Project Management
SourceForge
NgEK Inc. utilizes VA Software's powerful SourceForge environment to manage the execution of complex software development plans. We have found SourceForge to be an invaluable and cost effective tool for tracking and reporting progress against both long term plans as well as the more liquid requirements that inevitably emerge as projects progress. Completely integrated with the configuration management toolchain, it also serves as a useful means of instantly communicating project status to all stakeholders engaged in the detailed technical work.
Accounting
NgEK, Inc can manage projects as either a time and material or a fixed price basis. In all cases our resource tracking is handled on a per engineer, per hour, per project basis to provide the maximum information about the performance of our team in support of a client.
Development Method
NgEK, Inc. utilizes a unique architecture-driven process to create effective, robust, designs quickly and affordably. The process focuses on breaking systems down into well-defined components and interfaces in both the physical system (plant) and embedded software. The governing physics of the plant generally inform the partitioning process and suggest appropriate controls design approaches. Training on the architecture-driven development approach is available from NgEK, Inc. We are also available to work with your teams to successfully apply the approach on your current or future challenges.
Control Toolchain
Analysis, Design, and Code Generation
NgEK, Inc. is adept at leveraging the MATLAB software suite for systems modeling, analysis, embedded software prototyping, production development, and software unit test. We have worked through several complex projects from end-to-end, from initial plant modeling all the way through production code deployment, using these tools and have developed complementary scripts, block sets, style guides, and other tool extensions required for a truly seamless and robust process. While we do utilize and extend the toolchain to achieve a total process solution, we believe strongly in a minimal toolchain for production processes. As such, we tend to be very frugal in which tool features we choose to employ.
Revision Control and Tracking
At its core, the model-based development environment we work in, Simulink, is a graphical programming language. As with any programming language, good software architecture and source control are essential for efficient collaborative development. While we have experience with a variety of commercially available version control packages, we are currently having great success with the Open-Source CVS solution in conjunction with the SourceForge project tracking suite. Simulink diagram and related script changes are managed within a CVS version control repository linked to the SourceForge database of project tasks, bug reports, etc. SourceForge acts as a communications tool between the team and project management as detailed work is accomplished throughout the design.
Datalink Communications
Vector CANtech's CANape and related tools are widely used as a means of interfacing with embedded software for performance visualization. The NgEK, Inc. toolchain and process integrates seamlessly with Vector's suite of tools, and can be made to communicate with other datalink solutions.