EmbeddedEra EmbeddedEra
Services

Services

PCB design and layout, schematic design, bill of materials, membrane switch overlay, and enclosures and fixtures; firmware and the software around it — apps, web tools, and dashboards; small-batch SMT assembly and automated test fixtures; obsolete-part redesign and reverse engineering of legacy boards — engineering services from one shop, built with lead-free, RoHS-compliant assembly and verified on our own test station before anything ships.

Macro of a printed circuit board showing copper traces and plated vias.
Service family

Design

Printed Circuit Board Design and Layout

Schematic capture through a routed, manufacturable board — stack-up, impedance-controlled traces where the signal needs it, and a layout reviewed against the parts it actually places, not a generic template.

Laid out in KiCad. 2–6 layer boards, impedance-controlled where the signal needs it.

Populated printed circuit board, close up.
Typical deliverables

Schematic (PDF + source)·Routed board files (KiCad)·Gerbers, drill, and pick-and-place files·Fabrication drawing and stack-up notes

Schematic Design

A clean, reviewable schematic as the design record — the thing an engineer can read a year later and trust, not just a step on the way to a layout.

Delivered as PDF plus KiCad source, so it stays readable with or without the tool that made it.

KiCad schematic of a PIC18 microcontroller with LED driver stages.
Typical deliverables

Schematic (PDF + source)·Net and connector list·Design notes on any non-obvious part choice

Bill of Materials

A bill of materials built from parts that are actually sourceable, checked against the assembly process before the board is ordered — footprint, orientation, and panelization reviewed as manufacturing decisions, not fixed after the fact.

Sourcing and alternates called out per line, with a DFM review before anything is ordered.

Example bill of materials spreadsheet listing part numbers, quantities and reference designators.
Typical deliverables

BOM with sourcing notes and alternates·DFM review notes·Panelization file where applicable

Membrane Switch Overlay

Overlay and tactile-switch integration for panel-mount products — graphics, dome placement, and connector routing worked out against the enclosure and the board underneath it, not designed in isolation.

Overlay artwork and tactile-switch integration worked out together, against the enclosure it mounts to.

Membrane switch overlay layers lifted from a panel, showing the printed contact pattern.
Typical deliverables

Overlay artwork/print file·Tail and connector spec·Fit check against the enclosure

Enclosures, Fixtures and Mechanical Parts

Enclosure and fixture prototypes made in house: laser-cut panels, overlays and fixture plates, and multi-material 3D-printed enclosures, brackets and jigs. Everything is designed in CAD against the board and its connectors, not guessed from a drawing. Fit — cutouts, standoffs, connector openings — is checked on a real part before any tooling is cut.

In-house laser cutting and multi-material 3D printing; CAD (FreeCAD) enclosure and fixture design; front panels and membrane overlay carriers; test-fixture mechanics; small production runs of printed parts.

Typical deliverables

CAD source and STEP·Cut/print files·Fitted prototype parts·Drawings for a moulder or machine shop when volume needs it

Service family

Firmware

Firmware Programming

Firmware written in C, bare-metal or RTOS, against the part's datasheet and errata — not a generated HAL default. We're comfortable working across vendors rather than tied to one, so the right chip drives the design instead of the other way around. On top of that we build the connectivity a product needs: BLE, Wi-Fi, Ethernet, CAN, USB, RS-485, and the wireless links behind a remote control or a radio-linked sensor.

STM32, ESP32, Nordic nRF52, Microchip PIC/AVR/SAM, TI MSP430/CC, Arduino-compatible. BLE, Wi‑Fi, Ethernet, CAN, USB, RS-485, sub-GHz/2.4 GHz radio.

