Electronics Design Services - Hardware Design

You are safe to focus on your business. We take care of everything else in the design and development process.

Designing electronic devices on behalf of third parties, both large and medium-sized, has been one of our core activities for a long time. For over 30 years, we have supported our customers in design and development through the design and manufacture of electronic products. Thousands of big data devices include an electronic product design and PCB layout created by our industrial designers.

And as always, we are here for you – a group of designers and printed circuit board assembly (PCBA) engineers who can take care of your electronic product design and development. We provide you with expert services in the entire process of designing different types of PCBs: analogue and digital, single- and multilayer. With all of our knowledge and experience, we apply our craftsmanship to bring your product idea to life.

Familiarise yourself with the scope of our electronic product design and development

Every electronic product consists of three elements: mechanics, hardware design, and embedded software, which is responsible for communication with other systems. Combining these three elements into one smoothly running electronic device is a significant challenge requiring vast knowledge and broad experience.

Mechanics
Design

Hardware
Design

Embedded
Software Design

Simulations

Mechanics Design

When we design electronic products that end-users will use, we have to meet a range of needs spanning the entire design process to prepare electronic prototypes for manufacturing. In such cases, the mechanics’ design must consider functional expectations and the general aesthetics of the product.

VECTOR BLUE HUB specialises in designing elements with different metals and plastics chosen based on project assumptions and the customer’s requirements. With a rich ecosystem of local vendors and manufacturers of mechanical components and our own CNC centre, we can quickly verify mechanical projects by preparing electronic prototypes. We understand that prototyping can be expensive, so in certain cases we suggest performing simulations instead. This can be a thermal simulation, EMC radiation or 3D modelling.

Mechanics Design Capabilities:

Chassis and enclosure design
Plastic technologies (i.e. Injection moulding, Thermoforming)
Metal technologies (i.e. Extrusion, die casting, punching & bending, laser cutting)
CNC milling (In-house machines for quick-turn prototyping)
Hardened design (IPXX)
Modelling: Mechanical 3D modelling, Thermal modelling

Hardware Design

For electronic devices, which industrialization can be complex, having an experienced engineer is a must. By outsourcing hardware design services to VECTOR BLUE HUB, we guarantee our professionals will properly supervise the whole hardware design process of bringing your idea to life in order to eliminate the risk of creating a non-compliant product. Our attention to the quality of developed products is an objective in relation to the management system operating in this field, but above all, it guarantees meeting your expectations.

VECTOR BLUE HUB engineers have vast experience in designing electronic equipment with a high degree of tightness (high IP). These enclosures are highly resilient to extreme weather conditions: high and low temperatures, high humidity, and excessive sunlight exposure. We also have experience in designing professional telecoms equipment dedicated for use in server rooms and headend stations, which require solutions that provide proper heat dissipation.

Our hardware design services, available individually or in packages to meet your specific requirements, include:

quick and professional hardware development and testing of prototypes
computer rendering, state-of-the-art CAD designs and modelling,
Design for Manufacturing analysis of printed circuit board,
PCB layout and other R&D services
BOM (Bill of Materials) analysis with the cost and risk optimisation,
component and technology selection.

Embedded Software Design

Our main field of expertise is the design of complex embedded software systems – the same software that integrates hardware and user interfaces with advanced management software based on connectivity and proximity technologies. Our offer covers the whole cycle of embedded system development – from a solution concept, project and development plan to deployment and integration with existing systems.

Firmware development services are dedicated to businesses that want to improve or maximise the potential of their products, manage equipment remotely, collect and aggregate data from dispersed sources such as detectors, sensors or meters, and integrate devices with IoT systems. At VECTOR BLUE HUB, we provide products with embedded proximity solutions based on iBeacon, NFC, and RFID technologies.

No matter what your vision of a smart hardware device is, we can design the best-embedded solution for you that will ensure the connectivity of your product.

Simulations

There is no serious design without prototyping and simulations. VECTOR BLUE HUB has its own laboratory facilities, which significantly improves efficiency and quality of a development process. It’s a restricted-access space with ESD protected and mechanical prototyping areas, where 30 engineers can carry-out specific tests in stable environment conditions.

Our measurement capabilities include:

functional validation of single modules, prototypes, and the whole device (including firmware features)
environmental stress simulation (temperature, humidity, etc.)
analog electronics (including power supplies), RF and fiber optics circuits
reliability tests (MTBF calculation, component derating, environmental stress, HALT tests, aging tests)
EMC pre-compliance testing – conducted emission, ESD, surge, burst immunity etc.

Electrical safety pre-compliance testing

In order to conduct reliable tests, VECTOR BLUE HUB possesses various measurement equipment:

Various types of spectrum and signal analyzers/generators
Vector network analyzers Fiber-optic test equipment
Optical spectrum analyzers
Three environmental chambers (-700C - +1000C , up to 99% of humidity)
Electrical safety testers (hi-pot, leakage current, ground bond etc.)
EMC testers ( conducted emission, ESD, surge, burst immunity etc.)

Design for Excellence (DfX)

In the design process, we follow Design for Excellence (DFX) procedures that focus on a coherent approach to work. ‘X’ in this abbreviation stands for being oriented towards specific product features. Our electronic design process is oriented towards:

Design for Manufacturing/Assembly (DFM & DFMA),
Design for Cost and Design to Cost (DTC),
Design for Testing/Testability (DFT),
Design for Maintainability (DFM),
Design for Robustness (DFR),
Design for Supply Chain (DFSC),
Design for Safety (DFS).

As part of following the Design for X approach in the product development process, we strive for excellence from the very beginning, long before the manufacturing process begins. This is why Design for X is so essential – because we can address issues at an early stage, especially for NPI and mass manufacturing.

The design team maintains close contact with the technologists in charge of Design for Manufacturing and Assembly analysis. On the other side, engineers communicate with the Procurement Department to continually analyse and evaluate a product’s life cycle cost. Thanks to cooperation with a wide range of components vendors, we have access to the large equipment base necessary for electronic prototype design.

Success stories – electronic devices that delighted our customers

Here’s tangible proof of leveraging the Design for Excellence approach in practice. See for yourself some fine electronic products we’ve brought to life in various industries, such as telecommunication, industrial IoT, and smart metering.