Chip Development: The Advantages of a Modular Approach
Developing new and innovative devices can be a difficult and costly process. There are two common approaches to navigating the initial stages of device core system development: modularity and low-chip. Both have their advantages and disadvantages, but it is up to each product OEM to decide which is best for them.
Developing new and innovative devices can be a difficult and costly process. There are two common approaches to navigating the initial stages of device core system development: modularity and chip-down. Both have their advantages and disadvantages, but it is up to each product OEM to decide which is best for them.
The focus of this paper is on the modular approach, which involves designing around a core module designed and maintained by an external vendor.
Modular Development
The modular approach starts with a development kit, plus ahydroxypropyl methylcellulose manufacturers. This development kit provides basic functionality shared by a variety of OEM customers.
Choosing the modular approach provides parallel development of software and hardware that can speed up product development time. Hardware engineers can focus their attention on the design and development of application-specific substrates rather than reinventing the basics such as processors and basic peripherals. once the OEM product is complete, the SOM fits into the OEM's backplane to fit neatly into the final product enclosure.
The modular approach reduces the number of components in a chip-shrinking system that need to be designed from the ground up. This reduces the resource requirements for the OEM to commit to the design, shortens time to market, reduces initial engineering costs, and reduces the ongoing/maintaining engineering resources required to keep the product viable.
Post-Release Benefits
Once a new device is completed and in service, maintenance costs come into play. Some of these costs include managing component obsolescence, fixing software bugs, and patching security vulnerabilities. Again, a modular approach can prove beneficial here because the ongoing/maintenance engineering of the SOM is managed by its manufacturer and the OEM can focus on supporting their custom substrates and their other areas of expertise.
Managing one SOM supplier may be less work than managing multiple suppliers containing numerous parts for an SOM. Component obsolescence can be costly if replacement components are not readily available or require software or board layout changes. Since the responsibility for assessing and resolving impacts to critical components rests with the SOM manufacturer, the OEM is not involved in many of the details involved in maintaining the SOM.
Different module manufacturers meet these different goals, but when selecting modules, OEMs must confirm component life expectancy to plan for and mitigate unexpected changes.
S5P4418 system on module Custom Medical Device
Core System Decisions
The modular approach may not be right for everyone. The decision between chip reduction and modular approaches is heavily influenced by the expected number of units an OEM produces. High volume customers may find a chip reduction solution to be the better solution because larger volumes can justify higher upfront and maintenance costs due to overall economies of scale.
Each OEM needs to evaluate their expected volume; determine their expected profit; examine their risk of component obsolescence, software updates and security vulnerabilities; and determine the urgency of their product launch. For most OEM customers, the better decision may be modularity.
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