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Embedded Hardware

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    Hardware

Embedded Hardware

 

 

 

radio frequency / wireless

Over half of our projects in recent years have been wireless projects as many of our customers want their products to communicate with a local wireless network and/or the global wireless infrastructure.  WTSi has leveraged our existing wireless designs into our customer's legacy products and we have also designed proprietary, custom wireless solutions.  For quick-to-market and proof-of-concept projects we have incorporated pre-FCC-approved modules and on other projects we have designed the wireless solution from scratch and then submitted the product for FCC certifications; the latter solution being necessary when driving down the manufacturing costs in mass-produced products.  WTSi will help you decide which solution is best for you.  WTSi can also help you select and match a COTs antenna for your application. We can also custom design the antenna you need for your application. You may need a multi-band, circular-polarized antenna for your mobile cell system or an integrated inverted-F antenna integrated into your PCB to cut costs.  We've done it.  

  • LoRa endpoints and gateways
  • classic bluetooth (v4.0 and previous)
  • bluetooth low energy (v4.1)
  • bluetooth mesh (v5.0)
  • 802.15.4: zigbee mesh,  6LoWPAN, WirelessHart, etc.
  • WiFi 
  • GSM /GPRS cellular network modems
  • GPS integration
  • radio frequency identification (RFID)
  • custom ISM band (915Mhz and 2.54Mhz) consumer devices
  • 700Mhz to 2.15Ghz cellular devices
  • FCC, Industry Canada, and CE (European) certifications
  • custom antenna design (broadband, narrow beam-width, PCB integrated, etc.)
  • custom antenna solutions (e.g. antenna diversity, MIMO, etc.) 

RadioFrequency      Micros      Analog/LowNoise     Digital-HW     Interfaces     LowPower/BatteryPower      Audio/Video  

 

 

 

microcontrollers / microprocessors / digital signal processors

WTSi has experience with Microchip/ATMEL (8bit, 16bit, DSP families), ARM (various manufacturers), 8051 (various manufacturers and derivatives) and several other embedded controller and processor families including lots of Texas Instruments and ESP32 derivatives - both with 'built-in' wireless capability.   Whether your needs are high-performance, low-power, low cost, DSP, multiple interfaces, or specialized interfaces - we will help you determine which component is the best one for your product. We also have experience with integrating IP controller cores in the FPGA fabric.

RadioFrequency      Micros      Analog/LowNoise     Digital-HW     Interfaces     LowPower/BatteryPower      Audio/Video  

 

 

 

analog and low-noise design

Almost all of our customers have some noise requirement whether they know it or not. Sometimes the only consideration is the PCB layout. On the other end of the spectrum, you may require a lock-in amplifier design to pull your signal out of background noise to increased dynamic range or sensitivity in your system. Most projects, however, fall somewhere in between these two extremes and all that is required is good design practices and strict attention to the suggested practices in a chip manufacturer's application notes.  WTSi has the experience to know if your project should be engineered to reduce schedule risks, reduce manufacturing costs (MC), or reduce non-recurring engineering costs (NRE) - let us help you make the right decisions for your project.

analog expertise:

  • analog/digital conversion (ADC)
  • digital/analog conversion (DAC)
  • lock-in amplifier techniques
  • operation amplifier circuits
  • multi-stage filtering
  • sensor interfacing
  • motor control
  • audio  

RadioFrequency      Micros      Analog/LowNoise     Digital-HW     Interfaces     LowPower/BatteryPower      Audio/Video     

 

 

 

digital / FPGA / CPLD 

Today's products are requiring very flexible hardware solutions and PLDs are often the answer. Complementing, and sometimes replacing, the processors and controllers of yester-year, these devices provide the advanced speed, versatility, and low power requirements that may not be found in an off-the-shelf microprocessor.  WTSi has been programming FPGA-based solutions for over twenty-five years.  We are fully capable of designing both custom IP blocks unique to the particular application as well as integrating commercially licensed IP blocks from other vendors in common HDL languages (e.g. VHDL and Verilog). 

RadioFrequency      Micros      Analog/LowNoise     Digital-HW     Interfaces     LowPower/BatteryPower      Audio/Video  

 

 

 

peripheral interfaces 

WTSi has implemented all of the most common on-board and off-board interfaces including USB, USB-OTG, SPI, I2C, UART/RS232, Ethernet, HDMI and CAN. Modern day processors natively support many of these hardware functions with dual-use pins under software control to provide many possible combinations and pinout selections for each controller.  

Your options within USB alone are staggering:  

  • audio (speaker,microphone, sound card)
  • CDC control (modems, wifi-adapters, rs232 serial adapters)
  • HID (keyboard, mouse)
  • PID (joystick)
  • mass storage (memory)
  • printing
  • hubs
  • smartcards
  • video (webcams)
  • wireless (bluetooth, wifi, etc)
  • USB-OTG

We can help you choose the right interfacing for your application; we have sophisticated bus-monitoring scopes and protocol-analyzers that speed up development and capture and store data for subsequent analysis. 

RadioFrequency      Micros      Analog/LowNoise     Digital-HW     Interfaces     LowPower/BatteryPower      Audio/Video  

 

 

 

low power / battery management

Managing and monitoring battery power has become a critical concern and WTSi has designed several different circuits to this end - including circuits for charging the LiPoly batteries which have become increasingly popular in modern electronic products. Whether you need a simple go/no-go LED power indication for your alkaline batteries or you want to know the exact charge remaining on your LiPoly battery, WTSi will discuss all the options with you - and the options within these options. Today's battery power support products are multi-featured and somewhat sophisticated.    

RadioFrequency      Micros      Analog/LowNoise     Digital-HW     Interfaces     LowPower/BatteryPower      Audio/Video  

 

 

 

audio / video 

Today's hi-fidelity audio and HD video solutions for IP security cameras,  Go-Pro headgear, and drone-based video need to weigh less and be packed into smaller spaces; DSP solutions are the answer.   Chip vendors like Texas Instruments, Analog Devices (with Sigma Studio) and Microchip are packing more and more functionality into their code libraries every year which allow functionality to be added with firmware solutions on low cost controllers; they are also supporting Bluetooth5.0 which has 10X the bandwidth of classic bluetooth and thus supports small-frame (smartphone) video, multiple audio connections, and more. Additionally, application-specific chip vendors (e.g. Ambarella) are creating yet smaller and lower power solutions for wearables (e.g. cameras) and other battery-powered "internet-of-things" technologies. WTSi has the experience, development tools, and test tools help you find your sweet spot - trading off size, power, cost, performance, and schedule.        

RadioFrequency      Micros      Analog/LowNoise     Digital-HW     Interfaces     LowPower/BatteryPower      Audio/Video  

 

 

 

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