The ESD protection worked. The device still failed the test.
In a dual-brain design, ESD pushed three GPIO mode lines high at once, the MCU read 111 and switched modes on its own. Why that fails criterion B, and the firmware fix.
Silicone molds for small-batch prototypes: when casting beats printing
Between the first prototype and production tooling, silicone casting can give you a small, presentable batch. When it pays off, where it stops, and what cast parts cannot prove.
Can I still buy this part in 2031? Five questions for every memory and SoM booth
After a year of memory shortages, one question tells you more about a part than its datasheet: if I design it in today, can I still buy it in 2031? Five follow-ups to ask at electronica.
Certification fails on the first PCB layout, not in the lab
Most connected devices fail certification on the first PCB layout, not in the lab. Five decisions to make early, a pre-scan rule, and the RED cybersecurity rules since August 2025.
FEA or the next prototype? When a mechanical simulation pays off
Most mechanical questions are answered faster by printing the next prototype. A few are not. When FEA earns its time, when a print is cheaper, and how FEA saved 5 to 10 prototype rounds on LaMetric SKY.
The RAM shortage: two levers embedded teams still control
LPDDR4 prices rose sevenfold in a year and Raspberry Pi raised prices again on 1 October. We can’t design around a market-wide rise, but we can decide how hard it hits a product.
You upgraded the NPU from 2 to 10 TOPS. Why is your edge AI still slow?
TOPS is not edge AI performance. The NPU is one stage in a pipeline from camera to application, and the bottleneck may be memory bandwidth, CPU fallback, preprocessing, buffer copies or post-processing.
The first solution is usually more RAM. It shouldn’t always be
When LaMetric SKY outgrew 128 MB of RAM, the obvious fix would have raised the BOM cost of every device. Profiling, software optimisation and zRAM kept the original hardware.
Every embedded product starts with an SD card. Most end with eMMC
Embedded Linux prototypes boot from SD cards; most production devices move to onboard eMMC. What differs, when SD is still fine, common failure modes, and a checklist and test plan before mass production.
Reference designs get you to market. Architecture is where products differ
Most embedded teams start from the same reference designs, SDKs and platforms. On LaMetric SKY, a custom RS-485 protocol for more than 1,000 lighting zones showed where real differentiation comes from.
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