Robotics and Factory Automation
Barr Group's industrial controls expert witnesses are highly qualified software engineers, electrical engineers, and mechanical engineers who are experienced in the design of robotics and factory automation equipment for a range of industries from food and pharmaceuticals production to fossil fuel and solar energy generation and distribution to automobile and electronics assembly lines. As professional designers of reliable and secure embedded systems, Barr Group is knowledgeable in IEC 61508 and other functional safety standards that apply to industrial controls and automation systems as well as the following technologies:
- Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems
- Programmable Logic Controls (PLCs) a/k/a "ladder logic"
- Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)
- Open Smart Grid Protocol (OGSP) and ISO/IEC 14908
- IEC 61158 "Fieldbus" networks for real-time distributed control
- DeviceNet and CANopen interoperability network software
- Environmental monitoring and remote sensing technologies
- Safety Instrumented Systems (SIS) per IEC 61511 (ISA 84)
- Machine Vision (MV) for automated process and quality control
- Computer Numeric Control (CNC) and 3-D printing
- ANSI/RIA R15.06 and other robotics safety considerations
- Electrical interlocks, failsafes, and machine guarding
Barr Group's expert witnesses are familiar with all of the operating systems used in industrial controls, including real-time operating systems like VxWorks and QNX as well as Linux and Windows, and also the languages used to program these systems such as assembly, C/C++, and Labview. And we are just as comfortable with electronic circuit and mechanical design.
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Expert Witness Services
Barr Group's industrial controls experts support plaintiffs and defendants in litigation in U.S. District Courts, at the International Trade Commission (ITC), and before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). Our services include:
- Technical assistance with drafting of discovery requests
- Software source code review and analysis
- Source code comparisons for copyright and trade secret theft
- Analysis of electronics and related design documents
- Review of mechanical designs and safety interlocks
- Comparison to IEC 61508 and other functional safety standards
- Prior art review for patent invalidity
- Reverse engineering, including disassembly of binary code
- Forensic analysis and malfunction reconstruction
- Expert reports, declarations, and witness statements
- Testimony at deposition, oral hearings, and trials
Barr Group has a demonstrated ability to quickly activate one or more code reviewers to match the size, scope, and complexity of any project. And our team includes licensed Professional Engineers (P.E.s).
Further Reading
The following is a representative subset of Barr Group's experts who have experience designing and/or testifying about these technologies:
Industrial Controls Expert Witness List
The following is a representative subset of Barr Group's experts who have experience designing and/or testifying about these technologies:
Former professor of computer science and independent engineering consultant and trainer. Specialized technical knowledge in the internal structure of the Linux…
Electrical engineer with more than three decades of industry experience including for aerospace, automotive, marine,…
Engineering consultant with nearly thirty years of hands-on software development experience. Has designed and implemented software for products ranging from…
Mechanical engineering expert with nearly four decades of experience in the automotive industry. Has significant…
PhD electrical engineer and data communications expert with three decades of professional industry and research experience in areas such as video encoding and…
Adjunct professor of computer science and independent consultant with decades of experience in the field of telecommunications and information security. Has…
Independent consultant to the wireless communications industry with more than 25 years of experience within the radio technologies and mobile…
Professor of telecommunications, industry consultant, and leading expert in the field of digital cellular mobile radio communications who has…
Consulting electrical engineer with more than thirty-five years of technology and business experience, including in the mobile communications…