Hardware development and scale up is challenging and time consuming. This is specially true for IoT sensors that go from PoC to high volume deployments in almost no available time, making proper planning and partner selection even more crucial.

1. Challenges in Ramp-up of IoT Sensors
Dr. Schekeb Fateh

2. Who I am?
Background:
o Studied Electrical Engineering at ETH Zurich
o PhD in Integrated circuits and microelectronics
o Ten years of experience in microelectronics
Dr. Schekeb Fateh
Business Development
Email: sfateh@miromico.com
Tel: +41 78 857 08 85
“The electric light did not come from the continuous improvement of candles.”
- Oren Harari

3. About Miromico
Partner for innovative high-quality services in the areas of integrated circuit design,
embedded systems, and Internet-of-Things (IoT).
Miromico has been founded in 2002 in Zurich, Switzerland, and consists of
department
integrated circuits
department
embedded design
Supply and distribution partner:
Manufacturing and assembly partner:
department
Internet-of-Things

4. Current situation of the market shows a high demand for
customized and project-based IoT devices
Currently, IoT devices and sensors are typically custom-designed and produced on small scale
o „Project-based“ approach to IoT devices development requires new setup for every instance
o Global demand for affordable high-quality standardized IoT devices and sensors is increasing
o But no truly global-scale production and distribution yet available for LPWAN
Mass IoT device and sensor production is complex
o A diverse set of competences is required to build a fully operational IoT device
o Product scale-up for a diverse set of devices non-existing and costly
o Orchestrated approach needed to produce the IoT devices at scale and distribute them globally

5. Global market demand of IoT sensors highly dependent on
LPWAN coverage where low-cost gateways are essential
LoRaWAN
Indoor gateway
WiFi, Cellular, and Ethernet
connectivity to the cloud
o Gateways needed for coverage and currently specific to regional requirements
o Switzerland is the place for PoCs: Swisscom and Swiss Post built national LPWAN coverage
o No LPWAN solution possible without gateways
internet

6. We see high demand for indoor applications and provide
standardized modules to enable fast prototyping
gatewayLoRaWAN sensor
modules
o Switzerland is covered nationally with LoRaWAN
o It makes LoRaWAN the favorite LPWAN
communication technology to choose
o Standardization and modular design principles for
PoC acceleration

7. Miromico supplies its customers with LoRaWAN based
sensors and gateway in various verticals
finished products
retail facility management systems
predictive
maintenance
agriculture gateways

8. Miromico’s LoRaWAN sensors already on field for PoC with
end-customers in facility management services
LoRaWAN
modules
finishedproducts
o LoRaWAN feeback button for service on demand
LoRaWANCellular

9. Connected IoT devices will surpass cellular in 2021 with more
than 11B devices and continue to grow exponentially
Source: IoT Analytics

10. Our understanding of production ramp-up for IoT sensors
and gateways
Definition: Ramp-up is the time interval from the end of the prototyping phase to full-volume
production.
ramp-up
start-up production
time
volume per
use case
pilot production
o Time-to-volume directly affects the financial success of a product
o A shorter ramp-up reduces the payback period and improves financial indicators, such as
return on investment (RoI) and return on assets
refinement

11. Challenges in the ramp-up of LPWAN product portfolio due
to short product lifecycle and rapid technological changes
General trends in consumer electronics:
o Shortening product lifecycles
o Rising market fragmentation
o Rapid technological changes
time to quality
ramp-up
IoT trends differ from mobile phone business:
o A diverse set of sensors for various verticals
o Many small-to-medium sized orders with different setup and connectivity
o No mainstream solution available yet – still many customized solutions

12. Miromico manages complexity in hardware and software to
ramp up modular LoRaWAN indoor gateways successfully
TheThingsNetwork
Loriot
Yodiwo
enclosure design
and manufacturing
supply of components
assembly & verification
PCB manufacturing
supply of modules
Microsoft
Google
Software complexity:
o Error count in code
o Size of code
o Software novelty
Hardware complexity:
o Critical components
o Coupling effects
o Hardware novelty
o Mechanical problems
warehouse & distribution
TheThingsIndustries
Actility
modular design

13. Additional costs needs to be considered when planning
ramp-up of IoT devices, in particular gateways
Initial hardware costs:
o Initial investments high for pilot production with MoQ > 3K components
o Enclosure tools’ cost needs a proper understanding of the matter, i.e., off-the-shelf standard
enclosure, low-cost tools to start production and later investments for better (steel-made) tools
o Technical realization is costly and time consuming, in particular testing for reliability
o Certification fees, i.e., FCC, ETSI, etc.
Initial software costs:
o Certifications fees
o Software license fees
o Testing and verification setup

14. Strategic partners with the right competences to support
Miromico’s vision and supply the markets with IoT products
components modules
modules finished products
distribution
supply &
distribution
manufacturing &
verification
assembly &
verification
development
coordination sourcesource

15. Conclusions
o Every IoT application requires different components and connectivity
o A shorter ramp-up reduces the payback period and makes the product financially interesting
o A setup with the right structure, mindset, and right partners is essential

16. Contacts
Dr. Schekeb Fateh
Business Development
Miromico AG
Gallusstrasse 4
8006 Zurich
Switzerland
Email: sfateh@miromico.com
Tel: +41 78 857 08 85
www.miromico.com