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The Company - Health Spa Steam Chamber Manufacturer

SSI's client is a pioneer in the development of oxygenated hydrotherapy systems and oxygen based products for improving individual health and well being.

The quality of health and vitality is closely linked to the quality of the air we breathe and the water we drink. Oxygen and water are essential for human life. Our client provides solutions that increase an individual's oxygenation and hydration, detoxifying our bodies using water, ozone, and oxygen.

Technical Skills
Windows CE, Embedded Visual C++, Multi-threading, PLC, Windows Pocket PC SDK and Windows Mobile Emulator Images for Emulation and Debugging.

The Task: Improve the Speed of Operations, Add New GUI Features

SSI's client was seeking improved software efficiency as well as new features to their signature product, a deluxe steam chamber - a spa-like enclosure built for one.  While comfortably sitting in the highly engineered enclosure with your head on the outside, your body is immersed in a cascade of flowing ultra-pure oxygenated water.

The SSI Solution - Adding Multi-Threading, Graphic Improvements, and Documentation

Initially there was just a single thread handling all software operations.  By introducing the more efficient multithreading, SSI separated the threads that were handling the PLC Polling and UI Polling. This improved the speed of operations significantly.

GUI changes, additional PLC operation modifications, and protection against cell phone interference were made during the second phase of this project.  On the GUI side, the heart rate button changes color when the heart rate is in the danger zone.  SSI added a state machine to ensure that the aerobic spa starts functioning only when the heart rate is within a permissible range for the given age of an individual.

The project's maintenance phase including providing a way for the client to check on the correct functioning of the PLC hardware modules.  An emulator used by another SSI team was utilized to test and debug the software.

Overall, the entire project benefited by a team adhering to source control and well-defined software process.  Improved documentation will ease future modifications.

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