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Index
Preface
Why I Wrote This Book
Who Should Read This Book?
Who Might Be Disappointed by This Book?
What’s Covered? What’s Not?
How This Book Is Organized
A Word on Nomenclature
A Word on Jargon
Keeping in Touch
Safari® Books Online
How to Contact Us
Acknowledgments
1. The 11 Deadly Sins of Product Development
The Fundamental Principle of Product Development
The Vice of Laziness
Deadly Sin #1: Putting Off “Serious” Testing Until the End of Development
The Vice of Assumption
Deadly Sin #2: Assuming That We Know What Users Want in a Product
Deadly Sin #3: Assuming That Users Know What They Want in a Product
The Vice of Fuzziness
Deadly Sin #4: Lack of Comprehensive Requirements
Deadly Sin #5: Lack of a Good Project Plan
Deadly Sin #6: Not Assigning Responsibility
The Vice of Cluelessness
Deadly Sin #7: Not Addressing Regulations
The Vice of Perfectionism
Deadly Sin #8: The Sin of New-Feature-Itis
Deadly Sin #9: Not Knowing When to Quit Polishing
The Vice of Hubris
Deadly Sin #10: Not Planning to Fail
The Vice of Ego
Deadly Sin #11: Developing Technology Rather Than Developing Products
Final Thoughts
Resources
2. Development Process Overview
Don’t Panic!
Product Development Life Cycle Overview
A Great Idea
Preliminary Planning: Does This Make Sense?
Ballparking
Setting Stakeholder Ground Rules
First Reality Check
Detailed Product Definition, a.k.a. Surprise Management
Product Design
Technical Risk Reduction
Second Reality Check: Go or No Go?
Detailed Development
Prototyping
Testing
Purchasing
Manufacturing
Factory New Product Introduction
Pilot Production
Ongoing Production
Final Thoughts
Resources
3. How Electronic Products Are Manufactured
Manufacturing Overview
Supply Chain
Building Circuits: PCB Assembly
PCB Assembly: Solder Paste Application
PCB Assembly: Placing Components
PCB Assembly: Reflow
PCB Assembly: Optical Inspection
PCB Assembly: Hand Soldering and Assembly
PCB Assembly: Cleaning
PCB Assembly: Depaneling
Test
In-Circuit Test (ICT)
Functional Test
Burn-in testing
Final Assembly
Final Functional Test
Packaging
More, and Less
How Many?
Higher-Volume Production
Lower-Volume Production
Relaxed inventory control
Substituting flying-probe ICT for bed-of-nails
Relying on functional test only
Factoryless board assembly
The People Stuff: Factory Culture
Final Thoughts
Resources
Factory Automation
Factoryless (e.g., DIY) Manufacturing
4. Preliminary Planning: Can This Be a Success?
Introducing MicroPed
Why Does the World Need MicroPed?
Marketing Requirements
Target Markets
Can It Make Money?
A Quick Look at the Money Stuff
Income Projections
Activity tracker market
Activity tracker selling price
The Maker market
Cost of Goods Sold
Preliminary electronics architecture
Materials costs
Gross Margin
Can We Develop It?
Identifying Unobtanium
Go? No Go?
