Prototyping and testing
Constructing rigs and prototypes to varying levels of fidelity at appropriate points in the development cycle reduces risk.
Testing on these rigs and prototypes allows us to evaluate technology or provides evidence of the design’s performance before further time and financial investment are committed to the project.
Technology demonstrators
Sometimes an early demonstrator is required to evaluate a particular technology, or to validate a product concept with potential customers.
These demonstrators generally require an amount of bespoke electronics for the particular application, with development boards or off-the-shelf modules used where appropriate. DCA’s electronics team is accustomed to the rapid turnaround of demonstrators, targeting the correct balance between development effort, build robustness and representative performance.
Proof of Principle and Proof of Concept prototypes
The only way to be sure of a circuit’s performance is to build it - but each prototype build has a cost.
Our approach to design is to balance calculations, simulation and analysis with producing physical test rigs and prototypes at appropriate points in the development cycle. We use rapid, low-cost PCBs or hand-built prototype circuits to appropriately reduce project risk while keeping the development timescales and budget lean, moving incrementally towards prototypes that are increasingly representative of the final design and production intent as the project progresses.
Integrating in-house and external facilities
As component packages become smaller and more integrated, it becomes more difficult to build and modify prototypes in-house. However, sourcing these services externally can introduce delays and a lack of control to the programme.
We have well-established, long-term links with preferred suppliers and assembly houses and have developed close co-operative ways of working and exchanging data for fast component procurement and turnaround of prototype boards. Our in-house electronics lab is fully equipped for any subsequent rework or modifications to boards to support the bring-up and debugging process.
Test planning
A well-planned test programme identifies the key requirements from the relevant specifications and establishes an effective and efficient means of testing and proving the design’s performance against these requirements.
Intelligently planning the test programme means balancing risk against target product launch dates and development costs. Safety-critical applications will require traceability between requirements and test results, which we can support via our quality procedures and integrity management system.
Testing performance against identified requirements
In-house electronic development testing
Most electronic development testing at DCA is performed in-house by our design engineers.
We have invested in laboratory test equipment and environments, including computer controlled environmental chambers, nA-scale current measurement, electrostatic discharge simulation and standard baseband and RF instruments to minimise the need for external testing resources, avoiding potential delays, retaining flexibility and control and maintaining confidentiality.
Pre-compliance testing
Some tests, particularly those involving compliance, require external facilities and independent third party testing. These come at a cost and re-testing can introduce delays if required, so it’s important to use them efficiently. Undertaking the right level of pre-compliance testing on early prototypes reduces the risk of failures later in the process, when they are more costly and time-consuming to resolve.
Where external facilities are required, such as for EMC compliance, we include testing early in the programme and can support this by placing one of our engineers on-site for the duration of the testing. With the right expertise at the test facility, problems can often be diagnosed or even fixed in a single visit rather than just achieving a simple pass/fail result that could require subsequent re-submission and testing.
Bespoke production test rigs
Many products require some form of bespoke production test equipment, which your selected manufacturing partner may not be able to provide.
DCA can undertake the design and delivery of custom electromechanical test rigs that may vary in complexity from simple solutions based around off-the-shelf components to those requiring custom electronic hardware and software. We will tailor our solution to match your manufacturing arrangements.
