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FULL CURRICULUM VITAE
Duncan G. Cumming, Ph. D. (Camb.)
Expertise
- ITC Experience
- Power Supplies
- Electronic Hardware
- Embedded Control Systems
- GPS Systems
- Joystick Design (Games)
- RF Systems
Professional Summary
Dr. Duncan G. Cumming, Ph.D. (EE, Cambridge University, England, 1979)
is the president of Emmanuel Avionics, Inc at San Pedro, California. He
has been in the business of electronic design since 1979. Dr. Cummings’
core business is the design of electronic controls for the Unmanned Air
Vehicle (UAV) market, including inertial measurement, autopilots,
electrical power controls, RF systems and video technology. These
technologies are mostly applicable to the civilian market, although some
UAVs do have military applications. Dr. Cumming has a wide scientific
background, and is able to provide expert testimony and assess both the
performance and the newness of various technologies. While this is
primarily useful in Intellectual Property disputes, it has occasional
applications in other types of cases.
Employment History
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From:
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1996
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Emmanuel Avionics, Inc. |
| To: |
Present |
San Pedro, CA |
| |
Position: |
President – Electronic hardware consulting. |
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From:
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1984
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Cambridge Electronic Design, Inc. |
| To: |
1996 |
San Pedro, CA |
|
Position: |
Chief Executive Officer – Electronic
hardware consulting. |
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From:
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1982
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Unified
Technologies, Inc. |
| To: |
1984 |
Los Angeles, CA |
| |
Position: |
Senior Systems Design Engineer. Designed video
game software and CRT display. |
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From:
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1979
|
Hughes Aircraft Co. |
| To: |
1982 |
Los Angeles, CA |
| |
Position: |
Member of Technical Staff – commissioned
electron beam microfabrication system. |
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From:
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1979
|
Cambridge University Engineering
Dept. |
| To: |
1979 |
Cambridge, UK |
|
Position: |
Postgraduate Research Student – Researched
revolutionary new e-beam imaging. |
WIDE EXPERTISE
Dr. Cumming has a wide range of expertise acquired over the
years. Clients have included everything from one man operations to Fortune
500 companies. Some of the major clients are shown below:-
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From:
|
1984
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Client:- Aero Vironment, Inc. |
| To: |
Present |
Simi Valley, CA |
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Duties: |
Design and construction of numerous electronics
packages for unmanned air vehicles. |
| |
|
Embedded Control Systems including Atmel and
Motorola. Experienced using Integrated Development Environments. |
| |
|
Switched Mode Power Supplies. Over the years, Dr Cumming has worked on a
wide variety of switched mode power supplies. From computer card supplies
(5V) to high voltage (30kV), and some exotic supplies with input voltages
of less than a volt. He has used most supply topologies at one time or
another, for boost mode, buck mode and both. |
| |
|
RF Systems including
receiver design, video transmitter design, digital control systems and
radio modems. |
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|
Transducers including accelerometers, integrated gyros,
conventional rate gyros, pressure transducers, strain gauges and
magnetometers. |
| |
|
Inertial Measurement Units (IMU). Both design from
scratch, and utilization of commercially available units. |
| |
|
Unmanned Air
Vehicle Design, including both fixed wing and rotary types, on all scales
from 6 inch wing span to 270 feet. |
| From: |
1983 |
Client:- Hughes
Aircraft Co |
| To: |
1984 |
Torrance, CA |
| |
Duties: |
Enhancement and
maintenance of electron beam microfabrication system. |
| |
|
Magnetic
Deflection Systems. High resolution deflection systems for electron beam
microfabrication, raster mode and vector mode deflection systems for
cathode ray tubes, and one combined system that did both raster and vector
deflection simultaneously. |
| From: |
2009 |
Client:- Sage Cheshire, Inc |
| To: |
2010 |
Lancaster, CA |
| |
Duties: |
Design and construction of space suit
chest pack for Red Bull Stratos high altitude parachuting record attempt. |
| |
|
Global Positioning System. Selection and interfacing of suitable GPS
receivers for a large variety of tasks, including supersonic speed
measurement using civilian GPS receivers. |
| From: |
1986 |
Client:- Applied Research Associates,
Inc. |
| To: |
1989 |
Albuquerque, NM |
| |
Duties: |
