Hardware engineering from first schematic to a working demo build.
Illuminious is a U.S. NPI engineering company. Hardware product development covers electronics, mechanical design, firmware, prototype builds, the certification path and production, run by one team. Engineered in San Francisco. Prototype builds, DFM and mass production in our own factory in Shenzhen. Upload your files, get a free engineering review, and pay only the official quote that review publishes.
It is built for startups with no hardware engineers yet, one generalist, or a specialist gap such as FPGA, RF or motor control.
Wearables, robots, industrial IoT sensors, power electronics and lab instruments. The engineers who draw the schematic stay on the project from the demo build to production.
8 lifecycle stagesUS-based project managementEngineering review before payment
Walk Shenzhen factories with us, Dec 6–11. See the tour
- Full lifecycle
- IoT expertise
- Demo build to golden sample
- IP protected
- ISO 9001 certified
- ISO 13485 medical
- EMC/RF pre-scans in DVT
- Golden sample sign-off
- ISO 14001
- BLE / Wi-Fi / LoRa / cellular
- Firmware & cloud integration
- OTA update architecture
- Full NPI management
The hardware journey, simplified
8 structured stages from concept to mass production. One point of contact per project; molding, assembly and test in the Shenzhen factory.
01 Concept and feasibility
We start by understanding your product vision, target market, and business model. Our team conducts a technical feasibility study covering component availability, power budget, connectivity requirements, form factor constraints, and regulatory landscape. You receive a comprehensive project plan with timeline, budget, and risk assessment.
Key deliverables
- Feasibility report
- Project plan & budget
- Risk assessment
- Component pre-selection
02 Industrial design
Our design team creates the physical form of your product — from initial sketches and mood boards to photorealistic 3D renders and ergonomic studies. We balance aesthetics, user experience, and manufacturability to create a design that looks great and can be produced at scale.
Key deliverables
- Concept sketches
- 3D CAD models
- Photorealistic renders
- CMF (Color, Material, Finish) spec
03 Electrical engineering
Schematic design, PCB layout, and firmware development for your product's electronic brain. We design for reliability, EMC compliance, and power efficiency from the start. Our team handles everything from simple microcontroller circuits to complex multi-board systems with wireless connectivity.
Key deliverables
- Schematic & PCB layout
- Firmware source code
- Power budget analysis
- EMC pre-compliance test
04 Mechanical engineering
Detailed mechanical design of enclosures, structural components, and internal assemblies. Every part is designed for the target manufacturing process — injection molding, die casting, sheet metal, or CNC. DFM analysis ensures your parts are optimized for production from day one.
Key deliverables
- Production-ready CAD
- Tolerance analysis
- DFM/DFA report
- Assembly instructions
05 Prototyping and validation
Functional prototypes built using production-representative processes. We run EVT (Engineering Validation Test) and DVT (Design Validation Test) cycles to verify all functional, environmental, and reliability requirements. Each iteration is scoped and scheduled in the project plan.
Key deliverables
- Functional prototypes
- EVT/DVT test reports
- Design iteration log
- Golden sample approval
06 Tooling and pilot production
Production tooling fabrication and pilot production run (PVT). This validates the entire manufacturing process at scale — yield, cycle time, quality metrics, and supply chain. The pilot run produces the Golden Sample for your final sign-off before mass production.
Key deliverables
- Production tooling
- Pilot run samples
- Process validation report
- Quality control plan
07 Certification path
The certification path is planned from the feasibility study. We design for it, run EMC/RF pre-scans in DVT, build DVT units for the test lab and supply the documents it asks for. You or a test lab you choose make the FCC, CE or UL submission.
Key deliverables
- Pre-scan results
- DVT units for the lab
- Lab document pack
- Compliance matrix
08 Mass production and fulfillment
Full-scale manufacturing with ongoing quality management. We handle everything from component procurement and SMT assembly to final packaging and global logistics. Direct shipping to your warehouse, Amazon FBA, or end customers.
Key deliverables
- Production units
- Quality reports (SPC)
- Inventory management
- Global logistics
How do you de-risk the path to market?
Hardware development is hard. We eliminate the most common failure modes.
| The problem | How we address it | In short |
|---|---|---|
| Managing 5–10 separate vendors for one product | Single integrated partner for the entire product lifecycle | |
| Prototype works but can't scale to production | DFM-first design approach ensures production readiness from day one | Production readiness designed in |
| Failed certification after months of development | EMC/RF pre-scans in DVT find problems while the design can still change | Pre-compliance checks planned into DVT |
| Supply chain disruptions delaying your launch | A vetted supplier base with second-source qualification for every critical component | Second-sourced critical parts |
| Communication gaps with overseas manufacturers | US-based project managers who speak your language and understand your standards | US-based project management |
| IP theft and design leakage concerns | We sign your NDA before the first call, and project files live in private project storage | NDA before the first call |
Have a product idea? Let's talk.
Get a free feasibility assessment and preliminary project plan. No commitment required.
Building the connected future
Deep expertise in every major wireless protocol. We help you choose the right connectivity for your application.
| Connectivity | Range | Power | Best for | Modules |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wi-Fi802.11 b/g/n/ac/ax | 30–100m | Medium–High | Smart home, streaming, high-bandwidth | ESP32, CC3235, ATWINC1500 |
| Bluetooth / BLEBT 5.0, BLE 5.3, Mesh | 10–100m | Very Low | Wearables, sensors, beacons, audio | nRF52840, CC2652, ESP32-C3 |
| Cellular (LTE/5G)Cat-M1, NB-IoT, LTE, 5G | Unlimited | High | Asset tracking, remote monitoring, fleet | Quectel BG96, Sierra HL7802 |
| LoRaWANLoRa, LoRaWAN 1.0.4 | 2–15km | Very Low | Agriculture, smart city, utilities | SX1276, STM32WL, RAK3172 |
| Zigbee / ThreadZigbee 3.0, Thread, Matter | 10–100m (mesh) | Very Low | Smart home, building automation | CC2652, EFR32MG, nRF52840 |
| Sub-GHz433/868/915 MHz ISM | 1–5km | Low | Industrial sensors, metering, alarms | CC1312, SX1262, Si4463 |
Firmware development · Antenna design · Power optimization · Cloud integration · OTA updates · Security
One partner, or many vendors?
