Blog entries tagged Trimble

Engineering Overview of the Trimble Nomad, Part 2

Charles Bonville — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 05:00:00 +0100

Rob Nicol and Chris Peskin provide an engineering overview of the Nomad product development. Rob Nicol discusses the challenge of making a rugged, sealed device which still offers the user the option of customizing the hardware configuration. Rob also shows youthe internals of the Trimble Nomad, including patent-pending over-molded seals. Chris discusses broad application compatibility due to implementation of Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.0 operating system. Microsoft provides development tools thRead More...

Engineering Overview of the Trimble Nomad, Part 1

Charles Bonville — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 05:00:00 +0100

Rob Nicol and Chris Peskin provide an engineering overview of the Nomad product development. Rob Nicol's team is responsible for the mechanical and electrical engineering. Chris Peskin's team is responsible for implementing the firmware and theimplementation of Microsoft's Windows Mobile operating system. Also discussed are the depth of Quality Assurance testing, both from the perspective of rugged durability testing and the testing of the user interface and software.

Interesting Rugged Mobile Computer Article...

Guest — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 05:00:00 +0100

If you're new to rugged computing and are hungry for a comprehensive-yet-understandable overview of what "rugged" means, I'd recommend that you read this article by Group Mobile Rugged Computers. They cover everything from non-rugged laptops all the way through rugged standards and IP ratings, wrapping up with the concept of price vs cost.

One note: you'll see that the definition of "fully rugged" can vary, e.g., they consider IP54 (standing up to a heavy spray) to be a "fully ruggedRead More...

Contribute to our forum for a chance to win

Charles Bonville — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 05:00:00 +0100

At Trimble Mobile Computing Solutions we value you, our customers and business partners. We’re always looking for ways to enhance your experience with our products. One way we’re doing that is through the Outdoor Rugged Forum. If you have a question, we want to hear from you. If you have something to discuss with other Trimble users, we want to hear from you. If you’re looking for a solution, we want to hear from you.

Right now there’s an even greater reason to pRead More...

The rugged way of life

Guest — Mon, 31 May 2010 05:00:00 +0100

Humphrey Bogart and some of those guys from Hollywood's good old days may have had rugged good looks, but other than that, not much was rugged back then. Cars certainly weren't, and a couple decades later, computers definitely weren't. In the early days of Pen Computing Magazine, which we launched in 1993, we often saw "rugged" machines that looked tough but were little more than science projects inside. Maybe the manufacturers thought we wouldn't take them apart. We did. And what we saw often wRead More...

Saving Time With the Yuma During Penguin Research

Charles Bonville — Wed, 26 May 2010 05:00:00 +0100

I'm happy to share another follow up to the research on Magellenic penguins in Punta Tombo, Argentina. The Summer of 2009 - 2010 (remember, we're talking about the Southern Hemisphere) was the first time researchers used a Yuma to collect data, instead of pen and paper. After talking with researcher Olivia Kane, I learned more about why the Yuma was such a welcome tool. Olivia says the Yuma made data gathering easier and data processing was much quicker.

Olivia explains the typical reRead More...

Yuma Simplifies Work for Penguin Researchers

Charles Bonville — Wed, 19 May 2010 05:00:00 +0100

In a couple of earlier blogs, I talked about penguin researchers in Punta Tombo, Argentina. They've tracked and researched the Magellenic penguin for years, and they've been doing it using pen and paper - and a lot of notebooks. In the Summer of 2009 - 2010, they tested a Trimble Yuma. I checked in with Olivia Kane, a researcher from the University of Washington, to see what she thought of working with the Yuma and in a nutshell, she loved it!

To understand how much Olivia likes theRead More...

Best Handheld EVER!

Charles Bonville — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 05:00:00 +0100

The following is a customer testimonial that was posted on our prior Outdoor Rugged Community web site.

Data collection has taken on new importance in the past few months here in the agriculture industry. High fertilizer prices and fuel prices force us to maximize our management efforts like never before. The Recon has become one of the key components of that intensive management planning. Coupled with the Trimble AgGPS 132 receiver we collect soil samples andRead More...

High Praise for Yuma

Charles Bonville — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 21:56:40 +0100

I am writing to let you know how satisfied we are with our Trimble Yumas. We bought 4 with 3 of them currently in the field collecting data on electric utility assets for a fiber optic project. We are using the Yumas with a custom ESRI ArcPad application that I developed. I set up ArcPad so that the users in the field can attach voice tags and up to two photographs per feature. I was able to create a work around so that the user can start the Yuma's internal camera fRead More...

Yuma performs well for Penguin research

Charles Bonville — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 05:00:00 +0100

I mentioned in an earlier blog that researchers of the Magellanic penguin in Punta Tombo, Argentina were using a Yuma to collect data. Now that field work is complete, they're now working on data analysis.

This season was a test of electronic data entry in the field. Clay Gravelle a Database Specialist with the University of Washington, put togetheRead More...

A picture is worth a thousand words and the ruggedness of the Trimble Nomad is priceless

Victoria Gagnon — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 05:00:00 +0100

Take a good look at the Nomad in the picture. It’s obviously had better days. When I heard what happened to this poor guy and that the data contained within was still intact, I knew I had to share his tale.

Here’s the story; this Nomad was left on top of a truck as its owner sped down the highway. At some point the Nomad went flying onto the highway. Perhaps it surviveRead More...

Penguins, Patagonia and Yuma – a good match

Charles Bonville — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 16:48:27 +0100

"Trimble has rugged, portable computers that would be ideal for working on data collection in harsh field conditions, with dust, wind, rain, heat, grit, poop and blood – namely, on penguins. For 27 years we have studied Magellanic penguins at Punta Tombo, Argentina home which hosts the world's largest colony of this species. Our interests are in the conservation of the 200,000 breeding penguins, which last year attracted over 100,000 tourists . . ."

So Read More...

Video review of TDS Nomad 800L

Charles Bonville — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 03:38:25 +0100

TDS' rugged PDA, tested to destruction.

Yuma Tablet Now Runs Windows 7

Rob Davis — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 00:59:01 +0100

The power and dependability of Windows 7, combined with the Yuma rugged tablet, means field workers can take their office to the field. With Windows 7, the Yuma offers faster sleep and resume capabilities, proven data privacy and security, and enhanced networking capabilities.

The versatile Yuma, a fully functional rugged computer with connectivity, brings full office capabilities to the field. It is used

in construction, survey, public safety, forestry, scientiRead More...

The other white meat: A huge potential for rugged handhelds

Guest — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 03:38:38 +0100

So what’s a company that makes rugged handheld computers doing at a trade show like the Iowa Pork Congress? Well, it turns out that pig farmers are pretty computer savvy—and the inventory tracking and animal management they need to do are ideal applications for rugged handhelds.

A typical commercial pig farm could have tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of animals, and farmers not only need to keep track of them all, but they also need to manage medication and feedinRead More...

New Identity: Trimble Mobile Computing Solutions

Charles Bonville — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 05:00:00 +0100

Trimble’s Mobile Computing Solutions Division offers a family of innovative and ultra rugged products that enable mobile workers to be more efficient in extreme outdoor and industrial environments. TRead More...