Jimmy Bernard

The CAM (Control Access Module) is quite unknown in France. Even peoples who are working in embedded Systems will not know what use it can be. Since Neotion’s main activity is to conceive CAMs, there is for me the occasion to teach a few things about them.

Function

The main function of a Module is to give access to Pay-TV channels. In France, everyone is used to have a Receiver provided by an Operator next to his TV. Control Access Modules are replacing such receivers and can directly be plugged in the TV (using its PCMCIA Slot). After that you just have to insert the Operator’s Smart Card in the Module in order to access to Operator’s Pay-TV Channels. You will also find kinds of Receivers who are embedding PCMCIA Slots. The idea would be to add in a basic DVB Receiver the possibility to access to Pay-TV Channels.

Deployment

While CAM is not very deployed in France, you can find many country around the world that are very familiar to use it. In some European Countries, Operators are massively proposing CAM to their customers. CAM market is also each year getting bigger with a higher number of CAM being sold.

Advantages

The use of a module offers several advantages:

• Ergonomic – The use of a module suppress of awful and bulky Receiver that stands next to your TV. This is also the occasion to spare a few wires.
• Economic – A Module is cheaper than a receiver
• Ecologic – A Module cost less electricity than a Receiver.
• Effective – If you use a CAM, you will no more need two remote controls – The TV remote will enable you to do everything!

Monday, October the 3rd of 2011, after seven hours in a Plane (and with a neighbor quite chatty), I am finally going to take a breath… out! This is weird… I feel wet… yet it is not raining? And I feel so hot… yet we are in the middle of the night? That’s it; I had just landed in Dubai in the Middle East.

I already had the occasion to travel a lot with Neotion, mainly in Europe but also twice in Russia. However this is the first time that Neotion gives me the chance to travel in this part of the world. I have never been in Dubai and I can’t wait to compare how exactly is this city to what we can hear through TV. My objective during that Business Trip was to check at a customer’s place that the deployment of a new CAM will not bring any problem on the field. First day at customer’s place, this is in the middle of Dubai’s STB Market that the meeting has been set. It is in the back shop of their showroom that I am welcome. The customer is eager to see the product and have a very high opinion about the Company. I will try to not disappoint him.

Everything finally went fine. Our product was working as it should and is ready to be deployed. I could then come back to France with good news and full of pictures.

This is Nine years later and with the woman that is sharing my life that I decided to come back to the United Stated. But this time, it will not be in the same line as an organized trip. The United States must be discovered at your own speed. During my first trip I was a bit frustrated to not visit all the places I expected to see. This time I drew the trip from A to Z! An objective was also to hike in each Park around 4 hours.
My first visit in 2002 still is very present in my memory. This is a real pleasure to come back in such wonderful places besides when it is in couple. This was a 25 days trip, enough to visit a lot of National Park. After a few days in San Francisco, we rented a car and drove to visit both Sequoia and Yosemite National Park (NP). This was not the easiest days of our trip since we slept a few days in Campground. This was also the occasion to meet wonderful peoples in the only Inn available for 70 Miles around.
Then, we took the direction of Lake Tahoe this time to sleep in a Hotel! After that we went through Bodie State Park (SP), Mono Lake and slept at Mammoth Lakes. The day after was the tougher one with the crossing of the Death Valley: 500 Miles, a dozen of places to visit with a fifteen minutes hike each time under 100°F. Nevertheless it was a real pleasure to end this day with our arrival in Las Vegas where a beautiful hotel was waiting for us (The Palms). Our room was offering a wonderful view on the Strip! After a quick visit in Casinos… we took the direction of Bryce Canyon NP (with an unforgettable hike), Capitol Reef SP, Arches NP, Canyon Lands NP, Monument Valley Tribal Park (TP)… Page and the Lake Powell, Horse Shoe Bend and the best place we had the occasion to visit in the whole trip: Antelope Canyon TP. To finish with Parks, we spent 2 days in the Grand Canyon NP where I even had the occasion to meet an old friend I hadn’t seen for several years! As if being in the Grand Canyon the same day was not enough, we both chose the same hike (among 10) and met while hiking down the Canyon. We finished our trip with 4 days in Los Angeles where we visited Universal Studios Park.
That’s it… another trip behind us… even if this is kind of sad, when looking at all the pictures we took, we feel very lucky for the chance we had to visit such wonderful places. If you still think that United States are only what we can see through American TV Shows, please just take 5 minutes to look for some pictures of places I mentioned above. I am sure you will be surprised!