Microcontroller board on the bench during firmware work.
Typical deliverables

Firmware source and build instructions·Register-level notes on non-obvious configuration·A version-pinned release build·Protocol/interface notes

Service family

Software

Apps and Software for Hardware Products

The software a hardware product needs around it, not just the firmware inside it: mobile companion apps for iOS and Android — BLE pairing, configuration, firmware updates — and web apps or browser-based device tools such as Web Serial and WebUSB flashers and configurators that need no installer. On the bench, that's desktop utilities for macOS, Linux and Windows, and the test-station and production software behind our own line. For connected products, it extends to cloud dashboards and device connectivity.

Web apps and browser-based device tools (Web Serial, WebUSB); iOS and Android companion apps (BLE); desktop tools for macOS, Linux and Windows; Python and C tooling; device dashboards and data logging.

Typical deliverables

Source and build instructions·A signed/installable build where applicable·API and protocol documentation·A maintenance hand-off

Service family

Build and test

Small-Batch SMT Assembly

Automated surface-mount assembly on our own line, built for start-ups, R&D labs, and pilot runs — from one proof-of-concept board to several hundred units. Parts are placed by machine with dual-camera vision alignment, not by hand, and reflowed lead-free (RoHS). Every board comes off the line and goes straight through the automated test station before it ships. Prototypes as fast as four weeks from files to assembled, tested boards, depending on parts availability.

Down to 0402 · QFN and BGA to 18 × 18 mm

Boards to 8.0 × 10.5 in (200 × 260 mm)

52 reels loaded per run — dense, component-heavy boards in one pass

Dual-camera optical alignment, ±0.02 mm

Lead-free (RoHS) paste and reflow profile

One board to several hundred units

A pick-and-place machine mid-placement over a panel of circuit boards, component feeders racked along both sides.
Typical deliverables

Assembled, inspected and tested boards·Per-unit test log·Panel and stencil files·DFM note on anything that fought the process

The precision of a production line, at the pace of a design studio.

Automated Test Fixtures and 100% Production Testing

Custom test fixtures — pogo-pin or bed-of-nails, with swappable fixture boards — for PCBs and membrane switch overlays, plus the station software that runs the whole test with no operator judgment: power-up and current limits, sleep current for battery products, every indicator read by camera, every overlay key pressed and read. Each unit is serialized and its results logged, so there's a per-serial quality record for returns and audits. We build this for a client's own production floor, or run it here on boards we assemble.

Fixture mechanics designed and built in house (laser-cut and 3D-printed); test firmware and station software; optical verification of LEDs and displays; membrane overlay key-scan testing; serialization and CSV/JSON logs; pass/fail with limits, no manual steps.

Typical deliverables

Fixture hardware and its design files·Test firmware and station software·A written test spec with limits·Per-serial logs and a report format

Service family

Redesign

Obsolete Parts and Board Redesign

When a part goes end-of-life or NRND — or a shortage hits — we find and qualify an alternative. If the footprint changed, we respin the layout around it, porting the firmware to a new microcontroller or framework when no drop-in replacement exists. Then we rebuild and test the board so the product keeps shipping.

Alternates sourced and cross-referenced; footprint and layout respin in KiCad; firmware ported across vendors — STM32 to Nordic, Microchip to TI, and others — or to a new SDK/RTOS; last-time-buy planning.

Typical deliverables

Alternate-part report with risk notes·Updated schematic, layout and BOM·Ported firmware release·Tested prototypes

How an obsolete-part redesign works

Reverse Engineering and Legacy Boards

When the documentation is gone — no schematic, no source, and the original designer unreachable — we recover the schematic from the board itself, capture and document its interfaces and protocols, and analyze the firmware where the device allows it. What comes out is a maintainable design record, the same as if the board had been designed here. From there it can be re-manufactured as-is, repaired, or redesigned around parts that are still in production.

Schematic recovery from PCB; interface and protocol capture (UART, SPI, I²C, CAN, USB, RF); firmware extraction and analysis where the device allows; redraw in KiCad; path to the obsolete-part redesign service.

Typical deliverables

Recovered schematic and BOM·Interface/protocol notes·A risk list of parts near end-of-life·A redesign proposal

For products you own or are licensed to maintain.