Verification

Much like design, verification is also an iterative process. At some point during design you will reach a point where you need to test a concept beyond what is theoretically possible with simulation. Or maybe you think you’re done design completely. Or you’re just at a nice breaking point. Whatever the reason, you now need to verify your design.

Historically you would now manufacture 10-100 prototypes of the design, often called a pre-release build or an A01 revision. It could cost as much as $50,000.00 for these prototypes. And they would be used for everything from turn-on testing to environmental testing. The success of a product would largely hinge on these A01 boards. The better a job you did of the design and ideation stages the more likely this prototype would only need one more build (often the B01 revision) before it could be pushed into production and mass-manufacturing.

But these days prototyping is more accessible and cheaper in smaller quantities. It’s possible to get a single prototype for hundreds of dollars manufactured in a matter of days. And while you might want to get a few to cover yourself in case you blow one up, we are finally moving away from the world of mandatory minimum quantities.

There are four major stages to the verification phase (Design Review, BOM Selection, Prototyping, Testing & Debugging).