My first real personal travel since I entered Neotion! A dream for so many people but more kind of a curiosity for me, I decided to spend 2 weeks in Egypt to discover the beauties of Ancient Egypt. The only snag: Egypt is one the few countries that you have to visit with an organized travel. This is definitely not advised for European peoples to wander in the streets of the Cairo… This is not the way I prefer to visit a country but anyway… This is Egypt then I made an exception!
During the ten first days, we sailed on the Nil from Luxor with not less than the visit of two beautiful sites per days. Valley of the Kings, Temples of Louxor, Karnak and Philae and my favorite spot during the whole travel: Abu Simbel Temples (for which one of my pictures is below). After that I spent 4 days in the Cairo in a high standing hotel. During that time, we had the chance to visit Giza where we can find the Sphinx and the 3 famous Pyramids (among which Khufu’s Pyramid – the last wonder of the ancient world that still can be seen).
This is clear to me that Egypt is a country that anyone should try to visit once in his life! If you did not go there yet… then go for it!

                For two months now, my life has completely changed! I moved in Aubagne in the Bouches-Du-Rhône (near Marseille) for a three months mission. The company that gave me that opportunity is Neotion. This company develops PCMCIA Modules tailored to decrypt Pay-TV Channels. The Digital Television is according to me a very attractive sector.

                This is simply the particular job I always dreamt : Support & Application Engineer. Being in contact with World’s Major TV Makers and move across the world to meet them. This is the occasion to meet many people with both so different cultures & way of life. This job also requests to have a large set of technical skills in order to be able to debug anything about the Module we are manufacturing.

                For the company, the challenge was the following : hire a engineer that would quickly be able support Neotion’s Key Products. With no experience in this sector but with real motivation to learn&progress, I accepted and succeeded since Neotion is now proposing me to continue the adventure with an open-ended contract.

Quite a paradox, while we are in a middle of a world where things are every days more and more linked to Embedded Systems, that an Engineer Passionnate and Specialized in this very same sector, can meet difficulties to find a job.

Certainly that without the crisis, so much things could have been different. Anyway, if you are CEO of a company, working in human resources or being a manager, that you need a Specialized and Skilled Rngineer in the following domains:

• ARM, C, assembly
  
• M2M
  
• Video Streaming, H.264
  
• …

                Then Contact me !

After all, what would be the risk for your company to offer me a job next to you. All the more that it will not be disappointed!

This is why I invite you to know more about me by reading this blog before we start a new adventure together.

Friday, the 12th of September 2008, this is the end of my Internship in Texas Instruments. This is the occasion for me come back on this very rich experience. I will keep a very positive impression as well on the technical part as for the professional one.

First, working with the OMAP STAR TEAM allowed me to meet very special people from both technical and human perspective. Technically speaking, this Internship allowed me to go deeper in the H.264 Specification. It was the occasion to work and think about very complex algorithms that could be implemented with an ARM processor.

Unfortunately, the current context has not allowed the company to offer me an open-ended contract.

Today IS the big day! Since the beginning of the summer, twice a month, we are doing a one day hike in the French’s Mercantour National Park. The one after the others, we chose to hike longer and more difficult trails. All this to come to this very particular hike, well known as being one the beautiful in this Park. A few numbers: 4h on the road (for the round trip), 10h of hiking, 1300m of positive change in altitude, highest spot at 2550m : all this in one day! This Valley is well known for his inaccessibility and for holding the largest quantity (40.000) of open-air Bronze Age Rock Engravings in Europe.
This hike was also the occasion to remember us how much mountain can be a dangerous place! While we were hiking under a bright shining sun, some clouds shown themselves up to let place to a storm with an icy cold. To be honest, we were not so much prepared to meet that kind of weather…
Anyway, despite this misadventure, we were dazzled thanks to the rocks engravings and also to the wonderful beautiful mountains sightseeing.

This is today that the Adventure of the Polyquest Project comes to an end. The semi-final jury decided that our project was far too advanced compared to the number of Smart Phone currently deployed on the field.
It was anyway a very interesting experience. By convoking us once a month for a whole Saturday, the Challenge Jeunes Pousses allowed us to learn in a very different way compared to our Engineering School. Thanks to the all the consultants, we gained a lot of experience in many domains like the intellectual property. All this knowledge would be essential for anyone who would want to start his own company from an original idea.