Evaluation

of

Kai Lucas, Software Consultant

 

                                                                                              May 15, 2003

 

 

Mr Lucas worked for Sirona GmbH in Bensheim, Germany, in the department “GBE”, between March 1, 2002 and May 31, 2003 on a contract basis through the agency of Innomedic GmbH. Sirona GmbH was his sole place of work during that period.

 

Mr Lucas was employed in the software team of the "Pan2000" project to reinforce the core team which comprised four members, counting him in.

 

The subject of the project was the completely new development of a panoramic dental X-ray machine. The system was based on a PowerPC architecture with a number of additional distributed modules on the basis of 68HC08 and 80C167 controllers. The system bus technology used was a CAN Bus running a proprietary TTP protocol. The system was also provided with TCP/IP links to the PC systems for image data acquisition and management.

 

Faced with the particular challenge of implementing a modern conceptual approach on an innovative platform under stringent deadlines, an experienced software architect for automation tasks was required right from the start. Mr Lucas was ideally suited to fill this position.

 

In his quality as a senior expert, Mr Lucas gave advice and assistance for the management tasks relating to the software subproject. His extensive, in-depth project experience enabled him to provide valuable impulses and hands-on support in this field of activity, thus helping to ensure the overall success of the undertaking. He assumed a “bridgehead” function for the staff from our partner businesses ITK - Consulting and Innomedic GmbH.

 

On the basis of the concept discussions within the core team, where all engineering requirements were worked out, Mr Lucas very soon presented a modern architecture concept which, while having a high degree of abstraction, was very individually tailored to the required solution. In doing so, he demonstrated great technical competence and expert engineering knowledge.

 

The next steps were the structuring of the system and the creation and modulization of the functional instances. Within a very short time, Mr Lucas was able to derive from this input a concept presentation which was used for taking the imminent design decision. Likewise, he presented at this early stage an executable logical prototype implemented in Ada, which allowed to demonstrate and corroborate the validity of the core model.

 

A very important point in this phase was to familiarize the internal and external software developers with the conceptual idea. Mr Lucas conveyed his architecture and proposed solutions in a very transparent and convincing manner, which allowed to tackle their implementation promptly and with a high acceptance.

 

For the central module, the direct implementation in the target language (C++) for the target system (Tornado, VxWorks) was performed from there on by an external collaborator who worked mainly under the supervision of Mr Lucas. All modifications resulting from the continuous refinement of the design model were submitted by Mr Lucas in Ada. It was essential in this context that the date and content of his revised model releases was harmonized with the main elements of the imminent integration milestones. This was one of the factors that allowed us to meet the relevant project deadlines.

 

Throughout the software project, Mr Lucas consequently monitored the conformity of the implementation with the model, advocating at all times compliance with the requisites set by the architectural style. This made him a much sought-out and very competent contact person for all collaborators when it came to having ideas and developing possible solutions. Special reference must be made in this context to his solutions for the management of the operating system and of the hardware resources, for which his models provided very effective mechanisms.

 

Mr. Lucas transferred the basic requirements of his message principle to the peripherals, thus creating the basis for the newly to be created CAN Bus API. In the work discussions on this subject he conveyed his ideas in a convincing manner.

 

Mr. Lucas always demonstrated great professionalism in coaching the numerous concept discussions among the different groups of team members. From a very early phase on, he pointed out the importance of defining a specific terminology for the project under way; this terminology then increasingly marked the way of talking in the team. Another point to be made in this context is the design and creation of a database containing all external and internal interfaces as well as all command structures, and which is now the team’s basis of work.

 

We have known Mr. Lucas to be a highly motivated, teamwork-capable and straightforward collaborator with a working attitude that is marked by extensive experience and great professionalism.

 

We highly appreciate his exceptional commitment for Sirona and wish him the very best for his future. In future projects we shall be happy to make use again of his competence and experience.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Stephan Simons                                                 Rainer Stelz

Imaging Systems Division                                         Imaging Systems Division

Head of X-Ray Development                                      Software Project Manager