When space is at a premium, such as on flypacks, in ENG trucks, or helicopter cockpits, touch screen controls take up too much of the operator’s focus. So when Ensemble Designs was looking for an ultra-simple method of controlling their ultra-compact BrightEye NXT routers, they turned to DNF Controls.

“We like to let your fingers do the working,” began Dan Fogel, CTO of DNF Controls during a one-on-one interview with The Broadcast Bridge, “and we are moving into a production world that is IP-based.

That’s why we designed our IP Control Buddy to readily command any Ethernet, RS422 or RS232-enabled device from a button press, GPI trigger, relay closure or Web page button.”

It’s a very simple design approach: just four buttons that can be allocated to any function that is needed.

Configuration is simple, using a programmer-free, browser-based setup with simple drop down menus and fill-in text boxes.

“We’re not the first one to say it, but ‘Keep it Simple, Stupid’ is a pretty good design philosophy,” Fogel said. “Under production pressure, there is nothing like a button to give you operational confidence.”