Dan Meigs

Education

  • M.S., Electric Engineering, Kansas State University, Manhattan, 1988
  • B.S., Electrical Engineering, Kansas State University, Manhattan, 1985
  • Graduate, Department of Energy Sandia National Laboratory-based Risk Assessment Methodology – Water (RAM-WSM) Security Training Short Course, 2002

Professional Registration

  • 1993 / Electrical Engineer / New Mexico / 12151

Memberships

  • American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC)
  • American Water Works Association (AWWA)
  • American Society for Industrial Security (ASIS)
  • Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) Control Systems Society and Computer Society

Employment History

March 1996 - Present

Timberline Engineering, Inc.
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Principal Engineer

January 1991 – February 1996

Leedshill-Herkenhoff, Inc. (subsequently ASCG, Inc., and now WHPacific, Inc.)
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Control Systems Engineer

January 1987 – December 1990

Motorola Government Electronics Group
Scottsdale, Arizona
Electrical Engineer

Presentations and Publications

  • Presentation titled “SCADA in Paradise,” AWWA IMTech Conference, April 2001
  • White paper titled “SCADA System Integrator Selection Methodology,” June 1999
  • Paper titled “Spread-Spectrum Radio System for SCADA Telemetry,” April 1996

Other

  • Born, Hutchinson, Kansas
  • Resident, Albuquerque, New Mexico, Since 1991

General Overview

Dan has more than 23 years of broad practical experience in Electrical Engineering. He is a Principal Engineer with responsibility for system evaluation, analysis, and design as well as Vice-President of Technology, with overall responsibility for design, development, and operation of Timberline’s information systems. He has expertise in system engineering including needs assessment, requirements definition, alternative analysis, functional decomposition, system design description, quantitative and risk-based decision analysis, system specification, testing, and construction observation. Dan has applied this expertise to the design of Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems, telemetry and telecommunications systems, and security systems.

Technical Overview

As a Principal Engineer, Dan has been involved in all SCADA, telemetry, and communications projects at Timberline. Dan focused on computer system design in his master’s program before working for Motorola as a systems engineer on the product design team responsible for the Sectel 1500 secure telephone. In this assignment, Dan gained valuable experience in the design of systems involving embedded real time software. Dan has built on this systems engineering background as a consulting engineer designing SCADA systems for water utility applications, telemetry and telecommunications systems, and security systems.

Dan’s SCADA system experience has spanned the evolution of SCADA from closed, proprietary systems on VMS computers through open systems based on commercial off-the-shelf products such as PLCs and Windows-based software to wide area network-based information systems designed to support the information needs of an enterprise in addition to their basic control functions. Through these SCADA designs Dan has developed an understanding of radio telemetry issues, computer system design issues, and local and wide area networking.

Dan continues to develop expertise in computer and networking technologies. Having worked as a webmaster for the past 8 years, Dan has developed a deep understanding of the tools and techniques used with dynamic websites, much of which is applicable to displaying SCADA information on websites.

Project Listings

SCADA Projects

The following are examples of projects representing Dan’s technical experience in SCADA system design.

  • Buckman Direct Diversion Project, CDM, Santa Fe, NM: Conceptual Design and Construction Support Services as the Owner’s Consultant with responsibility for SCADA, fiber optics, and radio communications.
  • County of Kauai, Department of Public Works, Wastewater Management Division, Lihue, Kauai, HI: Island-Wide SCADA System, Study, Design and Construction Support Services.
  • County of Kauai, Department of Water, Lihue, Kauai, HI: SCADA System Study, Design and Construction Support Services.
  • City of Milpitas, Milpitas, CA: Phase I, II, and III Water/Wastewater/Stormwater Utility SCADA Study, Design and Construction Support Services
  • Sweetwater Authority, Chula Vista, CA: SCADA System Study and Phase 1 and 2 Design and Construction Support Services.
  • Public Service Company of New Mexico Water Services, Santa Fe, NM: SCADA and Telemetry System Study, Design and Construction Support Services.
  • Sacramento County Water Agency, Sacramento, CA: SCADA System Design and Construction Support Services.
  • Barrick Goldstrike Mines, Inc., Elko, NV: SCADA System Expansion Design and Construction Support Services.
  • University of California, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM: Water SCADA and Equipment Surveillance System Design and Construction Support Services.
  • Farmington Septage Receiving Facility, Farmington, NM: Database Programming in Support of Process Control System.
  • City of Modesto, Modesto, CA: Water SCADA/Telemetry System Design and Construction Support Services.
  • City of Pleasanton, CA: SCADA Strategic Planning Studies.
  • City of Hollister, CA: SCADA System Conceptual Design and Telemetry Study.

