To commemorate our 20th anniversary, we've compiled a history of how we started and who keeps us going. We thought it was entertaining and hope you will too.
Please take a few minutes and have a look -
right over here...
2010 IEEE SYMPOSIUM Fort Lauderdale, FL
Join your colleagues and share your insights in Fort Lauderdale, Florida for the 2010
IEEE International
Symposium July 25-31.
We're asked
often about the origins of Willie, our lab robot. So,
we're writing an online book about him! We've
published the prologue online.
read about
Willie right here...
T&E
UPDATE
The latest
issue of our newsletter is now available online.
read it here...
ESPRESSO ENGINEERING
Take a peek at our
new desktop video series exploring today's challenges and tomorrow's
solutions in the product engineering arena.
Unemployed and just out of school
with a shiny but untested sheepskin, I returned home in
May 1984 to seek employment. My father Norm graciously
let me tag along on a few consulting gigs as I was
trolling about for a full-time position. Having barely
eked my way out of Virginia Tech (go Hokies!), the
offers were not, ahem, pouring in. However, these were
the days of intense FCC attention on computing devices
and the market for EMC engineering was heating up and
the work, though diaphanous, was pretty steady, if one
had a knack for fixing electronic doo-dads afflicted
with mysterious and unseen maladies.
The
first task we worked on together was an electronics
typewriter-one of its forebears pictured here (no
transistors nor EMI problems with this one, tho').
The device we worked on had the
propensity to carry on without pressing any keys, losing
its way across the page and generating random &#@E!s and
$%*#^s, like a fumbled Blackberry message. The problem
was a susceptibility to static electricity, or, more
properly, the energy produced when the static
discharged. The *zap* produces a brief, nasty pulse of
energy that can scramble the bits doled out along the
wiring and circuits in a computer device.
Thing is, back then, no one knew a lot
about how this stuff (EMI) affected circuits; well,
let's just say that there was a lot of room between the
theory and the "shotgun" approach to solving these
problems. We sought a middle ground: a physics-based
solutions to the issues.
Violette Engineering Corporation
We
ultimately fixed the problem, employing our budding
skills along with copper tape and fairy dust and as May
turned to September that year, I was still at it with
Norm. He didn’t seem to mind and we eventually evolved
JLN Violette & Associates into Violette Engineering
Corporation, moved out of the basement into our first
office in Falls Church, VA.
Around
that time we had an interesting job protecting the
Statue of Liberty from lightning. Well, actually,
she doesn't need much protection, being a giant copper
shell on a stainless steel skeleton (armature). But the
work was fascinating, climbing about on the extensive
scaffolding that rose 150 feet from the pedestal, an
engineering feat in itself that wound about but never
touched Bartholdi's grand creation, checking the
grounding and voltage protection circuits for new
cameras, lighting and other gadgets. During the
restoration, Eiffel's entire structural steel armature
was wholly replaced; and piece-by-piece the old cast
iron and leather parts were replaced with stainless
steel and Teflon attachments, each individually drawn
and replicated. I still have a hunk of the steel used
for the armature somewhere.
The statue project linked
us up with a number of NYC-based clients and, to this
day, we do some work mid and up-town, performing
engineering analysis and site surveys for data centers,
research institutes, the transit system and other
clients in that busy environment.
Riding up and down the
service elevator with the operator drinking a can of
Schlitz was a frothy introduction to New York City labor
practices. The view of lower Manhattan was phenomenal.
The Twin Towers glinted in the bright sun.
Cool gig.
Along
about 1987, with Liv's extensive help, we wrote The
Electromagnetic Compatibility Handbook, published by
Van Nostrand Rheinhold and pounded out on 5-1/4" floppy
drive, pre-IBM compatible (Northstar Horizon computers
running *Wordstar*). Maybe no Pulitzer winner, but it's
on a few shelves here and there. I recommend the chapter
on "Antenna Factors".
The EMC Handbook was the
beginning of a spate of publishing activities, which
carry on to this day, mostly in the form of articles and
an occasional travel-blog.
So things went during the
1980s as we worked on various problems and noisy
dilemmas in various locations: a potato chip factory,
research laboratories, hospitals and data centers. Norm
taught courses and explained electromagnetic theory in a
way that could be consumed without antacid. We developed
particular expertise in troubleshooting and design for
EMC. All the while, testing laboratories were springing
up around the country (and the world) as the evolution
brought on by the development of the microprocessor and
PC profoundly impacted all of our lives. A mad scramble
by everyone from IBM to Apple to Commodore (remember
those guys?) to create new innovations pushed the
understanding of the very best in the field. Clock
frequencies surged past 4.77MHz. RAM exploded to 1024
KB. Hard drives held a massive amount of data (40 MB).
How high could this kite fly? We asked.
