Projects

Database Driven Website

My most recent project was very interesting. One day an idea came to me for this very useful website. At the time, I was looking for a new dentist since I wasn't satisfied with my previous one. I didn't want to just pickup a phone book and try my lack with someone new. I needed to find someone competent and honest. Someone that has proved himself (or herself) over and over. This is when the idea for EZ Find was born. A place where people like me and you can share their professional referrals. I designed and developed the site myself. It is totally database driven using MySQL and PHP utilities. The technologies I used to accomplish this project were totally new to me. I was able to pick the right tools, learn them and utilize them for my website.

Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) measuring system

One of my previous jobs was at Spectrum Sciences Institute in Nepean where I worked on a Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) measuring system. This was an automated setup used for measuring RF radiation from cellular phones, computers and other equipment. The robot, seen on the picture, was used for handling a very unique probe. This probe measured energy absorbed by a tissue-like substance. This fluid represented human brain. It was very interesting to see where most of the energy is absorbed and what temperature rise it gives to our body. My work mainly involved programming of the code for the robot movements.

Triodetic assembly

Another task that I worked on at Spectrum Sciences was a development of a technology showroom. Since the designated place for the showroom was basically a big warehouse we had to remodel the floor, the walls and the ceiling. All this was done with the help of the triodetic system. This structure enabled us to lower the ceiling to a more appropriate level. It was time consuming because thousands of pieces had to be connected together by hand what was sometimes very difficult due to the hight.

Flooded car recovery

In the summer of 1999 I decided to buy myself a new car. I came along this dealer who had a 1993 Probe GT at a very good price but 'it needed cleaning'. Basically the car was in a flood and was full of mud and water but still running fine. I decided to buy it and give it a good wash. After realizing that shampooing it will not do much I took the whole insides out. It was very interesting to do because the carpet and the dashboard had to go also. The worst was handling of the steering column due to the airbag. I had to be very careful not to activate it. At the end it was all worth it. It took me about a month to finish the job (with the drying of seats and carpet) and assembly was a piece of cake since I took notes during disassembly. At the end I had a very nice sports car.

Crashed car recovery

During my last year of high school I bought this project car from a junk yard. It was very cheap and the damage wasn't severe. Below you can see the pictures of before and after it was fixed. The hood is still not painted on the 'after' picture. Although it might be hard to believe, I did the work myself with some help from my friend. Since the frame wasn't bent all we had to do was to replace the bad parts with new ones. It was a bit of surprising to us how much those parts cost. That's when I learned that Japanese car parts are expensive.

Crashed bike recovery

If you know me you know that I love motorbikes. My recent bike was a slightly crashed Honda CBR900. Although the engine was only slightly scraped on the side (oil came out) I soon found that it was garbage. It turns out that when the bike flipped, the oil came out and the engine's main shaft overheated. After replacing the engine and few fairings the job was done. On the nice picture you can see my girlfriend testing the throttle.

Hands-free device suitable for any cellular phone

After becoming an active user of a cellular phone in 1995 I developed a concern for my health. I've been hearing all those alarms about the effects of electromagnetic radiation on human body and decided to do something about it. I figured that the safest way would be to eliminate the close range radiation in the first place. I learned from one of my summer jobs at Spectrum Sciences that the proximity plays a great deal. Then I thought, why not separate the microphone and the speaker from the phone. This would automatically place the antenna away from our sensitive brain or face tissue. I knew that for this I would require some kind of an amplifier to transmit the voices between the phone and my ear. I remembered that a walkman circuitry contains a two channel amplifier for amplifying the stereo signal that's read from the tape. I used that to construct a simple two-way wire transmitter. Basically microphone and speaker on both ends with an amplifier in between. One end of the microphone and speaker would be connected to the phone (e.g. by elastic band) and the other would be used to communicate. Ear piece goes directly into the ear and the microphone straps to my shirt. Of course this setup requires extra batteries and is more inconvenient to use but it works. I did encounter problems with interference but this was easily solved with appropriate shielding of the amplifier. Of course these days, almost any phone comes with an option of a plug-in hands free device but nevertheless it was exciting to see my idea come to life.

Other things I play around with

Here you can see my toys in the basement. I love to reconfigure my radio controlled planes. I like to see them perform better. The last change I did to my trainer was an additional fuel for longer endurance. On the right side of the picture you can see an engine of my first bike. It was a 1975 Honda CB200.