Every reliable IoT product begins as a piece of hardware: a sensor reading the physical world, a controller that understands it, a radio that carries the data onward and a power source that must keep the device alive for years. PBDP's IoT hardware development covers that whole chain — schematic, PCB layout, antenna and RF decisions, power design, firmware hooks and cloud connectivity. We design against the two constraints that make or break connected devices: battery life and the real radio conditions of factories, basements and city rooftops.

Why IoT starts with hardware

Apps and dashboards can be rebuilt in a quarter; a flawed sensor board or a badly placed antenna cannot be patched in software. That is why our hardware work runs side by side with firmware development — the code knows the power states and error behaviour the board was built for. The payoff shows up in unit cost, certification tests and devices that stay online; representative builds are in our project archive.

What an IoT hardware project delivers

• System architecture and part selection: MCU, sensors and radios chosen against cost, availability and supply longevity.
• Schematic and layout: EMI-conscious PCB design with production reality built into the component list.
• Sensing and power chain: analogue front-ends, calibration strategy and a low-power architecture mapped to the battery budget.
• Connectivity: BLE, Wi-Fi, LoRa or NB-IoT with antenna performance verified in the final enclosure.
• Working prototypes: assembled boards sending data to your cloud platform, paired with a functional companion app.
• Manufacturing package: production files, test guidance and a supplier list that keeps margins intact.

How we develop IoT hardware

1. Discovery: deployment environment, data, range and per-unit budget.
2. Architecture: radio and MCU topology chosen against the battery maths within system design.
3. Design: schematic, layout and RF work reviewed at agreed checkpoints.
4. Prototype and bring-up: first boards assembled and validated together with integration testing.
5. Field pilot: devices deployed for real, logging power and link quality.
6. Industrialisation: design fixes, documentation and certification preparation.

Battery maths and RF: where IoT projects succeed or fail

A device claiming five years on one battery must show its arithmetic: sleep currents, radio duty cycle, temperature effects and realistic discharge curves. Antennas deserve the same rigour — enclosure material and mounting position change measured range more than transmitter power does. We validate both with multi-day energy logging and pre-compliance RF scans before committing to production. If your business depends on extending a fleet that already exists, the next hardware generation gets prioritised through market feasibility work.

Frequently asked questions

Which radio should my product use?

It depends on distance, data rate and infrastructure: BLE for phone-proximity links, Wi-Fi where mains power and traffic are plentiful, LoRa for long range at tiny power budgets, NB-IoT on operator networks. We present a measured comparison in the architecture session.

How is security handled at hardware level?

Secure elements for key storage, per-device identity, encrypted transport and signed firmware are part of the design from day one, not bolted on before certification — including a safe update path for the device's lifetime.

What production volumes do you support?

From tens-of-units pilots to annual runs. Layout is done with the end factory in mind, and the handover package is complete enough that any competent manufacturer can build your boards without guessing; and if you want a single accountable partner, the same team carries the programme onward through industrialisation.

If you are planning a connected product — or watching an existing one disappoint in the field — talk to PBDP about your IoT hardware programme.