Taiwan emerged from forty
years of martial law to become the wellspring of PC
clones and electronics development.
And then a crazy guy named Sugar walked
into our lives.
It was a warm evening in early May-a
Thursday, perhaps-after this full day working with my
friends at Rhein Tech, with a nice end-of-week buzz from
a good toil, I took the toll road home with no real
plans for the next day. All known projects were done and
I was looking forward to a long weekend starting with a
light Friday. So much for plaa...
My phone rang as I walked in the door.
Liv answered. "It's the guy from the lab. He needs to
talk to you."
Sighing, I took the phone. "Hello?"
"Mike, it's Andy. Hey." He sighed with
complete exasperation. "Can you come back in tonight?
This guy walked in the door fifteen minutes ago, with
his computer. He failed at the FCC and he managed to
work out a retest tomorrow morning, first thing." Andy
was sounding desperate, "He just won't leave."
I patted my son on his head and jumped
back in the car; you see, those were the days when we
turned down no work (kind of like these days).
By two a.m., the 125 MHz signal was
squished and the PC was passing the FCC requirements.
Mr. Sugar was there the whole time, chatting nervously,
pouring coffee, ordering Chinese takeout, sucking
cigarettes and pacing in and out of the test chamber. We
only had 'til the next morning to fix this problem and
retest the machine at the FCC’s lab in Columbia. How he
wrangled a retest at the Commission was the stuff of
whispered intrigue. No one had ever busted the queue. I
was to find out that this guy was very persuasive.
Mr.
Sugar moved quickly to direct motherboards and PCs in
our direction, cajoling me with late night phone calls,
"Get a lease! Get some equipment! Don't worry, you'll
have plenty of work!" Starting with a leased
Hewlett-Packard Spectrum analyzer and two antennas, we
set up in Gaithersburg, MD, not far from where we are
today.
Working through the 90s with loads of
good folks in the I-270 "Technology Corridor," we rode
the CE Marking wave, which brought our first bit of
international work. Norm (and mom) traveled to Singapore
and Malaysia, making initial forays into Asia and
teaching his favorite subject: Lightning Protection.
Some other overseas activities included some shielding
work in Eastern Turkey (the Kurdish city of Diyabakir)
and trips to France to work with laboratories in Paris
and Lyon-including the gastronomical and sensory
indulgences. Later, China, Taiwan, Vietnam, India. Next?
The People of Washington Laboratories
Throughout all these years, we've been
surrounded by excellent people who have been the real
key to our success and ongoing enterprise. Here are the
people that really make it happen:
Liv Violette,
before the beginning. Liv is director of
Marketing and PR at WLL. An accomplished and
award-winning documentary producer, she manages
development of new brand ideas in emerging media
environments and across new ranges of messaging,
including the popular EspressoEngineering.tv
series.
And, most importantly, she is the
mother of Sam and Leila Violette:
Her current project is a
documentary on Green & Sustainable Living. See:
http://www.greenlivingfilms.com for a short
trailer.
Peter
Ling and Aiko Marioka,
Since the Beginning. Our partners in
California have been supportive, interested
although their interests lie far afield from EMC
(Peter runs a successful financial services
company
http://www.morling.com and Aiko creates
great figurative, modern and nomadic sculpture.
You can view her work here:
http://www.aikomorioka.com.) Thanks, Peter
and Aiko.
Joann
Dorsey,
Since 8/2/1992. Joann keeps the office
running, overseeing the administrative, HR,
payroll (that's why we're extra nice to her) and
our much-anticipated events, seminars and
celebrations. She is an expert on Longaberger
baskets and grows a beautiful garden. If you're
looking for something or just some friendly
advice, ask Joann. If you have a question about
where something belongs, she will tell you where
to place it.
Mostly, she has kept her good
humor in spite of the fact she's been surrounded
by engineers for almost 20 years.
Steve
Koster,
Since12/22/1992. Steve balances
EMC lab technical, schedule and customer care
issues with humor, compassion and aplomb. He's
up for whatever it takes to keep things going,
from pounding nails to blowing snow off the test
ranges to flipping burgers. It's not easy
running a lab when projects stop and start,
smoothing often-frustrated and anxious
customers.
Add the bewildering array of
standards and you need Steve's special skills
and his good laugh to keep customers at-ease-and
coming back.
Berri
Remenick,
Since 6/30/1996. Berri runs a
dual-purpose operation, heading up the Safety
and Environmental laboratory operations. He
handles a variety of international safety
standards dealing with electrical to medical to
environmental issues. Berri has the long and
steady patience necessary for dealing with dicey
agency issues and he spearheaded our recent
expansion into the Environmental business, which
is shaking up the local market.
Under his quiet exterior is a
need for fast vehicles and noisy dirt-bike
thrills.
