Grant Maloy Smith
Technical writerGrant Maloy Smith has been in the test and measurement industry for 40+ years, starting as a technician in 1980 and working his way up as an application engineer, where he put together hundreds of solutions for companies like NASA, Ford Motor Company, and many more. He eventually founded the North American division of Dewetron, running it for 20 years until he retired in 2016.
He has a broad range of experience with DAQ applications across the automotive, aerospace, power, and industrial sectors. Today, Grant applies his application knowledge and experience writing about data acquisition (DAQ) technology, both for clients and publications in the worlds of test and measurement and real-time controls.
Technical milestones
In the 1990s, Grant wrote software for Ford Motor company that allowed them to remotely control all of their Graphtec DAQ systems, resulting in much greater efficiency for the carmaker. This software was rolled out to thousands of customers worldwide.
In 2000, he developed the DAQ subsystem tribo-electric testing system that was used by NASA's Kennedy Space Center to test the electrostatic effects on a variety of materials, crucial to preventing ESD (electro-static discharge) in an oxygen-rich environment. He wrote the acquisition and analysis software and hosted it on an off-the-shelf DAQ system.
Grant was one of the three inventors of the first version of DewesoftX software, winning a technology innovation award from Slovenia in 2000.
Grant created a completely integrated system for the cyclical testing of supermarket refrigerated cases for a major manufacturer in California, writing the software and integrating the precision temperature measurement hardware.
Grant invented the first PC-based battery-powered instrument that could run without external power indefinitely, using a hot-swap Lithium-Ion battery scheme. His invention of the DA-130 with its SideHand battery system was awarded Product Of The Year by NASA Tech Briefs in 2006. This technology is still in use today.
Background
Grant started in the test and measurement industry in 1980, working as a technician for a maker of chart recorders. He became a sales and application engineer in 1983, an eastern regional sales manager in 1984, and was the company's first marketing manager in 1988. He was the director of marketing at Western Graphtec in California for five years before founding the US division of Dewetron in 1989. He was president and CEO of Dewetron, Inc. before selling the company and retiring.
In addition to his product development and application engineering activities, Grant ran the marketing departments at all of the companies mentioned above during some or all of his tenure there, creating ads, brochures, marketing materials, writing and presenting technical papers at trade shows and technical conferences, including the International Telemetering Conference, and more. He has written or been quoted in numerous industry magazines centered around test and measurement, metrology, scientific measuring instrumentation, and the test and measurement industry.
Articles
- Understanding eVTOL: A Complete Guide to Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing Aircraft
- Impact Testing Explained: Methods, Applications, and Benefits
- A Comprehensive Guide to Dynamometers: Types, Uses, and Benefits
- OBSIDIAN is named NASA TECH BRIEFS Product of the Month
- Merging Data Acquisition and a Real-time Control Systems
- How to Measure Pressure?
- What is OPC UA?
- What is a PID Controller?
- How to Interpret the Data From Your Machine Condition Monitoring Solution?
- Formula One vs. IndyCar Racing
- A New Tool for Maximizing Hybrid and Electric Motor Efficiency
- When and Why to Use Isolated Amplifiers?
- What is Sensor Fusion?
- What Is a Data Logger (Datalogger) - The Ultimate Guide
- What Is Signal Conditioning or Signal Conditioner?
- What Are Destructive and Nondestructive Testing?
- What is a Test Bench?
- Using Data Acquisition to Ensure Safe and Reliable Nuclear Plant Operation
- Dewesoft Data Acquisition Technology Explained
- How To Choose the Right Data Acquisition System [UPDATE 2024]?
External articles
- Developing Advanced EV Battery Test Solutions
- Launching rockets securely by converging IT, OT, and high-speed DAQ
- Data measurement applications
- Grant M. Smith Interview
- Visual Set Point Verification Methods Used at Seabrook Station on the DEWE-5000
- Networkable Telemetry Data Recorders Based on Cots Computer Technology
- Networkable Telemetry Data Recorders Based on Cots Computer Technology
- The Need for Standardized Performance Characteristics for Digital Strip Chart Recorders
- Telemetry Chart Recording Via Direct Digital Link
- Chart Recorders Evolve Into Data Management Systems
- Full-Power Computers Run Indefinitely on Hot-Swappable Lithium-Ion Batteries