Design and construction of numerous electronics packages for 70 foot
unmanned surveillance blimp. |
| |
|
Video Camera control systems. Pan/tilt
units, gyro stabilized camera mounts. |
| |
|
Autopilots. Dr Cumming has
designed autopilot systems for fixed wing, rotary, blimp, and balloon
systems. |
| |
|
Infra Red, Visible Light, and Low Light video camera systems. |
| From: |
1984 |
Client:- Other |
| To: |
Present |
|
| |
Duties: |
Electronic
Hardware Design Projects |
| |
|
RF design for underground pipe detection,
metal detection, and other low frequency (VLF) applications. |
| |
|
Joystick
Design and human factors engineering, including force operated joysticks,
programmable joysticks, and “use in the air” joysticks (i.e. not connected
to any fixed object). |
| |
|
Pneumatic Control Systems. Automatic braking and
throttle control systems. Investigation of “sudden acceleration” problems. |
| |
|
Autonomous Vehicle Design. Dr. Cumming developed the interface units for a
vehicle that entered the DARPA Grand Challenge, a government sponsored
unmanned ground vehicle competition. |
| |
|
Rocket Payload Systems. Both
sub-orbital and near-space systems. |
| |
|
Power Electronics. Dr Cumming has
designed 400Hz harmonic reduction systems for the Boeing 747 aircraft,
high power oscillators (1MHz, 10kW), motor control systems, and heater
control systems. |
| |
|
Magnetic Levitation Systems. Dr Cumming has designed
everything from a simple overhead solenoid system to a complete levitation
system operating entirely from below a flat table top, with no visible
sensors. |
| |
|
High Voltage Pulsed Systems. Dr Cumming has worked with a
10kV, 3Amp, 50nS pulsed system for field emission cathodes. |
| |
|
High
voltage DC systems. Dr Cumming has worked with a number of high voltage
control systems in the electron beam microfabrication industry, up to
30kV. He is also familiar with the use of thermionic tubes in such control
systems, one of the few surviving uses of the thermionic tube today. |
| |
|
Vacuum Systems. Dr Cumming has experience with both diffusion pumped high
vacuum systems and ultra high vacuum ion pumped systems. He has worked
with tungsten, LaB6, and field emission cathodes and the associated high
voltage equipment. |
Litigation Support Experience
| Date: |
1996 |
|
| |
Case: |
Cambridge Electronic Design, Inc. |
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Project: |
Testified as
the defendant in a contractual dispute with Cambridge Electronic Design,
Inc. This involved a successful petition to compel arbitration in superior
court, and testimony (using telephone conference calls) for the ensuing
binding arbitration. |
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Status: |
Case closed, no damages awarded. |
| Date: |
2010 |
|
| |
Matter: |
International Trade Commission Action |
| |
Project: |
Acted as a Consulting Expert Witness in a
patent validity case involving power supplies. |
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Status: |
My involvement complete, but case ongoing as of October, 2010 |
| Date: |
2011 |
|
| |
Matter: |
International Trade Commission Action |
| |
Project: |
Acted as a Testifying Expert Witness in a
patent validity case involving marine autopilots. |
| |
Status: |
Case settled on favorable terms following my
testimony at deposition |
| Date: |
2012 |
|
| |
Matter: |
Product Liability Case - Superior Court Of The
State Of California |
| |
Project: |
Acted as a Testifying Expert Witness in a
product liability case involving an automotive braking system. |
| |
Status: |
Deposition complete, case goes to trial in
February, 2012 |
| Date: |
2012 |
|
| |
Matter: |
International Trade Commission Action |
| |
Project: |
Acted as a Consulting Expert Witness in a
patent validity case involving computers. |
| |
Status: |
Case scheduled for February 2012. |
Patents
| Patent Number |
Date Issued |
Title |
| 7013.001 |
May 24, 1996 |
Cordless Free Floating Joystick (Provisional) |
Education
| Year |
College/University |
Degree |
| 1979 |
Cambridge University,
England |
Ph. D.,
Electrical Engineering |
| 1978 |
Cambridge University,
England |
M.A. |
| 1974 |
Cambridge University,
England |
B.A. |
Publications
Cumming, A.D.G. “A
Method For Determining The Geometry Of Field Emitters” Optik, 49 No.1
(1977) 17-23.
Bishop, J.F., Cumming, A.D.G., Ferrari, R.L., Miller K.J.
“Cambridge University Vatnajokull Expedition, 1977” Polar Record, 19 No.
118 (1978) 51-57.
Cumming, A.D.G., Smith, K.C.A. “Energy Spread And
Fluctuations In Field Emitted Electron Beams” Microcircut Engineering ed.
H. Ahmed, W.C. Nixon © Cambridge University Press (1980) 575-579
Cumming, A.D.G. “A High Speed, Noise Tolerant Edge Detection Algorithm
Using A Low Bandwidth Signal Chain for E-Beam Registration” Microcircuit
Engineering (Feb 1981)
Cumming, A.D.G. “A High Performance, Low Cost,
Isolated Electron Current Amplifier” Scanning © G. Witzstrock Publishing
House Inc., 2, (1979) 104-109
Professional Associations and
Achievements
Member, IEEE
Fellow of Cambridge Philosophical
Society
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