Bio Ken Stewart-Smith

My first job out of university as an Electrical Engineer was working for Calgary Power (now TransAlta) designing 500KV transmission lines. Frustration quickly set in when I found it was taking three months to get approval for projects, let alone the years it would take to build. When an opportunity came along to design low power electronics, I quickly jumped on it. There was great satisfaction in completing projects in three months from start to finish. During that time, I had the opportunity to work on many interesting projects including down-hole tools, airborne radar imaging systems, gas detectors, car wash timers, military tank heaters and robotic submarines, just to name a few.

In 1998 it was time to break away and I started my own company, Tronicon Industries Inc. The name sounds like one of those fancy kids transformers but was actually derived from the words “electronic consulting”. My first contract was designing a “test interface box” for testing first class passenger seat controllers. These are the fancy seats that that turn into a completely lie-flat-bed at the push of a button. I quickly identified a need to reduce the mass of wiring on seats and began the design of a new controller that reduced seat wiring by over 90%. Unfortunately, just as seat manufactures were starting to show an interest in the new product, 911 hit and devastated the airline industry. Six month earlier, on a visit to New York, I had been standing at the very top of the Word Trade Center. That was a little to close for comfort!

Fortunately in 2005 I was able to re-connect with the airline industry and work on a new super-first class passenger seat design. These seats have up to 10 actuators, a 10 motor massage system, a lumbar system, lighting control, electric doors and privacy screens. You have your own 23” TV and if that is not enough, you even have your own personal mini-bar.

A couple of other interesting projects using similar control technology have kept me busy since then including the actuation of flight control surface for a UAV and rudder and motor control of a marine rescue vehicle that is dropped from a C130 transport aircraft.

In the mean time, I am continuing to improve the new seat control system with the aim of penetrating other markets. As I look back on my career, I realize that I have been very fortunate to be on the forefront of technology and know that if you have a passion for what you do, it makes it a whole lot easier to get out of bed every morning!

ken@tronicon.com