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Relevant Experience

The Gale Force Software Corporation (GFSC) technical staff has been successful in applying our broad range of experience in the medical device, defense, facility security, automotive, life sciences, and home automation industries to the benefit of many of our clients' unique product development efforts, often shortening development time and reducing development costs. The team continually takes on new technologies and development platforms, including, but not limited to, Windows, Mac/iPhone/iPad, Linux, Palm, or Window Mobile for application software and an ever-increasing range of firmware development environments.

Corporate Experience

Functional Area	Zone	Customer	Prime
Software Engineering, Development, Programming, and Network Support	5	NSWC Crane	SAIC Contract #N00178-04-D-4119 FC21 TI0001
GFSC is serving as a subcontractor to SAIC on this contract with NSWC Crane. GFSC is responsible for converting the regression testing used for weapon deployment systems for several helicopter platforms from a manual to an automated operation. The current manual execution of the suite of regression tests takes eight weeks to complete (by one person). There is also opportunity for human error in the setup and execution of the tests. The Interface Unit Automatic Data Processor (IUADP) Automated Test Bench (ATB) that is being developed by GFSC will result in these same tests being completed within one day, thereby reducing both calendar time and labor costs to complete the operation. Tasks that have been completed by GFSC to date include a complete review of the existing manual tests, identification of a candidate development environment for the ATB, creating a draft architecture for the ATB, investigation into and identification of COTS test components/equipment needed to construct the ATB, and participation in one round of execution of the manual tests. GFSC has also assisted SAIC in further requirements development for the system. Next steps will be the software implementation of the full regression test suite, integration of this software with the equipment in the new test rack, followed by full verification of the ATB. It is important to note that the task of converting this manual test system to an automated one can serve as a platform for the conversion of other manual test systems. GFSC fully expects that the development of subsequent automated test systems should benefit from lessons learned in this effort, reducing the development costs and schedule in addition to the reduction of the time needed for executing the associated regression tests.

Functional Area	Zone	Market	Team Member
Research & Development Support	5	Life Sciences	Marshall Parker
GFSC worked closely with a life sciences company founded by a professor at Purdue University. GFSC has supported the development of the company's product, which is the first test of its kind in the world to use metabolite profiling to detect cancer recurrence in blood cancer patients. GFSC's client has developed an innovative technique for using Mass Spectrometry and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance analysis on biological (blood) samples to generate a metabolic profile that is used to detect the presence or recurrence of cancer at significantly earlier stages than other currently available diagnostic measures. GFSC developed an application that read and processed the input data files from the instrumentation and then computed a score based on the configurable algorithm. The application gives the scientists complete control over the scoring algorithm so that they may experiment with different algorithms to achieve the best performance. The goal was to make the process of data analysis and algorithm refinement more efficient in the research stages of this work and to evolve into an eventual production/commercial version of the system.

Functional Area	Zone	Market	Team Member
Research & Development Support	5	High-Tech Residential Electronic Faucets	Tom Combs Russ Mock Marshall Parker
GFSC has worked with this client since 2008 on their R&D efforts associated with the development and refinement of new technologies for use in residential lavatory and kitchen electronic faucets. Although that work is ongoing, the client has introduced a number of these products into the retail market using their patented technology. Initially, GFSC engineers worked with the client's electrical engineering team on defining technical product requirements. The GFSC engineers worked closely with the hardware team in first writing test software used to exercise candidate components for use in the hardware platform and then to write prototype code for use in proving out the feasibility of various design approaches before proceeding to the development of production software. Next steps in product development included working with the hardware team to refine designs in order to achieve cost savings, again beginning with software to test out various component options. GFSC firmware engineers worked closely with the client to investigate environmental effects (e.g. electromagnetic interference, variations in water temperature and ionization content, etc.) and their detrimental impact on system functionality. In many cases GFSC engineers were able to implement firmware solutions to mitigate environmental effects. GFSC has also developed software tools for use by the client in evaluating electronic faucet performance and troubleshooting intermittent, elusive anomalies. GFSC continues to support the client's research into the use of alternative technologies for hands-free operation of electronic faucets. This has involved the development and refinement of algorithms and the implementation of prototype firmware to test the functionality of the algorithms with the prototype mechanical and electrical platforms.

