R&D Acceleration via System-On-Module (SOM)

Turnkey Hardware and RTOS Core for Industrial Automation.
Client & Industry
  • Client: Confidential Project (NDA)
  • Industry: Industrial Automation, Machinery & Process Control.

The Challenge
A leading manufacturer of advanced industrial machinery sought to develop a new generation of control systems based on a high-performance architecture (ARM Cortex-M7). The client possessed strong internal expertise in application firmware development, but faced a critical hurdle: they did not want to hire or allocate systems engineering staff to handle complex high-frequency hardware design and, above all, to resolve the known instability issues and bugs present in the baseline libraries (HAL/Cube) provided by silicon manufacturers. The challenge was obtaining a solid starting foundation without slowing down time-to-market.

The Quantic Innovations Solution
Rather than having the client start from scratch, we proposed a co-development approach based on our proprietary technology:

1. Adoption of the SODIMMF7 Module: We integrated our STM32F7-based System-On-Module (Cortex-M7 at 216MHz), custom-engineering only the carrier board tailored to their specific I/Os.

2. Provision of the Optimized Software Core: We delivered a complete, fully refined Board Support Package (BSP). Our team initialized and thoroughly tested all critical peripherals (Ethernet, USB, CAN, QSPI External Memories, and SDRAM via DMA), resolving the inefficiencies of standard ST libraries.

3. FreeRTOS Integration: We provided a software architecture equipped with a pre-configured real-time operating system (FreeRTOS), stable and structured into operational tasks.

 

Results & Benefits

  • Human Resources Savings: The client avoided recruiting and hiring hyper-specialized engineers for low-level firmware development (drivers and micro-architecture).
  • Focus on Application Value: The client's software team was able to seamlessly inject their application logic into our pre-configured FreeRTOS tasks, working within a safe and protected environment.
  • Dramatic Time-to-Market Reduction: Starting with pre-validated hardware and a bug-free software core accelerated final product development by several months, eliminating typical bottlenecks associated with low-level debugging.
Featured Expertise
  • Proprietary SOM (System-On-Module) integration
  • Industrial carrier board design
  • BSP (Board Support Package) development for ARM Cortex-M7
  • Low-level driver optimization and FreeRTOS integration