Services

From circuit design through to compliance testing and assisting with production ramp-up and partner interactions in China, we cover a wide spectrum of support functions. Flexibility and a broad background hopefully add an element of dynamism to the process of completing your project.

Design

Hardware:
  • Circuit Design
  • Digital
  • Analogue
  • RF
  • Embedded systems
  • FPGA-based design
  • Schematic capture / PCB Layout, building & testing
  • EMI/EMC compliance – design and testing
  • Production engineering, including production jig design

Examples

Software:
  • C, C++
  • Assembler
  • Basic
  • Java
  • Ruby
  • Perl

Industry-standard packages

We have experience in using a wide variety of software tools, including:

  • Schematic/Layout: Protel, PADS, Zuken
  • FPGA circuits: Xilinx, Actel, Aldec
  • Embedded: Microchip
  • Labview
 


EMC Pre-Compliance


Our experience in EMC/EMI-related design covers the full spectrum of issues across a project’s life-cycle.

This includes:

  • Designing in EMC compliance from the initial schematic, taking into account real-world impact of component selection and circuit problem-areas (eg. oscillators, high-speed digital circuits, antennas)
  • Careful attention to PCB layout issues (inter-trace coupling, impedance matching, embedded traces, Ground Plane topologies, etc)
  • Integration of specific EMC countermeasures (shielding, oscillator dithering, duty-cycling interfer-generating circuitry, etc)
  • Trouble-shooting interferer sources (near-field probing, etc)
  • Testing at EMC test houses, including hiring of test sites to do our own testing (eg. OATS / anechoic chambers)
  • In-depth standards knowledge
 


Schematic Capture / PCB Layout


We have years of experience in PCB design and manufacture and have worked on a variety of platforms, including Protel (from way back when it first became available in its glorious, buggy form in the early ’90s to the current Altium), Orcad, PADS, Zuken (highly configurable and as a result often confusing to the uninitiated…).

We have personally designed everything from single-sided, no-flash demo boards to multi-layer boards containing digital and analogue sub-systems with impedance-constrained high-speed digital interfaces operating at over 1 GHz.

We have in-depth knowledge of the issues surrounding EMC compatibility, RF circuits (to microwave frequencies), parasitic coupling and other exotic electronic phenomena.

Our RF skills include basic PCB antenna design (ranging from mono-poles, dipoles and loops to productionised circularly-polarized offset-tapped patch antennas) and RF transmitter/receiver layout and design, as well as microwave design of things such as 1/4-wave matching elements, splitters and switches.

I must stress that RF SYSTEM design is not what we see as our speciality, be we are connected with people with more experience in this area.

 


Production Engineering


We are able to support any design through to production. This includes:
Designing with production in mind:

  • minimising production spread in key technical characteristics (analogue, digital and software-related)
  • in-depth BOM analysis, focusing on component sourcing issues, obsolescence, lead-times, etc

On-site production support:

  • Debugging production issues in often stressful environments
  • Years of Far East experience
  • Chinese language spoken
 


Validation


A fair bit of work in the recent past has revolved around system validation. Much of this has been related to DTV (specifically DVB-T2, with DVB-T / C and ISDB-T to a lesser degree) and DAB (digital radio).

These systems involve a complex mix of technologies, realising complicated transmission standards. Proper testing of such systems can easily become a nightmare.

The services we provide in this area are:

  • In-depth understanding of the standards, their implimentation, limitations and evolution.
  • Working with the client to ensure testing covers all necessary system elements.
  • Provision of ATE expertise to ensure test reliability, repeatability and completeness, as well as saving time.

 


On-Site Support


Much of our work has come from provision of on-site engineering resources, and in fact this is the way the company started.

There are several advantages to hiring in Engineers and Technicians, rather than employing permanent staff.

  • Lack of overhead: No pension contributions, employee benefits, PAYE / NI paperwork, HR issues – all replaced by a single contract (we can provide templates) and milestone invoices.
  • Flexibility: The resource is available immediately and termination terms are clear and negotiable from 1 day to several months (contract-dependent).
  • Skills: You obtain people who have been exposed to a wide variety of disciplines and have worked at the cutting-edge. Although we are a small concern we have years of experience working for a multitude of different companies. We also have access to a wide range of partners, effectively broadening our skill-set.
  • Focus: One potential problem with anything ‘permanent’ is that people can lose focus in the long run. This is human nature. Employing people for shorter terms ensures heightened focus levels.

Our emphasis in this area is in providing a reliable resource which more than satisfies your requirements. Our aim is to do so with the greatest simplicity possible.

For our own sake, we want happy, returning, clients with whom we can build a mutually-beneficial long-term relationship.