Radical Electronic Systems Online

About Radical

At Radical ES we specialize in custom electronic design and manufacturing of smart embedded devices utilizing the latest Micro Controller Technology. Our solutions are driven by our passion for the embedded world of Micro Processors & Controllers ranging from 8-bit to 32-bit. By doing constant research we keep our level of expertise to the latest technology on the market. Our skill set include basic 8-bit processor programming, but specialize in 32-bit ARM solutions and the building of embedded Linux operating systems. We have a wealth of experience in embedded local area networks, communications protocols like MODBUS, embedded processes tailored for Telemetry, Real-time Operating Systems and operating system device drivers for Linux and Windows. Over the years we have developed an embedded software framework that scale from 8-bit to 32-bit, which includes hardware drivers, process schedulers, file systems and many communication protocols. This enables us to quickly develop or even migrate applications to new or existing hardware platforms.

Our Technology

Our knowledge of the embedded electronics world covers technologies ranging from simple serial devices to fully integrated Ethernet network appliances. Over the years we have designed many products integrating communication mediums like serial RS232/485, I2C, SPI and Ethernet. Today all our products communicate primarily on Ethernet based or Wi-Fi local area networks. All other communication mediums are secondary for printers, scanners or scales and even on-board inter processor communication.

Various types of micro controllers & processors provide solutions for different applications and our broad knowledge AVR32, ARM7&9™, Cortex®A5, Cortex®-M0 to M7 technologies enables us to select the correct type of architecture for our products. Whether we need serial ports or Ethernet, a full fledge Linux OS, we can decide what processor to use, how much flash memory we need, the amount of RAM and what interfaces to use.

Our versatility and experience give us the advantage to have a relative short time to market with new products. We can identify new technologies quickly, learn them and implement it in our latest designs. A good example of this is the capacitive touch keypads on our industrial terminal PCs. Capacitive touch enables us to design a completely spill proof and robust keypad that is nearly indestructible by isolating the electronics from the user.

Our technology is not limited to the above and includes a wide variety of other architectures like RF telemetry, Smart Wi-Fi Nodes, GSM (Data & SMS), GPS and MEMS sensors. We have developed and maintain solutions for GSM telemetry used extensively in South Africa for instance.

Our Products

We focus on electronic hardware solutions for fruit packing houses ranging from process control to human interface terminals. Our products are designed to withstand these harsh conditions, which include cold stores to humid and hot pack houses. Applications include personnel attendance, carton weighing, carton labelling, carton scanning, human interfaces for pelletizing pack points, single person incentives, group incentives and intelligent terminals for bin control.

We pride ourselves in the reliability that our products offer and our personal relationship with our customers. Product solutions are tailored to our customers’ needs and provide excellent integration into current local area networks and even PLC systems. Larger terminals run full tailored flash based Linux Operating Systems and smaller HMIs our industry proven Robot OS utilizing XML messaging.

Minimal configuration, easy setup and quick installation times provides a solution to pack houses to reduce downtime and ensure high productivity. All our small terminals support active and passive power over Ethernet (POE) to reduce cabling and eliminate dangerous high voltage cable installation to packing points. Our 19” rack power supplies can provide power to LAN printers utilizing passive POE, again reducing cabling.

All our products provide flexible user authentication methods that include RFID cards, iButtons and our widely used USB keys. User authentication is imperative in fruit pack houses to calculate either individual personnel incentives or group packing incentive. With detailed activity logging, productivity can be measured and a better understanding of workforce output against time of day. Our pack house solutions run in the biggest pack stores found in the Western and Eastern Cape. Our long term reliability, our insightful project planning before installation, customer support during installation and product backing afterwards provide assurance to our clients that they have made a good investment in our technology.

Although our focus is on pack house solutions we have our own range of products for general process control in USB, serial and Ethernet architectures.

Internet of Things (IoT) and Pack Houses

Our products implement this term to the fullest. Our “Things” are 90% LAN based and can be integrated into a distributed network model. IoT participation is crucial for this type of model and a brilliant technology for fruit pack houses. Information is transported from pack points to data warehousing servers, SCADA interaction for fruit sorting, BIN control for pre-sorting, human interaction while pelletizing, carton labelling and barcode scanning for product identification. For a pack house a distributed network model with carton data warehousing is crucial so that all participating pack floor devices (or “Things”) can interact in real-time, act collectively and provide an up to date view of all relevant processes. These connected “Things” talks a XML language and uses TCP/IP as its transport medium making the exchange of information universal.

OEM Design & Manufacturing

Another area of our business is OEM design and manufacturing. We only do projects related to micro controllers/processors, which includes the PCB design, enclosure design, overlays and development of firmware. If the product fall within this category and time allows we can assist in such solutions. Our broad knowledge of embedded programming environments and communications protocols enable us to cost effectively develop a product drawing from our many embedded designs in the past. We have built long lasting relationships with our customers by designing their products and maintaining their embedded software for long periods. This helps even larger commercial end user electronic companies to focus on their core business and no need to employ specialized staff to keep their products up to date. Our team will happily provide you with latest electronic trends giving you inside information about components reaching end of life and recommending the simplest solution for your application. In some cases our own products are just labelled differently to be integrated into a customer’s final solution.