Steve
Ferguson,
Since 9/14/1998. Steve is VP of
Operations and our resident expert and
instructor for military standards. His
background includes extensive government and
industry experience and he shuttles around the
country (sometimes in his roving
home-away-from-home), working all manner of
complex and critical technology applications.
Steve's focus keeps these often-difficult tasks
on-track and on-schedule. He's got a penchant
for hands-on teaching and gives everything he's
got to his students.
And when he's not busy fixing EMI
problems, he’s tinkering with his RV.
Ta
Thuan,
Since 9/25/2000. Ta has developed
expertise in MIL-STD testing and supports our
clients with patience and a good wit. Ta doesn't
get flustered; maybe it’s because he’s been
through a rare maturation in his own journey.
His story is exceptional, coming to the US alone
as a young refuge from Saigon.
He has firmly planted himself and
is growing his young family in Suburban
Maryland.
Lavern
Robinson,
Since 8/1/2001. Lavern keeps our
customers informed of scheduling and
arrangements for equipment and the nitty-gritty
of keeping the projects moving smoothly. Lavern
is keen to keep everyone informed and on-track,
as much as possible in the sometimes-chaotic
world of product development and testing. There
is another layer of strength and fortitude to
Lavern, whose faith shines through her fine
family.
Oh, and nice shoes, Lavern...
James
Ritter,
Since 4/29/2002. James brings an
unbridled enthusiasm to the complex and fine
details necessary to keep difficult radio
projects moving forward. The type of equipment
has evolved to a mind-boggling level of
complexity with new standards and technologies
in the state-of-the-art products that come
through our door. James meets these complexities
head-on. He’s got a great laugh, right?
And on the oft-chance you like to
bowl, make sure James is on your team.
John
Repella,
Since 8/9/2004. John gets to travel to
many exotic locations (wherever they stuck nuke
plants that is) and is point-man for many
on-site measurements. In addition, John keeps
our QA processes up-to-speed, which has the
extra "bennie" of interfacing with and keeping
our accreditors happy. John also makes the
hottest hots you would ever want to sprinkle on
pizza or Chinese food.
John is the mad scientist of
capsaicin.
Adam
Black,
Since 2/7/2005. Adam has the knack for
making things work. His hands-on skills are a
key to making our Safety and Environmental
offerings a reality. Adam also has a broad
understanding and appreciation of many
disciplines and can pitch hit on EMC and other
measurement duties. His attitude beams "whatever
it takes".
Adam recently visited a small
village in Spain, where he toiled for many hot
days using his practical skills and strong back
to raise a church building.
Steve
Dovell,
Since 10/24/2005. Steve's broad
experience in product development-working in
communications firms in the area-comes in handy,
especially considering the range of products
that we have to contend with. Steve lends his
skills to fixture development, often crafting
necessary doo-dads we need to test our clients'
products. Give him a puzzle and Steve will solve
it.
And if (when?) we expand our
operation to Bermuda, I think we've got our guy
to run the operation-just ask him to show you
his shirt collection.
Christina
Karlhoff,
Since 12/5/2005. Christina makes IT fun
and short work of it. CK, as we shorthand, runs
the WLL network, keeping the machines humming
and the data flowing. She developed the database
core that keeps our team connected across time
and space. In addition, she is handy with a
screwdriver and can hot-swap a power supply or
tend an ailing hard drive.
You can also get her hooked up in
your next jam session. Power Chords, Please.
Elmer
Rodriguez,
Since 1/15/2007. Elmer joined us from a
paging company and brings a systems-level
appreciation to our projects. Stepping in with a
deep understanding of electronics and
communications, Elmer has full range of
equipment skills and mastery. He also continues
to polish his academic understanding of the art
of engineering.
Elmer likes fast, too, running
around in kind weather on his rice-burner.
Christopher
Dao,
Since 2/12/2007. Christopher gets excited
about customer service and works to accommodate
the client, whatever the need. He hails from a
telecommunications industry background, a
perfect background serving up his good vibes to
our customers. And ready to pitch in, whatever
and wherever be the project.
His white Beemer is the envy of
all of the engineers in the lab.
John
Reidell,
Since 4/28/2008. John has a steady calm
that takes shape in the measured and consistent
manner of his work. He draws on a large store of
patience for sometimes, uh,
less-than-cooperative projects. He tackles the
extended-stay projects and extended-mile travel,
which isn't so trivial.
John's joy and his family's
enjoyment are the many athletes in the family.
Theresa
Kerrick,
Since 6/30/2008. Give Theresa a call and
she'll be happy to help you with whatever you
need. But more than that, Theresa has stepped up
to a multitude of skills that every small
company needs-featuring, namely, her agility;
she handles shipping, equipment tracking,
book-keeping support and by and large keeps a
good sense of humor around all these guy
engineers-not easy to do.