Communications Projects

The following are examples of projects representing Dan’s technical experience in communications system study, design, and construction support services.

  • City of San Francisco, Public Utilities Commission, Hetch Hetchy Water and Power, Tuolumne and Stanislaus Counties, CA: Hetch Hetchy Microwave Replacement Project.
  • Los Alamos County, Los Alamos NM: Utility Microwave Alternatives Study.
  • Los Alamos County, Los Alamos, NM: SCADA Radio Telemetry Study, Design, and Licensing Services.
  • Placer County Water Agency, Auburn, CA: SCADA Radio Telemetry Study, Design, and Construction Support Services.
  • Public Utilities Commission / Hetch Hetchy Water & Power, City & County of San Francisco, Moccasin, CA: SCADA/Telemetry System Study.
  • US Forest Service, San Juan National Forest: Fire Dispatch radio coverage analysis assessments (17 sites).
  • Ducks Unlimited, Inc., Rancho Cordova, CA: Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge Telemetry.
  • Mohave Community College, Kingman, AZ: Path Engineering for Microwave Video Network Upgrade.
  • City of Rio Rancho, NM: Lift Station Telemetry System Design & Construction Support Services.
  • Navajo Agricultural Products Industry, Farmington, NM: SCADA and Communication Support Services.

Other Experience

The following are examples of other technical experience illustrating the breadth of Dan’s background.

  • Buckman Direct Diversion Project Early Notification System. A task on the Buckman Direct Diversion Project that involved polling stream gaging stations, displaying the data on the SCADA system, using that data to activate river samplers, and acquiring video signals over the Internet to allow operators to verify the gaging station readings.
  • Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District spread spectrum MAS radio and SCADA system, a turnkey design-construct project which supported a 30-mile pipeline serving users along the Front Range between Loveland and Denver, CO, including the Carter Lake gates and flow control stations along the pipeline.
  • Albuquerque Metropolitan Arroyo Flood Control Authority radio-based remote monitoring system, including rain gauges and water level sensors at 21 flood-control dams.
  • Remote telemetry and control system for the Stockton (CA) East Water District’s Goodwin Tunnel project, including solar-powered flowmeter station at the tunnel outlet and remote control for the tunnel inlet gate controllers, and fiber optic cable-in-duct through the tunnel.
  • Seattle Water Tolt River Valley Flood Warning System, involving fiber optics, closed-circuit TV equipment, IR floodlights, and a replacement siren system to warn downstream residents.
  • Microwave video network design for Arizona Western College in Yuma, AZ, including requirements analysis, map studies, site surveys, path engineering, and specifying radio equipment, antennas, and towers, plus preparing FCC license applications.
  • Contra Costa Water District, Concord, CA radio replacement project including interference analyses to ensure reliable communications, with primary focus on propagation analysis, path design, and system engineering and insuring that the new digital equipment interfaces properly with the existing SCADA system and that cutover has minimal impact on water system operations.
  • Nextel Communications cellular radio project in Elk Grove, CA involving RF intermodulation analyses and coordination of multiple cellular and MAS users at a common tower site.
  • Digital microwave path survey reports and RF exposure studies in the 18 and 23 GHz bands for Bell Atlantic Mobile, a cellular radio service provider.
  • Secure telephone product development for Motorola Government Electronics Group. Primary responsibilities included embedded real-time software design, system specification and testing, and liaison with subsystem product team.
  • Prototype design of spread spectrum satellite radio for Motorola Government Electronics Group. Performed systems engineering and designed, constructed, and programmed the control subsystem for a direct-sequence spread spectrum radio receiver.