Craig and his team have proved to be an exceptional resource for us. The ability to see the big picture and engage at a high level is highly valued. EES excels at modern microprocessor and wireless communication platforms and has provided valuable advice on best practices and security standards. EES’s ability to develop quickly and iterate has been crucial to our project’s success.
Hardware Design
From concept to production, we design high-performance, reliable hardware tailored to your product needs. Our expertise spans PCB design, analog and digital systems, power management, and RF solutions.
Hardware Design Capabilities
Practical Engineering for Real-World Products
When it comes to embedded hardware design, we’ve seen just about every starting point; fuzzy concepts, messy prototypes, or that one board from 2008 no one wants to touch. At Embedded Engineering Solutions, we roll up our sleeves and help you get from “here’s the idea” to “here’s the thing in your hands.”
We don’t overcomplicate it. We just help you build solid hardware that is designed to work, designed to scale, and designed with your bottom line in mind.
PCB Design and Layout
Turning Features Into Function
A good PCB isn’t just about getting traces from point A to point B. It’s about making sure the whole thing actually works in the real world, under real conditions, with real parts you can actually buy.
What We Do:
- Start from scratch or improve what you’ve already got
- Update legacy designs, even if they were built in outdated or obscure tools
- Perform clean schematic capture to define your hardware without the clutter
- Handle layout with care—component placement, copper routing, grounding, and EMI in mind
“Most often, people come in with a rough vision and a few constraints. We help turn that into something buildable and smart.”
Manufacturing-Ready Means… Ready.
A slick design is worthless if you can’t source the parts or get it built affordably. That’s why we design with supply chains and production in mind from the jump.
Deliverables You Can Expect:
- Gerber and fabrication files
- Clean, comprehensive Bills of Materials (BOMs)
- Pick-and-place files, test points, and whatever else your CM will ask for
- Guidance on component sourcing (including risk of obsolescence or long lead times)
Because in our experience? Planning for manufacturing up front saves a ridiculous amount of time and money later.
PCB Design, From Schematic to Manufacturable Board
PCB work always starts with a high-level product description. We need to establish the power source, how a user interacts with it, and its primary function before we begin. After those details are understood, then we can move on to blocking out the major pieces, like the display, radio, or power supply, and refine everything further from there.
Our next step is creating a schematic, giving us a logical description of all the electrical connections. Because a schematic can’t be built directly, the next step is the PCB layout, which gives manufacturers a physical description of all the parts of the board. It’s important to get all of those steps right, because an error in any one can be costly. We use several tools for this process and minimize mistakes at this stage of the design.
Our primary tool is Altium Designer, and we support OrCAD, Cadence, and KiCad when a project requires them. Regardless of the tool we use, our output goal is the same. To provide a manufacturing package that a contract manufacturer can use to build your product properly.
What Causes PCB Designs to Fail on the First Spin
The inherent complexity of a typical board is the main source of PCB failures. A typical board has hundreds of components and thousands of interconnections, and that volume means even a 99.99% perfect design will have a few issues. At EES, we build early and build small to alleviate those errors. If we catch an error on a low-cost initial run, before it reaches large scale production, that will save you time and money. Another common source of errors is undocumented component quirks buried deep in a datasheet. Those are not worth chasing individually from the get-go, which is where small cheap test builds come back into play. When they show up in a test, we can then go back and fix them, but they won’t make it to the production line. The two exceptions to the “test small and early” rule are EMC and signal integrity issues, which most often show up during certification. At EES we design with best practices up front, so we can manage targeted corrections throughout the process rather than complete rewrites.
When to Go Custom, and When a Dev Board Gets You There Faster
If your project has a critical, unproven element, or hardware that has never been built quite this way before, that is where a custom prototype built by our team can be most useful. Using a dedicated test circuit, we will nail down the new design and then build the rest of the board around it. If, however, your project is more generalized, we often use off the shelf hardware in the early stages, giving us a chance to get firmware up and running and test out the system before any commitment to a custom board design is made. Using this sequencing in our designs will help keep the early stages of the project cheap and leaves the expensive custom design step to the last possible minute, when the board has been proven to work.
Analog and Digital Circuit Design
We’ve worked on everything from low-power analog sensors to high-speed digital systems; and the right circuit design always starts with understanding the real-world constraints. Power efficiency, signal integrity, cost, space and all a trade-off.
In our experience, you can’t just chase performance without considering how it’ll be powered, how it needs to scale, or what it will cost down the road. That’s why we like to sit down early and talk through those variables. That’s how smart design decisions get made.
Here are a couple of examples:
- Moving from plug-in to battery power? We’ll help you figure out the sweet spot between battery life and charge time, based on how your product’s actually used.
- Need to hit solid performance targets without blowing the budget? We’ll find that balance point where the design delivers without overengineering.
At the end of the day, we’re designing circuits that support your product goals—not just technically, but strategically too.
Hardware and Software Co-Design
In real product development, hardware and software don’t live in separate silos—they lean on each other. One affects the other constantly. That’s why we design them side by side, not in isolation.
From our experience, the earlier you think about firmware while shaping the hardware, the fewer headaches you’ll deal with later. Pin assignments, timing, power usage—it’s all connected. We’ve seen too many projects stall out because the firmware team didn’t have what they needed from the hardware, or vice versa.
So we built that collaboration in from the start. Whether it’s tuning an embedded system for speed, tweaking I/O for sensor responsiveness, or optimizing memory use, we make sure the pieces work together, not against each other.