Well, she does have the authority
of deciding what's for lunch.
Katrina
Bradshaw,
Since ca. 1991
Katrina has had a strong hand in our branding,
organization and marketing communications. She
brings a broad background in media, management
and creative development to our team and has
helped foster numerous initiatives to expand our
messaging to our markets.
Always a great sounding board, a
cool thinker with many unsung skills, such as
how to make a capon.
Eric
Thibau,
Since
1996.
Eric has been a strong supporter and ami
for over fifteen years, supplying ideas and
enthusiasm and projects in close support with
our staff. Eric, President of European
Certification Partners, is always ready to offer
his good guidance on opportunities and
cooperation between European testing authorities
and our US clients.
A great travel partner and
raconteur, Eric can tell the correct temperature
to serve a Sancerre.
Mark
Chandler,
Since 7/1/2008. Mark is our visual
magician, making our message smile. He has
overhauled our imagery, adding a bit of his sly
wit and sense of design to the twirls and swirls
of our messaging, from WL's brand to
EspressoEngineering and, don't forget, Willie,
our mascot.
Mark turns up the volume and
spends a bit of time in the F-clef.
Report from the IEEE EMC Symposium - Ft. Lauderdale, FLA
Mike Violette talks to Bruce Archambeault (Applied EMC Technology) on USDS validation of radiated emissions sites:
The Standards Services Division at the National Institute of Standards and Technology were welcomed by Mike Violette and Steve Ferguson of Washington Labs. The group, led by Gordon Gillerman, were provided an overview of laboratory operations and the use of standards in everyday testing.
more...
The Standards Services Division conducts standards-related programs and provides knowledge and services that will strengthen the U.S. economy, to ensure recognition and use of U.S. standards domestically and in the global marketplace; promote worldwide acceptance of U.S. test and calibration data to facilitate the marketing of U.S. products; and provide assistance to industry, trade associations, and exporters through its operations, training and information programs.
There are many dynamic areas of standards-setting in the area of technology products, software, homeland security and related disciplines in modern American life. Mike Violette provided a little "look under the hood" at some of the domestic and international activities.
Advertising
on the March...
We took our hats off to the ads of yesteryear for the July - August issue of Nuclear Plant Journal. Sort of retro, sort of... we're not sure. If you'd like to see it before it hits the street, you can click right here...
The
first task we worked on together was an electronics
typewriter-one of its forebears pictured here (no
transistors nor EMI problems with this one, tho').
We
ultimately fixed the problem, employing our budding
skills along with copper tape and fairy dust and as May
turned to September that year, I was still at it with
Norm. He didn’t seem to mind and we eventually evolved
JLN Violette & Associates into Violette Engineering
Corporation, moved out of the basement into our first
office in Falls Church, VA.
Around
that time we had an interesting job protecting the
Statue of Liberty from lightning. Well, actually,
she doesn't need much protection, being a giant copper
shell on a stainless steel skeleton (armature). But the
work was fascinating, climbing about on the extensive
scaffolding that rose 150 feet from the pedestal, an
engineering feat in itself that wound about but never
touched Bartholdi's grand creation, checking the
grounding and voltage protection circuits for new
cameras, lighting and other gadgets. During the
restoration, Eiffel's entire structural steel armature
was wholly replaced; and piece-by-piece the old cast
iron and leather parts were replaced with stainless
steel and Teflon attachments, each individually drawn
and replicated. I still have a hunk of the steel used
for the armature somewhere. 
Along
about 1987, with Liv's extensive help, we wrote The
Electromagnetic Compatibility Handbook, published by
Van Nostrand Rheinhold and pounded out on 5-1/4" floppy
drive, pre-IBM compatible (Northstar Horizon computers
running *Wordstar*). Maybe no Pulitzer winner, but it's
on a few shelves here and there. I recommend the chapter
on "Antenna Factors". 
Mr.
Sugar moved quickly to direct motherboards and PCs in
our direction, cajoling me with late night phone calls,
"Get a lease! Get some equipment! Don't worry, you'll
have plenty of work!" Starting with a leased
Hewlett-Packard Spectrum analyzer and two antennas, we
set up in Gaithersburg, MD, not far from where we are
today. 
Peter
Ling and Aiko Marioka
Joann
Dorsey
Steve
Koster
Berri
Remenick
Steve
Ferguson
Ta
Thuan
Lavern
Robinson
James
Ritter
John
Repella
Adam
Black
Steve
Dovell
Christina
Karlhoff
Elmer
Rodriguez
Christopher
Dao
John
Reidell
Theresa
Kerrick
Katrina
Bradshaw
Eric
Thibau
Mark
Chandler