5. Detailed Product Definition
Phase Overview
Iteration
The Road Ahead: An Overview
So, What Will It Do? Specifying Our Product
User Stories
Use Cases
Requirements
From What, to How and Who
Architecture Basics
Top-Level MicroPed System Architecture
More Architectures, and Design
Electronics architecture
Physical architecture (with some words on cabling)
Software architecture
Industrial design
Mechanical architecture
Mechanisms
Technical Risk Reduction
Updated COGS Estimate
Go/No Go: Redux
Resources
6. Detailed Development
Detailed Development Process
Software and Electronics: Chicken and Egg
Electronics
Breadboarding
Works-like electronics prototype
Printed Circuit Boards
Software
A tale of two software developments
(Almost) instant iteration
Version control
Test-driven development
Continuous integration
Mechanicals (Enclosures)
Injection molding
Mechanical design for manufacturability and assembly
DFM
DFA
Mechanical prototyping
Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM)
Stereolithography (SLA)
Machining (CNC)
Aluminum-tool molding
Cast-urethane molding
System Integration
Testing
Verification Testing
Requirements Traceability
Manufacturing Testing (and Device Programming)
Connections and Fixturing
Moving into Manufacturing
Final Thoughts
Resources
Electronics
Software
Injection Molding
DFM & DFA
Rapid Mechanical Prototyping
Testing
Moving into Manufacturing
7. Smart Platforms: Processors
Low-End Microcontrollers
8051 Class
AVR
PIC
MSP430
Middling Microcontrollers/Processors
Cortex-M: Microcontroller Profile
Cortex-R: Real-Time Profile
Cortex-A: Application Profile
Support gaps
Power consumption
Thermal considerations
Big Iron: Desktop- and Server-Class Processors
Other Hardware Platforms
Systems on Modules (SOMs)
Single-Board Computers (SBCs)
DSP chips
Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs)
Final Thoughts
Resources
8. Smart Platforms: Operating Systems
Board Support Packages (BSPs)
RTOSes
Predictability
RTOS licensing
Middleweight OSes
Embedded Linux
Embedded Linux Gotchas
Commercial Embedded Linux
Android
Windows Embedded
Boot Loaders
Heavyweight OSes
Advantages
Disadvantages
Final Thoughts
Resources
9. Powering Our Product
Batteries
General Battery Characteristics
Energy capacity
Power
Temperature
Pulsed operation
Battery Size
Battery Chemistries
Disposable (primary cell) chemistries
Zinc Carbon
Alkaline
Lithium Disposables
Zinc air
Rechargeable (secondary cell) chemistries
Nickel Cadmium (NiCd)
Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH)
Lead acid
Lithium Ion (Li-ion and LiPo)
Charging lithium ions
Increasing Li-ion life
Storage
Multiple-cell batteries
Measuring state of charge
Safety and supply chain
Wall Outlets: AC-to-DC Power Conversion
DC-DC Power Conversion
Linears and Switchers
System-Level Power Design
Supplying the Necessary Juice
Bounce prevention
Power sequencing
Minimizing Power Consumption
Low-power components
Reducing digital switching
Reducing voltage
Turning off what we aren’t using
Minimizing Cost and Complexity
Power path management
PMICs
Final Thoughts
Resources
10. Staying Safe: Regulations, Standards, Etc.
Regulatory Fundamentals
Process Overview
Do these apply to little manufacturers like me?
Laws, Regulations, Standards, and Other Regulatory Words
Laws
Regulations
Standards
Certifications
Guidances
Marks
Location
Categories of Regulations
Ambiguity in Regulations
Conformance Testing and Certification
Navigating US Regulations
CPSC
FCC
European Regulations
CE marking
US Versus EU
Finding the EU Regulations That Apply to Us
Cradle to Grave: Safe Disposal
Batteries at 35,000 Feet
ITAR
Quality Systems and ISO 9001
Final Thoughts
Resources
Voluntary Certifications
EU Regulatory Framework
ISO 9001
11. Writing Requirements That Work
Requirements Versus Goals Versus Specifications
Why Requirements?
The Case Against Requirements
Customers don’t really know what they want until they actually have it
Getting more-accurate information from users
Technologists build what we ask them to build, not necessarily what we meant for them to build
We gain important insights as the project progresses
The world around us keeps changing
Writing Good Requirements
Careful: Requirements Are Design Constraints
Requirements Should Be Testable
Requirements Are Interface-Centric
People are complicated but stuff is also complicated
Positive Requirements Versus Lurking Requirements
A Lurking Requirements Checklist
Communicating Requirements
Making Requirements Clearer
Great Requirements Come from Great Participation
Maintaining Requirements
Requirements Management Software
Final Thoughts
Resources
12. Meta-Stuff: Project Planning and Infrastructure
Project Planning
Effort-Driven Project Planning
Project Management
Issue Tracking
Document Control
Change Management
Final Thoughts
Resources
Index
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