Generation 3 Engineering

Cliff is a seasoned Electrical Engineer with close to 40 years of technical experience. His broad experience gives him the tools to tackle the most challenging designs. Cliff is analytical, organized, and has a firm grasp of Engineering fundamentals.

Cliff's first experience came working with his father, Frank, while in junior high school. He learned to solder and work with electronic components. He also learned about printed circuit board design and helped with revisions and check out of tape and mylar artworks. This part time work with his father continued through High School, graduating in 1977.

Cliff Started his professional career in electronics at Data-Chron, Inc. in 1979. Data Chron Inc. manufactured time code products for use in the aerospace industry. Cliff started as an entry-level technician and eventually became Chief Engineer.

In 1984 Cliff left Data Chron because the demands of the job were making it difficult for him to make adequate progress towards his degree. He then joined his father at Gerhard Engineering.

Cliff continued with school and completed his requirements at night, while working full time. Graduating with honors obtaining the following ABET accredited degree in 1990:

Bachelor of Science in Engineering

Option in Electrical Engineering

(magna cum laude)

Cliff passed the California Engineer in Training (E.I.T.) exam on his first attempt in 1991.

He successfully petitioned the board to allow him to take the Professional Engineers License Exams early (normally 4 years of experience is required after obtaining the E.I.T. exam) and then took the P.E. exam in 1993 and passed on his first attempt. In the 1993 exam, 28% of those who took the test received a passing score.

At Gerhard Engineering, Cliff amassed a broad experience with all aspects of Electrical Engineering and Product Development. He has produced designs used in medical instruments, spacecraft, aircraft, automobiles, motorcycles, emergency vehicles, industrial control, computer products, test equipment, telephony, communications, consumer products, and toys.

The experience gained over the 20 years of working with his father, a pioneer in the electronics field, has proved invaluable throughout his career.

Business slowed at Gerhard Engineering and in 1999, and Cliff took a full time position as Technical Manager of the Power and Packaging Group at CMD Technologies, Inc. (a prior customer of Gerhard Engineering). In this position, he was personally responsible for all Analog / Power Circuit designs for the company's line of storage products.

In May of 2001, Gerhard Engineering, Inc. was purchased by E-M Designs, Inc. and became E-M Designs, Inc. - EE Group. At that time Cliff left his position at CMD Technology to take the position of Director / Lead Consultant. He left on good terms and in fact, CMD was one of the new group's first customers. Cliff's responsibilities at E-M Designs included Electrical Engineering and management of the EE Group.

The Recession of 2008 hit and Cliff was forced to leave E-M Designs. He took a full time position with Iris Technology Corporation (a former customer of Gerhard Engineering and E-M Designs). Cliff's work with Iris spans over 2 decades working on numerous aerospace projects and the company's line of tactical military products. In a recent stint at Iris he was responsible for the design and testing of advanced cyrocooler electronics that were successfully demonstrated at Raytheon Space and Aircraft Systems.

In October 2009, Cliff founded Generation 3 Engineering, LLC. One of his first customers was RED Digital Cinema. Cliff was one of two Hardware Leads responsible for the Scarlet 2/3 Fixed Zoom Camera. Cliff took a full time position with RED in 2010.

Some examples of Cliff's previous design experience:

Designs for Spacecraft - Prototype FPA (focal plane array) front ends and data acquisition circuits for the following Programs:

Delta Star » Responsibiliies = Engineering Support / Printed Circuit Design

Mars Observer Camera » Responsibiliies = Engineering Support / Documentation

AIT » Responsibiliies = Team Leader » Analog Front End

SBIRS-LOW » Responsibiliies = Team Leader » Power Supplies / Digital Controls

TES » Responsibiliies = Engineering Support / Printed Circuit Design

CrIS » Responsibiliies = Engineering Support / Printed Circuit Design

Digital Cameras

Cliff was the responsible Engineer on the following legacy products: Scarlet 2/3 Fixed Camera, Side Handle, REDmote, REDVOLT Battery, REDVOLT XL Battey, REDVOLT XL Module, Quickplate Module, DSMC Travel Charger, REDVOLT Charger (Quad), Pro Battery Module (Dual), Pro Battery Module (Quad), and Meizler Module. He also has played a key roll on the Epic Camera and Crimson Laser Projector Projects.

Some more recent designs include the Weapon Camera - where Cliff is responsible for the power Archetecture for the the entire camera system (camera and modules). Other projects include various Weapon Camera Modules, REDVOLT-V Battery, and the Panavison DXL Camera.

Amusement Park Attractions

Cliff designed the electronics for several multi vehicle remote control systems. The systems consisted of up to 21 Helm stations, a central RF transmitter (900MHz), and 21 Decoder / Receiver boards mounted in the vehicles. Cliff personally designed the entire system including the system architecture, RF design, communication protocols, analog and digital circuit designs, Microcontroller hardware and firmware, and Printed Circuit board layouts.

AC-DC Power Supply

Battery Replacement for the Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio System (SINGARS). These devices were small AC/DC power supplies that were packaged to emulate the Lithium Batteries used on the SINGARS radios. The device is to be used when AC power is available to save the expense of batteries and disposal. This was a very compact package that also included a small Sealed Lead Acid Battery to supply the radio in the event of short duration power failures. This has evolved into a family of products that fit several different radios.

Medical Electronics

Cliff has participated in multiple research programs for a local medical electronics company. He has been personally responsible for the design of EEG monitoring circuits that push the state of the art in tolerance to high electrode impedances. These devices also include high channel count, high speed analog multiplexers and Analog to Digital Converters. The latest project is the first production version of this EEG technology.

In addition to hardware design of REG, EEG, and EKG circuits, he was also involved with system evaluations during clinical tests in the operating room and neo-natal ICU facilities of several local hospitals. Cliff has completed other designs relating to these systems that include Photo Plethysmograph, Galvanic Skin Response (GSR), and Impedance Pneumograph circuits.

Surgical Laser Safety Device

Cliff was responsible for all of the electronics and firmware design for this device that functions as a safety interlock device for surgical lasers. This inexpensive device prevents damage to the very expensive laser equipment.

Smart DC Power Supply

Li-FePo4 (A123) battery based DC power supply for use in medical computer carts. Cliff was the leader of the design team and was personally responsible for all of the hardware design including analog and digital circuitry, Microcontroller hardware, thermal design, PCB layouts. He was also responsible for Mechanical design (solid modeling in SolidWorks) and management of the firmware and software application development.

Hot swappable power subsystem for OEM RAID products

Cliff was responsible for the design of Power distribution and redundancy on the company's Titan and Dakota RAID Products.

Telephony

Telephone Line Interface (FCC Part 68 compliance) - DTMF Remote Control with Digital Voice