Theatre

Developing Low Cost Embedded Products as a Small Team

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27:45

EOC 2021

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Sai Yamanoor

Sai Yamanoor is an IoT Applications Engineer at Linde, an industrial gases company in Buffalo, NY. He is a co-author of two books on the use of Raspberry Pi to execute DIY projects, and he has also presented a Personal Health Dashboard system at Maker Faires across the country. Sai is also currently working on machine learning projects aimed at improving Quality of Life (QoL) for people with chronic health conditions. A portfolio of his projects is available at http://saiyamanoor.com/

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Hardware IoT Tools

Theatre

Developing Low Cost Embedded Products as a Small Team

Sai Yamanoor

27:45 EOC 2021

Sai Yamanoor

27:45

With the advent of open hardware prototyping platforms, it is easy to build a prototype but prove a concept. It is something else to build a product that meets a certain target cost. There are several factors to consider including assembly costs, power options, battery life, device provisioning, product lifecycle management etc. Problems in hardware development tend to surface either during the later phases of development or during pilot manufacturing of the product.

As a member of a three person team, we have developed three low cost products and encountered different challenges. I would like to share some lessons learned. They include:

Navigating supply chain constraints during the pandemic
Estimating bottlenecks in components costs
Utilizing rapid prototyping tools to effectively iterate hardware design
Criteria to consider while selecting embedded hardware platforms
Product lifecycle management including planning for hardware obsolescence & parts approaching end-of-life
Planning time investment in projects when it comes to smaller teams

1 / 3

Please log in or create an account to test your knowledge and see the answers.

Why does Sai recommend investing in a power profiler (for example a Joulescope) when developing low-cost, low-power devices?

A To certify batteries for safety and regulatory compliance before deployment.

B To detect design or code problems and accurately measure power use so battery life targets can be met before large-scale deployment.

C To replace the need for a pilot deployment since power profiling alone guarantees field reliability.

D To eliminate the need for selecting off-the-shelf enclosures by optimizing PCB size based on power traces.

E To negotiate lower component prices by proving lower power consumption to suppliers.

When selecting a contract manufacturer for a pilot build, what approach does Sai recommend?

A Select the cheapest international manufacturer you can find to minimize pilot costs, regardless of their pilot experience.

B Always reuse the vendor from your last project to avoid re-evaluating suppliers.

C Find a local vendor that suits your needs, verify they can support your projected volumes, and confirm the relationship before final production.

D Only select vendors that are optimized for very large-volume manufacturing even for small pilot runs.

E Avoid vendor shopping — pick the first manufacturer that responds to speed up the timeline.

What crucial step does Sai recommend regarding components during the pandemic and when planning for product lifecycle?

A Ignore supplier lead times for prototypes because only production builds need long-lead components.

B Select the cheapest component available even if it currently has a 52-week lead time, and hope manufacturing schedules shift.

C Identify components that have drop-in replacements and plan for hardware obsolescence and long lead times up front.

D Rely solely on semiconductor reference designs to choose parts and assume the manufacturer will supply replacements if needed.

E Delay all component purchases until production to avoid managing inventory and obsolescence.

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Upvotes Newest Oldest

Ben

Score: 0 | 5 years ago | 1 reply

Hi Sai,

In the Q&A you discussed low cost development, but what about when it comes to things like certification and EMC testing? How can you perform these on a budget in order to take your product to market?

Thanks!

SaiSpeaker

Score: 0 | 5 years ago | no reply

Hi Ben - Because of the nature of my projects, I typically go for FCC-certified products in my design. I just have to do conformity testing on my design. I can get away with paying for the conformity testing with the development budget.

Gilles

Score: 0 | 5 years ago | no reply

Enjoyed your presentation. Thank-you.

Mcrouch

Score: 0 | 5 years ago | 1 reply

Nice presentation! The topics discussed certainly cover the range of criteria required. It?s pretty clear that you?ve had quite a bit of discussions around supply chain, which normally seems to get missed!

SaiSpeaker

Score: 0 | 5 years ago | no reply

Thanks

Javi

Score: 0 | 5 years ago | 1 reply

Hi Sai,
great talk! Regarding the enclosures, could you share some of the resources/manufactures you use? I use 3D printed enclosures for my personal projects and I normally need more than one (two.. three!) iteration to achieve perfect match between PCB and enclosure. I liked what you said about your enclosures manufacturer, that provides the PCB shape that you have to use in your design so the PCB fits nicely. That would safe me tons of time of 3D design!!
Thanks!

SaiSpeaker

Score: 0 | 5 years ago | no reply

Hi Javi - I use polycase.

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