Device Factory

A little bit about the Device Factory team

So What is Device Factory?

• A virtual company: there is no physical "factory"
• We coordinate online, often working in cafes and bars
• And we make cool devices with open source
• We emphasize working with like-minded people passionate about technology

How Did We Start?

• Just JB’s geeky hobby...
• Then the idea to create a Baby Monitor
• But consumer products require full-time effort
• We have day jobs and would not want to have angry customers
• So we focused on just technology with other technologists

What Do We Make?

• There are no consumer products...
• Consumers don't care about the insides of technology
• We make platforms that can be adapted to a variety of use cases
• And we do sell devices to other techies as cheap as possible
• The code is there so they can be hacked into you own ideas

What is our Goal?

• To experiment, learn, and create
• While engaging with other technical people
• Producing a steady stream of devices that can adapt to problems
• ...and to have fun.

Making Of ...

Current landscape for producing electronic devices

Creating Devices is Accessible

• The advent of Smart phones that can act as an interface
• Internet of things (IoT), and sensors to measure everthing
• New wireless technologies to connect devices and the internet
• Rapid prototyping services: 3D printing, PCB, and Assembly
• Access to low-cost manufacturing capabilities

Electronics Design

• Circuit design: lots of reference designs as a head start
• Lots of open source tools to create PCB layouts
• Prototyping and PCB fab in small quantities to develop and learn
• Mouser to buy all the bits and bytes in small quantities

Understanding the Sensors

• MEMS: windows to the physical world
• Motion, temperature, humidity, light, and many more!
• Connected to a System on a Chip (SoC) by Ti or Nordic

Wireless as the Glue

• WiFi and Bluetooth to ZigBee, ANT+, and Bluetooth Low Engergy
• BLE low power requirements means long battery life
• Good range is only achieved though optimized antenna design
• BLE throuput is also limited, on device data processing may help
• Custom implementation requires FCC certification

CAD Design

• 3D printing is good to refine ideas, not good for finished product
• Precision enclosures require an injection mold
• Rapid prototyping with aluminum molds to make thousands of parts
• Steel molds are very expensive, but can make millions of parts
• Understand the limitaions of each process, lots of pitfalls and gotchas

Manufacturing

• Scaling the prototype from the few to the many
• Document every step of the process + Gerber files and BOM
• Source all parts to maintain compatibility with design
• Robot assembly requires additional setup
• Easier to on-shore PCB, assembly, and molding

The Net Effect

• What used to cost millions now costs thousands
• Price breaks are higest when making thousands of devices
• Molding cost is prohibitive, but scales way better than 3D
• Good documentaion is key, but mistakes will happen
• Maintaining good relationships will help in the long-run

Our First Device

A brief introduction to DF1

3-Axis Accelerometer

Open Platform

With Bluetooth Low Energy Wireless

Fully Baked

• Not just bare electronics
• Injection molded enclosure
• Integrated software stack
• Complete documentation
• FCC certified
• Scalable production

Specifications

• Main IC: TI CC2541 System on Chip
• Sensor: Freescale MMA8451Q Accelerometer
• Primary Clock: XTAL1 32MHz
• Secondary Clock: XTAL2 32.678kHz
• Bandpass Filter: Murata Chip Balun
• Chip Antenna: ANT-2.45-CHP-x
• LED: RGB
• Battery: CR2032 3.0V

Capabilities

• Streaming data, event subscriptions
• 150-200ft wireless range
• Tunable accelerometer range 2/4/8G
• Tunable accelerometer DSP parameters, threshholds
• Over the air upgradable firmware

Interfaces

• iOS opensource library + demo app
• Node.js opensource library based on noble
• Full BLE Services spec for custom implementations

Use Cases

• Yet another activity monitor
• Bike alarm for your fixie
• Home security system
• Research sensor and data collection
• Motion-based PC controller
• Anything you can think of...