Client
The client was a large organization focused on producing Laser Jet Printers.
Project
The objective was to design and develop the hardware and the embedded firmware for a Laser Jet Printer. It involved the porting of RTOS, developing device drivers, making FPGA changes to a Debug hardware board, and the porting of a TCP/IP stack. Installation and Testing of the printer driver on Windows 98, Windows XP, and Windows 2000 was also done.
Challenges
The client came to GDA with an understanding of the hardware and software potential available at GDA needed to complete this complex project on a very tight schedule. The offshore layout teams worked around the clock to complete the layout in a very short time. The main challenge was during the hardware phase, in coming up with the new ASIC, which was getting used for the first time. The hardware and software teams worked hard to solve all the issues, making the board very stable interacting with the ASIC team.
Solution
The GDA Hardware professionals analyzed the requirements of the product to the smallest detail and carefully studied the technical specifications of the ASIC. Multiple teams then reviewed the designs. The Firmware team performed the simulations to the extent possible without the target hardware and was ready with partially tested code before the hardware was even available. This strategy helped in reducing the time of the testing phase.
Benefits
Every effort was made to optimize the selection of components to support large-volume productions. The pre-existing designs available in GDA and the knowledge base of the team in Signal Integrity played a major role in developing this product on an aggressive schedule. The expertise of the GDA firmware professionals--together with the software design and development process followed--helped smooth development of the product. GDA also worked effectively as a team and as an extension to the client's development team. Finally, GDA also offered Program Management expertise internally to coordinate all customer requests and make the cross-functional teams work together effectively. |