Hardware Design
Hardware Design for Railway and EIoT solutions
The schematic design of the Hardware device is a significant factor in commercial success. The selection of components and circuit solutions determines the cost and characteristics of the product. This impacts the product life cycle, and ultimately the market success.
PSA focuses not only on technical but also on marketing issues, and can provide a business analysis of a company’s needs. We have 25+ years of experience in developing analog and digital electronic circuits. PSA has designed devices based on microprocessors, FPGA, MCU, CPU from such manufactures as Intel, STMicroelectronics, Microchip, Texas Instruments, NXP, Silabs, Xilinx, and Altera. Major current Hardware design standards are used in the development process: ANSI, ISO, IEC, IPC.
Which Hardware development solutions suit your business?
Hardware Development Process
Requirements Analysis
- Idea or insight
- Input request
- Existing HW design
Architecture Design
- Architecture design
- Architecture specification
Hardware Design
- Schematic design/update
- PCB layout
- Assembling & prototyping
- Board bring-up
Firmware Development
- Firmware
- Board support
- Package (BSP) development
Quality Assurance
- Unit testing
- Functional testing
- UX / UI testing
- Documentation review
Mass-production Preparation
- BOM review & optimization
- Preparation & support
- User documentation
Process Stages Description
Requirements Analysis
We help the customer formulate their needs, and analyze both the functionality and characteristics of the prospective Hardware device. At this stage, we also prepare sketches of both the singular device and the whole Ecosystem, and check your existing specifications for relevance and integrity of the description.
Architecture Design
PSA has extensive experience in the architecture design of non-standard electronics, electronic devices, and programmable logic devices. Our team actively participates in the preliminary assessment of customer needs and market conditions to make sure that the developed solution meets the specific requirements for the target market.
We create a detailed architecture specification that describes all of the primary elements of the device. It serves as the basis for further development of both parts of the device: hardware (schematic and BOM) and firmware (architecture and algorithms).
This document also specifies requirements for printed circuit boards (PCB), component layout, and enclosure.
Hardware Design
The schematic design of the device is a key factor in commercial success. The selection of components and circuit solutions determines the cost and characteristics of the product. This impacts the product life cycle and ultimately the market success. Our specialists have experience in developing analog and digital electronic circuits. PSA's schematic areas: analog and precision measuring, digital design for discrete or FPGA/CPLD, ADC/DAC high-speed solutions, DSP and low-level data processing, MCU and Linux high-performance systems, extra low-power or battery powered solutions, motor drivers, RF and HF design, PCB Design.
Our company provides services in creating PCB layouts of multi-level complexity with different BGA components. PSA is designing multilayer printed circuit boards, with various types of PCB, analog, digital, high-frequency, single-sided and double-sided printed-circuit-boards using BGA components, controlling impedance. We can offer the following: 3D models construction, signal integrity analysis, connections optimization, setting trace parameters and layout rules, layer definition and trace routing.
According to project demands, our team can investigate and calculate characteristic and differential impedance by using specialized utilities. Development activities are performed in accordance with the IPC standards, adhering to design-for-test (DFT) and design-for-manufacture (DFM) requirements, signal integrity (SI) analysis, electromagnetic compatibility (EMC), and thermal conditions throughout the entire design cycle.
The most reliable method of evaluating a solution is to build a prototype of the device. We perform a full prototyping cycle - from the PCB manufacturing to the device enclosed using 3D printing and CNC processing. All of our prototypes are tested. You will get a fully-operating sample of the device without any issues. To prepare the device for firmware development or debugging, it is important to properly run and configure the HW components.
We can provide the following board bring-up process: power consumption checking, сlocks and sync matching, peripheral interfaces configure, initial configuration of peripheral device modules.
Firmware Development
Firmware provides both the device's operating algorithm and the consumer properties. We are experts in the area of embedded firmware solutions, which has proven itself to be a reliable and effective vendor in a broad range of industry domains. The professional engineering team has a solid and profound skillset in this area to ensure a successful project delivery. Our technical experts are highly proficient in working with a variety of architectures (ARM, ColdFire, PowerPC, etc.) as well as programming languages and frameworks (Embedded C/C++, Assembler, VDHL, Java, etc.).
PSA's embedded firmware solutions encompass: drivers and hardware abstraction layer development, board support package (BSP) development, communication/protocols stacks development, middleware development, BSP development.
BSP provides a way to access, configure and control the board hardware parts using an API supplied with the BSP. For microcontrollers (MCU), BSP is often developed for “bare metal” applications without a standard operating system. The BSP application may utilize interrupts and implement its own operating system.
We offer BSP development in the following areas: MCU, bare metal, ARM Linux boards, x86 Linux boards, Android HAL + Linux.
Quality Assurance
Performance tests allow you to identify flaws in the device before launching into mass production. This procedure prevents problems with customer complaints, excess maintenance costs and the possibility of product recalls. Our QA department has the most modern equipment and test plans for solving HW testing tasks.We can perform testing in the following areas: automatic and manual software/firmware/hardware testing, electrical and physical parameters testing, functional testing, battery lifetime testing, environmental testing, UX/UI testing
Mass-production Preparation
To optimize costs and simplify logistics, we perform a BOM and schematic review. This step reduces the risk of delayed deliveries due to the selection of scarce items or outdated components. As a result, you will get a reviewed BOM ready for manufacturing.
We provide services in preparation of the production program to expedite the launch of the developed product. During its implementation, we can provide technical and informational support, which reduces the risk of complications with production.
The User Specification descriptively outlines the system requirements from both the business and the user. Utilizing the user specification allows us to gather the necessary information to correct the most important elements and algorithms that will later become a strategic or market advantage for the device.
Delivery at any stage
Our consulting team consists of engineers, developers, and marketing specialists, and is pleased to assist you at any stage of the IoT development process. We have all the necessary resources to guarantee full-cycle implementation with major modern technology, from AI to VR.