See why an integrated development partner outperforms the traditional multi-vendor approach.
| Factor | Illuminious | Separate vendors | DIY or in-house |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design and engineering | In-house, integrated | Separate design firm | Your team |
| Prototyping | Same team, same facility | Handoff to prototype shop | You manage vendors |
| Manufacturing | Same team carries it through | Another vendor handoff | You find a CM |
| Certification | Planned from feasibility | Planned late | Planned late |
| Supply chain | Vetted, second-sourced | CM's supply chain | You source components |
| Communication | One point of contact per project | Multiple contacts | Direct with each vendor |
| IP protection | NDA before the first call | Varies by vendor | Varies by vendor |
| Total cost | Optimized (single margin) | Higher (stacked margins) | Lowest but highest risk |
| Schedule ownership | One plan, one owner | Coordinated across vendors | You coordinate |
Products we've brought to market
Confidential: IoT Environmental Sensor
From Concept to Volume Production
- Challenge
- A climate-tech startup needed a solar-powered environmental sensor with LoRaWAN connectivity, an IP67 rating and multi-year battery life, with no hardware team of their own.
- Solution
- Full product development: industrial design, a 4-layer PCB with LoRa and solar MPPT, an injection-molded IP67 enclosure, firmware with OTA updates, then the ramp to volume.
Trusted by
Serving hardware teams from Y Combinator startups to Fortune 500 R&D labs
Startups
Creators
R&D teams
Entrepreneurs
Featured
MediaFrequently asked questions
How much does it cost to develop a new hardware product?
It depends on complexity: a single-board sensor with an off-the-shelf enclosure and a multi-board consumer product with custom tooling are different projects. We do not publish a range, because a range wide enough to be true would not help you budget. The feasibility study is a paid first step at a published tier, and it produces an itemized cost breakdown for your product. The free engineering review of what you send comes before it.
How long does the entire process take from concept to production?
Three things move it most: how many certifications the product needs, whether it needs custom tooling, and how many validation cycles the design takes to settle. None of those is known before the feasibility study. That study produces a dated plan for your product, and the official quote restates it. We do not put a number on it before we have seen the product, because a number given then is a guess.
What connectivity protocols do you support for IoT products?
We have deep expertise in Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n/ac/ax), Bluetooth/BLE (5.0, 5.3, Mesh), Cellular (Cat-M1, NB-IoT, LTE), LoRaWAN, Zigbee/Thread/Matter, and Sub-GHz (433/868/915 MHz). We also handle cloud platform integration (AWS IoT, Azure IoT, custom MQTT) and OTA firmware update systems.
How do you handle the transition from prototype to production?
A hardware product has three transitions at once, electronics, mechanical and firmware, and most of the risk is in them disagreeing. The same engineers carry all three through EVT, DVT and PVT in the Shenzhen factory and attend each build in person. After PVT you sign the golden sample, and production is held to it. Nothing is handed to a new supplier.
Can you help with firmware development and cloud integration?
Yes. Our firmware engineers write embedded software for ARM Cortex-M, ESP32, Nordic nRF and other platforms, including RTOS integration, wireless stacks, power management, OTA updates and cloud connection. OTA updates are designed to verify each image and fall back to the last good one. Firmware source is delivered when the order includes it; otherwise you receive binaries.
When in the project does certification actually happen?
The certification path is in the project plan from the feasibility study. We design for it, build DVT units for the lab and supply the documents it asks for; you or a test lab you choose make the FCC, CE or UL submission.
What are the typical MOQs for production?
It depends on whether the product needs custom tooling: a tool has to be amortised over a run, and an off-the-shelf enclosure does not, so the two have very different floors. The quantity your product actually needs is set in the project plan and restated in the official quote. We offer blanket orders and quarterly releases either way, to help manage inventory and cash flow.
How do you protect my intellectual property?
We sign your NDA before the first call, and project files live in private project storage. On engineering projects, design files and IP are assigned to you at hand-off. Tooling you pay for belongs to you. Production units ship with debug ports locked.
How do you optimize battery life for IoT products?
Battery optimization is a system-level challenge. We address it at every layer: hardware (low-power component selection, power gating, efficient DC-DC converters), firmware (sleep modes, duty cycling, efficient protocol usage), and connectivity (BLE vs. LoRa vs. cellular based on data requirements). Battery life is a design outcome rather than a specification we can promise before seeing the duty cycle, so it is modelled during the feasibility phase and stated in the project plan.
Can you work with our existing engineering team?
Yes. Some teams have no hardware engineers, some have one generalist, and some need a specialist for FPGA, RF and antenna, power electronics, motor control or embedded Linux. You might keep the firmware while we design the hardware, or keep the industrial design while we handle the mechanical engineering and production.
Free consultation
Tell us what you are building and we will come back with a preliminary project plan.
Ready to build the next big thing?
Schedule a free consultation with our hardware engineers. We will assess your project and come back with a preliminary plan.
Or email us at info@illuminious.com, or schedule a call.
- An engineer runs a free engineering review of your files, and nothing is charged when you submit.
- You see the findings first.
- We publish the official quote with an itemized total, lead time and validity window.
- You accept the official quote, and only then does payment open.