Services / Electronics development

Electronics engineered for hardware.

Ideambox helps teams plan, coordinate, and integrate electronics into manufacturable hardware: demo boards, sensors, batteries, LEDs, wireless modules, PCB development, firmware coordination, certification planning, and prototype debugging.

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Electronics and mechanical components inside a product enclosure

Electronics development map

Electronics must be designed as part of the whole product architecture.

90% of late-stage electronics redesigns trace back to one of four decisions made at the architecture stage: the wrong battery chemistry, an antenna placed inside a metal shield, an MCU that can't actually fit the firmware, or a regulator that fails EMC at the third harmonic. We catch those at the whiteboard, not at the EMC lab.

Jorge Lorenzana, Mechatronics Engineer

Architecture path

01 Requirements
02 Demo boards
03 Custom PCB
04 Enclosure fit
05 CE / EMC route
06 Supplier package

Prototype validation loop

01 Prototype build
02 Measure current / RF
03 Debug failures
04 Design actions
05 Production test plan
06 Pilot release

Dense printed circuit board used for electronics architecture review

Architecture before PCB layout

A real architecture document, not a block diagram. Power budget with worst-case current draw. Battery chemistry chosen against UN 38.3 and IEC 62133. Antenna keepout zones. Pre-certified modules vs custom RF tradeoff. MCU flash / RAM budget with 30% headroom for OTA and security stack. Production test points and JTAG access already in the netlist before layout begins.

Mechanical product with exposed electronics used for proof-of-concept work

Demo boards before custom PCB

Custom PCB at month one is a founder mistake. We start with eval boards (Nordic nRF DK, Nordic Thingy, ESP32 DevKit, Adafruit Feather), measured current draw on a Joulescope, antenna RSSI at the actual installation angle, and a firmware proof of the worst-case workload. The custom PCB is born from data, not from CAD.

Compact electronics product used for PCB and firmware coordination

PCB layout that survives EMC

A 4-layer stack-up with proper ground plane partitioning catches 80% of EN 55032 / FCC Part 15 conducted emissions issues before pre-compliance scan. We work with the PCB layout designer on decoupling strategy, return current paths, common-mode chokes on cables, ESD diodes on every external pin, and the harmonic content of every switching regulator on the board.

Installed functional prototype used for debugging and iteration

EVT debugging the right way

Functional prototypes only matter if the tests are written before the boards arrive. We define the EVT test plan against IEC 60068 environmental envelopes (temperature cycling, humidity, vibration, IP-X sealing) and the firmware MTM (manufacturing test mode) so every board can be checked in under 30 seconds on the production line, not 5 minutes.

Supplier and assembly review for a hardware product line

BOM that won't go EoL mid-production

Every part on the BOM gets a lifecycle check (Active / NRND / EoL) on Mouser and Octopart, MOQ vs your annual volume, second-source availability, certification status (UL, IEC, RoHS, REACH, conflict minerals), and a confirmed price break that matches your target cost. Pre-certified RF modules (BLE, Wi-Fi, LTE, LoRa) get prioritised over discrete chips wherever the volume math works.

Electronics test setup in an EMC laboratory

Production test & pre-compliance

Pre-compliance EMC scan in a 3-metre semi-anechoic chamber catches harmonics 6–10 dB before the formal lab run — at €1.5–3k instead of €8–15k for a full retest. We define the test fixture, bed-of-nails pogo-pin layout, RF performance limits, and the MTM script that the supplier's operators will follow on every unit.

How the work feels in practice

From demo electronics to supplier-ready hardware.

The electronics path is usually a sequence of practical decisions: prove the concept on demo boards, choose components that can actually be sourced, lock the mechanical/electronics architecture, build functional prototypes, debug, prepare compliance, then move toward supplier quotes and pilot production.

Evaluation boards and module testing
Sensor, LED, wireless, and battery validation
PCB supplier and assembler conversations
Prototype debug and firmware coordination
Production test planning
Certification and documentation readiness

Common electronics risks

PCB shape locked before enclosure assembly is understood
Battery and charging choices made without safety or shipping review
Wireless modules placed without antenna clearance
No test points or programming access for production
CE/EMC risks discovered after tooling decisions

Relevant products

Consumer electronics, IoT devices, lighting products, wearables, mobility accessories, and smart enclosures.

Ideambox is strongest when electronics need to live inside a manufacturable physical product.

Jorge Lorenzana, Mechatronics Engineer

IoT and sensor products

Support for connected products where sensor placement, wireless performance, battery life, enclosure material, waterproofing, data behavior, and production test access all affect whether the device works outside the lab.

Lighting and power devices

Development planning for LED products, battery-powered devices, charging systems, rugged headlamps, indicators, and power accessories where optics, heat, current draw, sealing, and compliance must be reviewed together.

Smart mechanical products

Integration for products with motors, switches, sensors, actuators, displays, cable routing, user interfaces, and boards inside plastic parts, including service access, assembly sequence, and supplier-ready test instructions.

Certification readiness

Electronics development should prepare for CE, EMC, FCC, UKCA, RoHS, and safety requirements.

Certification is not a final paperwork task. It affects component selection, grounding, shielding, cable routing, enclosure openings, power supply choices, battery documentation, user manuals, labeling, and the technical file.

See certification support

Support can include

CE marking route and applicable directive review
EMC, RED/FCC, safety, and battery risk planning
RoHS/REACH supplier documentation collection
Pre-compliance strategy and lab coordination
Technical file, declarations, labels, and manuals

The engineering behind the service.

IDB-PCB-014

Have electronics inside a mechanical product?

We can review the architecture, risks, prototype plan, and supplier path before the project gets expensive.

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