continually improved from discussions between expert engineers who use it, Nutbeam said.
“The key benefit here is that they can then achieve a shorter time-to-market, and at a far lower cost,” Jehan said.
Standardly, the Rockhopper computer on module can function as a desktop computer environment similar to a Windows PC, but because of its compact size it can also be implemented in other products including point of purchase displays, medical imaging devices, robotics and remote sensors.
“It provides all the functionality of a computer on a single compact board,” Jehan said. “Not only is it an energy efficient device it is also designed to function in industrial temperatures as low as minus-40 degrees Celsius to 85 degrees Celsius. It can operate well in very extreme conditions.”
The company is currently working with organizations across the U.S. and Canada on projects involving sensor networks to detect rock slides, machine control, and wireless communications for industrial control and emergency signaling. The company hopes to eventually do business on a global scale, Hassan said.
“The product is really only limited by your imagination,” Hassan said. “Our goal was to develop a product that was as flexible as possible.”
D&H Global Enterprise, LLC
Menomonee Falls
Innovation: Rockhopper Computer on Module
www.dh-global.com
