Showing posts with label Research and Development. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Research and Development. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Building a DVR


How do we build a DVR from scratch?   Here is a mini-guided tour to our R&D facility.  

The process starts with a list of needed specifications or features.  From these requirements, two teams will collaborate in the design and production of the DVR, namely hardware and software.  


Depending on the requirement, hardware will design the motherboard only or including the case.  A block diagram is the first order of business to based on all the spec requirement.  Following the block diagram would be a schematic diagram (see left illustration).  The whole process takes around ten (10) working days or less to complete.


     Sample schematic diagram

After the schematics, the printed circuit board (PCB) will be designed based on the schematic diagram.  The process takes around 2 days to complete.    For the casing, the mechanical team will produce the mock up prior to producing the engineering sample.


PCB board design



Mechanical

After each and every stage, a quality control staff checks and monitors the process and output as per established company standards.  Next process is PCB production.

The finished PCBs will be tested and a few samples will undergo surface mount device (SMD) assembly.

 
After assembly completion, the finished board is tested for defects.  The few samples produced will be used for the prototype and subsequent engineering samples for further testing.  

Part of the finished engineering samples will then be turned over to software for testing and driver and application development.



After completing the driver and applications, the finished product will undergo extensive product testing prior to the release of the commercial version. This will include useability testing, aging test, feature and function testing.

Some of our sample products are shown below:





Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Philippine skunk?

What is this site all about?  A new species?  Nature site?  Skunks?  Smelly objects?  No, not really.... Read on...

Working in a Filipino R&D company has its challenges in terms of locally available resources, existing infrastructure and capital availability. Competing in the global market is an even bigger challenge.  In a sea of American, Japanese, Korean, Taiwanese and Chinese brands, one cannot expect an upstart Filipino company to even survive.   When was the last time has anyone heard of a Filipino technology company making it big in the global market?  Would anyone even dare?  

Well, there are some insane people out there who would want to give it a try and I am part of this endeavor.  After four years of struggle, survive we did!  We even made quite a significant dent in our market.  Of course, we have had some heavy backup from good hearted individuals who believe in what we can do, who gave leapfrog opportunities for us.  Now, we are embarking on more technically challenging projects which can define us in the next few months.  

Skunks?  Like the legendary Lockheed Martin Skunkworks, we churn out not so top secret military and industrial grade products, albeit only a small portion go towards military applications, which we hope will be representative of cutting edge technologies in the near future.  This blog aims to provide a glimpse of related technologies, declassified development updates and general technology news.  

Cheers!!!