We offer turn-key product design, which includes a complete hardware design process from specifications to a working prototype. In accordance with our menu-driven approach, a customer can make a separate decision to outsource or keep in-house for each step of the design process:
- top-level design (project specifications and architecture)
- board-level circuit design
- programmable logic design
- design simulation
- PCB design
- prototype fabrication and assembly
- prototype debug and test
Top Level Design
Specifications
Creating engineering specifications from product requirements. Checking existing specifications for compliance with industry standards; researching and updating specifications. Creating the engineering specifications document. Creating the test plan. Trade-off analysis. Creating project management data. We use "Project Scheduler" or Microsoft "Project" programs to create and then track project schedule, timeline, costs, milestones, and resources usage.
System-level Design
Selecting architecture and implementation, creating block diagram, design partitioning, selecting key parts.
Schematic Capture
Schematic capture tools are used for a board-level circuit design. Customers benefit from our experience in creating high-speed, high-density digital designs for state-of-the-art products. We are both proficient in and equipped with schematic tools from major vendors. That gives us the flexibility of matching customer's in-house tools setup. Extensive symbol libraries allow to seamlessly transfer project data to customer's database.
Short design cycles and high-quality products are achieved by following sound engineering practices:
- the use of simulation and design rule checking
- design for test
- the use of pre-tested symbol libraries
- the good old plain attention to detail
- using some "tricks of the trade"
(such as applying Perl scripting to on-the-fly schematics generation)
There are two design factors that are often neglected and therefore merit further elaboration: design for test and design database transfer.
Design for Test
Modern high-density designs are virtually un-testable by conventional means. For example, BGA (Ball Grid Array) packages often have upwards of 500 terminals, none of them accessible to in-circuit test probes. TRILENT designs (subject to customers approval) utilize the Boundary Scan (JTAG) to overcome that difficulty. Additional cost of implementing the JTAG is minimal: all it requires is routing the 5-wire scan chain and providing a test header on board. The difference it makes in the troubleshooting phase can be enormous. Relatively inexpensive boundary scan testers are available on the market. Their cost compares favorably with the conventional bed of nails ATE.
Design Database Transfer
In our experience, most of mistakes in the design process are made at this critical junction – during transfer from the schematic capture tools to the PCB layout (artwork design) tools. These mistakes result in costly redesign cycles. The main culprit seems to be the mismatch between the databases in the respective tools. Our solution: carefully prepared and pre-tested part and symbol libraries. These libraries include part footprint information needed for artwork (PCB) design. The information must be correctly formatted for the specific PCB design system used. The importance of validated part libraries for good design cannot be overemphasized!
HDL Design
Verilog and VHDL are the two commonly used hardware description languages (HDL). The popularity of HDL design stems from its benefits, namely, portability across multiple platforms and ease of simulation. It is almost universally adopted in programmable logic and ASICs. We specialize in HDL design of complex state machines and protocol engines.
Nowadays, the programmable logic design is a part of almost every hardware
design project. Similarly, ASICs are used in most high volume products. At TRILENT, we have a
hands-on experience with a wide range of FPGA and CPLD architectures and all major
programmable logic development tools including Synplicity, Xilinx, Altera, Cypress and Actel.
Our engineers are proficient in both Verilog and VHDL. Such versatility
often comes handy when our customer is faced with a problem of integrating diverse designs into one
product. One of the services we offer is translation of designs written in VHDL to Verilog, and vice
versa. Last, but not least - we pride ourselves in creating good HDL source code: readable, modular,
extensively commented and documented. Anyone who ever dealt with "spaghetti" code knows
how important it is.
Design Simulation
The simulation is an integral part of every HDL design process. All TRILENT designs come with a simulation test bench and are functionally tested. VHDL and Verilog simulation is easy and straightforward, so there is no excuse for using valuable lab time for design troubleshooting in a prototype. The simulation usually starts at the chip level, and progresses with the project to the board level, and the system level as needed. We use industry standard HDL simulators: ModelSim and Aldec. Both have dual-language capability (VHDL/Verilog). We have developed a library of modular "building blocks" for the test bench that allow us to quickly simulate and test even complex designs without noticeably increasing the development cost.
Prototyping
PCB Design
TRILENT Networks does not provide PCB design (board layout) services. Instead, we serve as the interface to an in-house or an outside PCB designer on behalf of our customers. The interface to PCB designers has the form of part library selection and management, supervision of the design database transfer, design constraints, layout suggestions, and error checking. An interactive support for PCB designers is available upon request. The completed hardware design is exported to the artwork design tool of customer's choice. We are familiar with major PCB design tools, such as Allegro and PADS, to the extent required for the successful transfer of the schematic design database (netlist, footprints, etc.) and for the design verification.
Prototype Fabrication and Assembly
We interface with the PCB fabrication and assembly house on behalf of our customers. With an outside fabrication and assembly house, the transfer of project data can be transparent to the customer. Customers can choose the level of involvement in the process, from totally hands-off to complete control over each phase. With today's multi-layered, high-density printed circuit boards, selecting a reputable vendor is very important. Manufacturing continuity testing of each board is an essential requirement. When the prototype is built in-house, we provide manufacturing and purchasing data in the form of BOM (Bill of Materials) and help transfer the data to the customer's database. (That step should not be taken lightly, as it is a source of frequent mistakes.) Our experience in manufacturing database systems helps make the transfer seamless.
Prototype Debug and Testing
This step is typically performed on-site in the customer's lab, unless otherwise requested. The prototype debug reveals the quality of the design: all the earlier mistakes come to light here. We take pride in most of our prototypes starting up on the first try. In case of trouble, the design for test can help dramatically. After initial debug, the test plan is implemented. This phase of the process is very design-specific. The functionality of complex designs often cannot be tested, or even accessed, without the help of basic software. In such cases, customers may choose to have TRILENT develop the necessary software, in the form of device drivers and testing utilities. Please refer to our software development services for more information. Agency compliance tests, if needed. are also performed on the prototype.