Functional Area	Zone	Market	Team Member
Research & Development Support	5	Electronic Medical Devices	Tom Combs Russ Mock Marshall Parker
GFSC worked with the client's scientists to define an insulin bolus advice algorithm. This algorithm is a system of decision logic, database record management, and calculations that takes into account a user's/patient's current blood glucose value, user-specified settings, meal and health event information, and historical information about meals and delivered insulin boluses to determine a current insulin bolus dosage recommendation. The purpose of this algorithm is to provide guidance to the patient to aid in keeping the patient's blood glucose within a target range or to drive it toward a calculated blood glucose value when it is outside the target range. GFSC successfully implemented this complex algorithm for integration into a blood glucose meter under development by the client.

Functional Area	Zone	Market	Team Member
Modeling, Simulation, Stimulation, and Analysis Support	5	Facility Security	Laura Combs
GFSC has developed the software for a self-service kiosk that is used by universities and some military installations to assign electronic room keys to individuals. Because the system is available around the clock to users, it results in a cost savings by reducing the number of personnel who need to assist individuals who need to be issued electronic room keys. GFSC has also implemented enhancements to the product to enable it to interact with other security products. One of the development efforts involved creating an enhanced simulator of the encoder used in the system to encode new electronic room keys. The original encoder simulator developed by GFSC was used as an engineering tool to aid in ongoing development and/or testing when actual hardware has not been available. It was then enhanced for use as a PC-based sales demonstration and field service troubleshooting tool by the client.

Functional Area	Zone	Market	Team Member
Modeling, Simulation, Stimulation, and Analysis Support	5	Facility Security	Tom Bundy
GFSC took over the development of the software for the next generation of a family of monitoring/security products for the healthcare industry, including independent living and assisted living, hospitals, and long-term healthcare facilities. The system includes electronic nurse call notification and staff paging associated with a variety of hardware devices used for security purposes. GFSC developed a simulator or all of the functions of a third-party alarm panel so that up to 96 devices and all of the known failure modes can be simulated and exercised without having to have the actual hardware present. The error mode simulation allows for low battery conditions, antenna failures, and other difficult-to-reproduce failures to be generated without having to damage actual hardware in order to produce those error conditions.

Functional Area	Zone	Market	Team Member
Modeling, Simulation, Stimulation, and Analysis Support	5	Electronic Medical Devices	Scott Rulong Russ Mock
GFSC was asked to develop a PC application to simulate a variety of user interface (UI) designs for a new blood glucose meter under development. This UI simulator was the equivalent of a physical form model, providing a graphical look and feel that could be changed quickly without having to write real code, which made it a highly cost-effective tool. The simulator software wired together screen drawings that demonstrated a user navigating through the device's UI, modeling three common user interactions with the device as independent functions. It also was designed by GFSC to be capable of downloading the UI screen bitmap images from the PC via Bluetooth to a device display that was comparable to that intended for the final product. The simulator was used to display multiple UI scenarios for the purposes of market evaluation, user testing, and human factors studies. GFSC also developed a software color editor tool for manipulating UI screen color combinations. This enabled the client to make rapid changes to the UI color scheme in order to simulated different screen/icon/font color combinations to test the clarity of screen views with different color combinations and to get immediate feedback on users' color preferences.

Functional Area	Zone	Market	Team Member
System Design Documentation and Technical Data Support	5	Electronic Medical Devices	Scott Rulong
The client had developed a mass spectrometer as a data collection piece of their genetic analysis products, which had been used by laboratories for research and development only. The client decided to expand their product offerings into the clinical marketplace and needed a design history file created for this product. GFSC worked with the client's engineering team and existing design documentation to develop a comprehensive Software Requirements Document, Failure Modes and Effects Analysis Document, Software Design Document, Verification Test Plan/Protocol, Validation Test Plan/Protocol along with a Traceability Matrix, in the IBM Rational DOORS requirements management system. Where full original documentation did not exist, the GFSC engineer reverse engineered the software/firmware in order to document its design and to create a comprehensive design history file for the instrument. GFSC also facilitated software design reviews and published notes of the findings from the reviews. GFSC used our own internal software quality process and design controls, which are compliant with FDA 21 CFR 820 Quality Systems Regulation (QSR) 13485, in the creation of this design history file that covered requirements gathering and design control project planning; design and implementation; and testing, release, and maintenance.

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