Electronics & ICT
Aims
The Electronics & ICT (E&I) group supports DIFFER personnel in their use of electronic and computer equipment. This includes engineering services as well as support services, ranging from developing custom made electronics to PC support.
Electrical engineering
The electrical engineers of the E&I group are responsible for the electronic equipment for the research programmes and projects. The equipment is either selected from commercial suppliers or designed and manufactured in-house. This includes a variety of analog, digital, high voltage, and power electronics.
We have been working on a number of projects, many of them for the FELIX/Felice system. Additionally, support has been given to the research group in Jülich (Germany), and local groups such as MAGNUM, Pilot-PSI, Moldyn and nSI.
Software engineering
A number of software engineers of the E&I group take care of the design and implementation of automated control and data acquisition systems of the various diagnostics and experiments being developed at DIFFER.
In 2006 the main focus has been on the realisation of Felice and the specification and first designs of the Magnum-PSI control system. E&I is now also responsible for the software on the nSI ADC and MUCO setups.
IT services and facilities
Finally, the E&I group is responsible for all the computer and informatics related technology in the Institute: all PCs, network servers, printers, network infrastructure, etc. This includes purchase, installation, and maintenance of equipment and services, and a helpdesk for supporting users.
In 2006 a major overhaul of the ICT-infrastructure has started, including the roll-out of Network Attached Storage (NAS), replacing old Silicon Graphics servers, the roll-out of Microsoft Exchange Server, and the introduction of a small Debian Linux cluster.
Trainee positions / internships
We usually have a few trainee positions available in our group. Please see the (Dutch language) list of current trainee positions for more information.
Joris van der Vlugt wrote in Dutch about his experiences during his internship at our Electrical engineering group:
"Als derdejaars EE&D-student (elektrotechniek) aan de Hogeschool Utrecht loop ik mijn stage bij de elektronicagroep van FOM-Institute DIFFER. Binnen het instituut wordt veel gebruik gemaakt van elektrotechniek, bijvoorbeeld voor het meten aan en afregelen en besturen van de onderzoeksopstellingen. Voor mijn stage werk ik aan een afgebakende opdracht die losstaat van de andere lopende projecten op de afdeling."
Read his whole (Dutch language) story (PDF)
Group contact
Please contact A [dot] Broekema [te] differ [dot] nl (Ir. Andries Broekema) if you have any questions or remarks about the E&I group, for example about its projects or activities.
See also the Annual report 2011.
Please contact andries2 [dot] broekema [te] differ [dot] nl for more information.