Getting Assistance for Complex Designs

Designing electronics for products has changed considerably over time. Increasing complexity means that it is harder for engineers to excel at multiple disciplines. To use power systems as an example, power engineers are mostly highly skilled at analog electronics, but more and more designs are incorporating digital technology for the faster and more accurate control that is needed for wide bandgap designs, or even to make old school silicon perform at its best. This involves learning an entirely new discipline and integrating unfamiliar hardware and software into the design. In addition, today’s solutions also include more features than straight power delivery. For example, many new designs incorporate a display, HMIs such as touchscreen technology, and connectivity options. All of these aspects of the design need different skills.

This growing requirement for additional expertise can put pressure on companies, primarily due to the ongoing skills shortage meaning that experienced engineers are in short supply. Even if the company can find the ideal candidate and the finance to pay for it, there could still be a problem finding ongoing work after the current project is finished. Consultants are one option that can smooth out skills gaps in the short term, but they can be expensive and are often specialized in very specific niches. Another route that can help is turning to the distribution channel. Over the last few years, distributors are putting more and more effort into assisting customers with both design and manufacture. One of these companies is Tria, formerly known as Avnet Embedded. The company rebranded itself last year to emphasize its design and manufacturing capabilities, and has since found that those services are particularly popular with traditionally power focussed companies.

Bevan Braude, manager for vertical markets at Tria explained the rebranding by saying, “the main reason for the change was so that we could monitor and invest in the specific manufacturing and design side of the business. It is our most profitable area and it's also one of the fastest growing. another reason was Avnet has many strong brands, including Farnell, element 14, Silica, and EBV, who are all globally recognized as distribution businesses. What we really wanted to achieve was to segregate ourselves away from pure distribution and show customers that we are a true design and manufacturing house. At the time of the change, there was a lot of engineers who thought Avnet Embedded was a typical distributor, when actually it was a global Tier 1 manufacturer”.

Tria’s story began when Avnet acquired German company MSC Gleichmann in 2014. It was subsequently rebranded as Avnet Embedded, and now as Tria. The company acts as a technology partner for its customers, focussing on the complex embedded systems area. The company offers a large range of industry standard computing modules for use as basic building blocks in designs, or to be customized to meet customer requirements. It is also capable of designing entirely new products if those are needed.

Braude expands on the company's services, “Our customers will often trial a module before approaching us and telling us what they are trying to achieve. That could be a full human machine interface with display and chassis, or just an embedded board. We will design and manufacture any semi-custom or full-custom system for them, including meeting the specific requirements for their vertical market segments. We have a lot of experience in different verticals, for example in medical, industrial power, energy and EV charging. We also can ensure regulatory approvals are in place for specific areas such as as the medical and automotive industries, as well as provide the general certification needed for PPAP or APQP auditing and audit trails”.

Of course, when designing embedded systems, hardware is only one aspect of the design. Middleware and software are also required as part of the overall solution to ensure the system works as intended. Tria has its own internal expert software team that can create custom board support packages for the platforms that the company offers, as well as custom BIOS lockdowns and other security features, OS image deployments and also perform tweaks for the customer's specific needs, for example to reduce power consumption, or to deploy real-time operating systems for medical or critical applications. If customers need extra capabilities, there are also other software companies under Avnet ownership with whom Tria can partner. For example, French IoT software provider Witekio, and US/India-based Softweb Solutions provide edge to cloud software, custom GUIs, Android, Linux and Windows platforms, along with customized apps for mobile phones and wearable IoT devices.

Other members in the Avnet group of companies can also supply additional support for systems design. Avnet’s distribution units, such as Silica, Abacus and EBV, all have specialist FAEs and account managers with different areas of expertise. This collaboration potential can assist Tria to offer other technologies, like motor drives, control systems and power monitoring.

As for the projects that Tria have completed for power companies, Braude expands, “For EV charging, we have an extensive range of customers across Europe. We have often worked on custom designs for a compute platform with an HMI. These designs often require two or three displays for payment systems and advertising. We also have completed projects for payment systems and content management systems. On the power design side, we've done some intricate custom designs where customers have had specific needs for space constraints or to protect against environmental risks. For example, one EV charger customer in Nevada required a design that could cope with extreme temperatures at either end of the scale.

The knowledge gained by the companies during this process is uploaded to the Avnet Design Hub, a design community for customers. This includes complex power designs, which were not completed under NDA, with full reference designs to allow customers to start work quickly using standard building blocks. These building blocks are free of charge and come with schematics, instructions and software to quickly get a proof of concept up and running. Customers can then decide the changes required for their own design and approach Tria for assistance if required.

https://www.tria-technologies.com/