The result? Fewer surprises. Faster development. And a product that actually does what it’s supposed to do—without patching things up after the fact.
Prototyping and Testing
Prototyping isn’t just a checkbox—it’s where ideas meet reality. This is the stage where we find out what actually works, what doesn’t, and what needs rethinking before you sink time and money into full production.
Here’s how we approach it:
- We build fully functional prototypes so you can validate your concept with real hardware—not just simulations or pretty renders.
- Then we put those prototypes through the wringer. We test for reliability, performance, and make sure you’re on track to meet any regulatory requirements.
- And because hardware doesn’t live in a vacuum, we coordinate with mechanical designers to nail things like mounting points, connector placement, and how users will interact with buttons, screens, or enclosures.
We design with compliance in mind—whether it’s FCC, CE, or other regulatory hurdles—and we’re right there with you through the certification process. If something needs to change, we change it. No guesswork. No finger-pointing.
At this stage, the goal is simple: make sure the thing works like it should, and make sure it’s ready for the real world.
Why Choose Us?
- Client-Centered Approach: We work closely with you to understand your goals, explore trade-offs, and deliver a design that meets your requirements.
- Iterative Development: From initial concepts to production-ready designs, we refine and improve through iterative feedback and testing.
- Expertise Across Industries: With experience spanning consumer electronics, IoT, medical devices, and more, we bring diverse expertise to your project.
Partner with us to bring your hardware ideas to life with precision and reliability. Contact us today to start your project!
Hardware Design
The Design Process
Our Hardware Design Services
We have a passion for quality technology-driven products
FAQs
What deliverables do I need from a PCB design to send to a contract manufacturer?
At minimum, you should have the schematic, PCB layout files, a complete BOM, and fabrication and assembly outputs (Gerbers or ODB++, drill files, fab notes, pick-and-place, and assembly drawings). For a smooth build, add programming and test requirements, test points, and any bring-up notes that reduce ambiguity on the factory floor. The handoff side of the workflow is summarized on Our Process.
How do I design a PCB that is manufacturable and sourceable, not just functional?
Treat DFM and sourcing as design inputs, not cleanup work. That means choosing parts with realistic availability, planning alternates, using footprints and packages your CM can build reliably, and designing for test so failures can be isolated quickly. If you are early in the project, Prototyping is where you prove the risky electrical and mechanical assumptions before you commit to production.
Can an engineering firm update or redesign legacy circuit boards and old toolchains?
Yes, but the work starts with recreating intent: requirements, interfaces, performance targets, and constraints that may not be documented. Some projects can be stabilized with small fixes, but others are faster and safer as a controlled redesign with modern parts and a clean manufacturing package. If you are taking over a legacy design, the intake checklist on Getting Started helps you gather what matters.
How do I plan for EMI/EMC and FCC/CE compliance during hardware design?
Plan early and design for margin. Stackup, grounding, return paths, filtering, shielding, and layout discipline matter more than late-stage fixes. A practical approach is to identify high-risk interfaces (switching power, radios, long cables), then run pre-compliance testing on prototypes before you pay for formal lab time. Early risk planning usually starts in Embedded Systems Design and gets proven through Prototyping.
How do I choose parts to reduce obsolescence and long lead time risk?
Favor parts with strong lifecycle status, multiple sources when possible, and widely available packages. Avoid fragile supply chains, single-supplier corner parts, and components that are already near end-of-life unless you have a mitigation plan. A good BOM also includes approved alternates and clear part specifications so substitutions do not change behavior. The broader project risk approach is described on Our Process.
What is the difference between schematic design and PCB layout, and why do both matter?
The schematic defines electrical intent and connectivity. The PCB layout determines whether that intent works in the real world, including signal integrity, noise coupling, EMI behavior, thermal performance, and manufacturability. Many hardware failures come from layout and return-path mistakes, not schematic errors. Hardware and firmware integration work often runs in parallel with Firmware Development.
How many board spins should I plan for in a new product?
For a new design, plan on at least two iterations: an initial prototype to validate assumptions, and a follow-on revision that fixes what you learn. Complex designs, tight power budgets, challenging RF, or new-to-you manufacturing constraints can drive additional spins. The best way to reduce spins is to prototype the riskiest blocks early. See Prototyping.
What CAD tools do you use for PCB design?
Altium Designer is our primary tool. We also support OrCAD, Cadence, and KiCad, depending on what a project or an existing design already uses.
What's the difference between a schematic and a PCB layout?
The schematic is the logical description of the circuit: what connects to what, and why. The layout is the physical description: the actual copper traces, footprints, and component placement used to manufacture the board. You need both, but you can only build a board using the layout.
How many prototype spins should I expect before a board is production-ready?
It varies by design, but plan for at least one revision. That's exactly why we build small, low-cost prototype runs first: it's cheaper to find and fix issues on a handful of boards than to discover them after a large production run.
Do you handle EMC compliance and signal integrity?
Yes. We design with established best practices from the start. These include decoupling, trace routing, isolation between high-speed signals, and making targeted corrections once formal testing shows where the actual issues are. For most projects, that's a faster and cheaper path than exhaustive upfront simulation.
Can you take over a legacy PCB design built in a tool we don't use anymore?
Yes. Updating legacy designs, including ones built in outdated or obscure tools, is work we do regularly.
Near production and want a second set of eyes on your schematics or PCB layout?
Talk to a senior engineer about an EES Design Review (starts at $499). You’ll get a clear, prioritized report on real risks before they cost you a manufacturing run.
HT Snowday | Head of R&D | midmark