System architectures are fundamentally about receiving input data, processing it and outputting the processed data to another system or HMI (human machine interface).   Product developers look for commercially available hardware platforms to reduce their development time and costs. However, many of the standard hardware products available are processor centric (CPU/NPU/GPU) and require hardware I/O interfaces to be designed for use in a real world application.  The product design may also need to support non-standard interfaces and thus need a product specific implementation.  

Tauro Technologies specializes in the design and build of specialty I/O interface hardware, firmware, software as separate components of complete systems in addition to our full design capabilities.   Optimizing I/O design is key to creating cost effective, efficient and deployable products.   We cover the following elements in any system, product component, or technology refresh discussion with our customers.

The first key consideration to any system design is to model the data process flow:

• Inputs can be analog or digital and frequently a mix of inputs must be supported in the product.   Environmental factors such as vibration, altitude, thermal, operational frequency range all play a role in mechanical and electrical design choices.
• Processing takes into account the data stream, sample rates, bursts, buffering, and latency requirements.  A low latency design involves careful memory and processor management to optimize system performance.
• System outputs typically are sent to a GUI for visualization or to a secondary system for further processing or storage.  Many new products or technology upgrades need to support  legacy systems and thus a variety of mechanical and electrical outputs need to be supported.   Storage system capacity, write speeds, retrieval speeds also factor into architecture and design decisions. 

Secondary product design considerations involve further trade-offs in design and component selection.  These include SWaP-C also known as:

• Size: many systems have restrictions and may be rack mount with height and depth dimensions defined by the end use.  Robotic systems, airborne, automotive, and medical systems also have component dimensions defined by the application.   
• Weight:  While systems that are airborne, robotic, or designed to be carried by humans have critical restrictions on overall system weight, other systems do not.  Weight reduction targets influence material selection, component selection, power design to reduce battery load etc.
• Power: Decisions on power management are interwoven in many aspects of product design.  Input voltage range, required current, component power consumption, and heat dissipation affect all other elements of SWaP-C. 
• Cost:  All projects target the lowest production costs possible.  Designers take into account product reliability, quality, appearance, and desired functional performance to create a solution that balances these factors with feasible design and production price tags.

Tauro Technologies has a deep understanding of I/O Centric systems enabling our designers to create efficient and effective solutions with many technologies including:

• RF & Microwave Systems
  • 4G LTE/5G
  • WiFi / Bluetooth
  • LoRa
  • High Speed ADC/DAQ systems design for SDR / Broadband RF Systems
• Storage and Communication
  • Ethernet 1G/10G/100G
  • USB
  • PCIe
  • NVMe
  • Time and Frequency Synchronization
• ADC/DAQ

Get in touch with us to learn more about how you can leverage the wide engineering skillset for your next project.

The post I/O Centric System Design appeared first on Tauro Technologies.