A Generic Standalone Design Approach to Embedded Hardware Development

Abstract

Hardware design in an Electronic System refers to a holistic design incorporating the basic schematic, the board layout, routing,
fabrication, and testing. Present industry trends use virtual design methodologies to construct one or more printed circuit boards
(PCB’s) which implement interconnections between components and are manufactured in bulk for multiple applications in Consumer Electronics, Automobiles, Computers and Entertainment Systems. They even find application is a diverse spectrum of
micro to mega-scale of electronic products. This paper presents a novel approach to design a proprietary standalone controller card. Hardware Design integrates custom Schematic, Board layout, and manual track routing. The Standalone design technique provides a technique to physically connect microcontrollers to a master device for the sole purpose of firmware upload. The Two fold approach refers to a standard OEP (Original Entry Point) based design juxtaposed with an optional DE (Dual Entry Design) for an additional Proprietary entry point included to serve as an irretrievable secure secondary dumping mechanism. This offers flexibility to upload firmware securely as an extension to the prevalent OEP technique. The final design integrates the PCB’s functionality of interconnected components with accurate placement and feasible dimensions for large-scale production.