Software compatibility with RoadMap

Link for iPhone and iTouch users here.


Before we discuss the video, let me first mention that we hit 2000 votes yesterday!

This is again great news and I will update you on the manufacturing progress in a separate post (I have been very busy taking care of all the logistics behind the scenes and acquiring quotes for the manufacturing now that NDAs have been signed).

The video above shows a demonstration of the open source software RoadMap. This open source software was ported to the iPhone by Morten Bek. Of course it is a work in progress and not everything is perfect yet and neither are all features ported, but at least it shows the concept and future potential: 3D real time location mapping (with local maps on your iPhone/iTouch; no need to connect to the internet) and hopefully in the (near) future full voice-assisted navigation support.

I was very impressed by what Morten has accomplished so far!

It seems there are two branches of the RoadMap software. The one that Morten is working on and the one that Ehud Shabtai is working on. The second branch is a little further ahead maybe in terms of features, see this video, but unfortunately the language and Wiki for that branch is in Hebrew and it only comes with the map of Israel. Hopefully the two branches will be able to join efforts and converge into one great iPhone/iTouch application.

For Morten's branch, I downloaded all the maps for California from here and I can now locate myself on my iPhone without the need for the Maps.app or internet connection.

The video shows the main aspects of the RoadMap application:

• Arrow icon at left top: this switches between a fixed map view or a rotating map view. In the last case, your driving direction is always pointed upward and the map will rotate along with you.


• Satellite icon: its color varies, green for GPS lock and red for no GPS signal. Pressing the icon will move the center of the map to your current GPS location.


• Satellite screen: provides a view of the signal to noise ratio (SNR) for each satellite, longitude, latitude, elevation, speed, etc. This screen is accessible through the left button on the menu bar in the bottom (hard to see in the video)


• 2D/3D icon: pressing this icon will switch between a 2D view of the map and a more navigation like 3D view of the map (see end of video)


• Zoom in/out icons: pressing these buttons will change the scale of the map accordingly.


• There are some more buttons in the bottom bar, but not all of them are working. With one of them, you can email your currently logged GPS route to your friends.
  

Unfortunately, my video recording ended abruptly as the camera ran out of memory, so the 3D view of the map (which I think is really neat) is not that long. But I hope you get an idea of what it looks like.

Warning.....

That time has come again..... Apple's 2.0 firmware upgrade will be out shortly, so I would like to issue a warning....

To make it clear to everyone, if you intend on using the GPS module on your iPhone or iTouch, make sure NOT TO UPGRADE your iPhone and iTouch firmware for the time being. The same goes for iTunes. Leave it alone till it is confirmed that it is safe to upgrade.

In order to communicate with the GPS module, a jailbroken iPhone or iTouch is required. Upgrading to Apple's official 2.0 firmware will put your iPhone/iTouch back into a sealed environment again until the iPhone Dev Teams comes up with another jailbreak.

So if you would like to keep your options open, play it safe. Leave your current firmware alone and wait till the unlock development teams give you the green light.

Simplified housing design

This week has been a very busy week. What you see above is a simplified housing design for which it will be cheaper to make an injection mold than for the first design. This is important as we are talking about relatively small number of volumes for injection molding (a couple of thousand) and the mold-making cost will need to be kept as low as possible so as not to drive up the price of the module. An alternative to traditional injection molding is rapid injection molding. I will need to look at both options to find out which one gives the cheapest price per unit.

For this latest housing design, the USB connector has been moved to the bottom side of the module. I have updated the PCB layout accordingly. The size of the housing is 26mm x 22.2mm x 9mm.

I have started working pretty much full-time on this project since July 1st. I have drafted up a project schedule for getting the module into production. Quite a few things need to be synchronized in terms of time-line. Here is what currently has been accomplished or is still in the works:

• NDA's have been put in place with various contract manufacturers (CM) for both the PCB assembly and the housing.
  
• The PCB has been designed and is waiting for feedback from the CM in order to determine manufacturability (1-2 weeks; we will be going into the second week). The PCB design might have to be tweaked after we get feedback from the CM. This process is called design for manufacturability (DFM).
  
• After the DFM is completed, a few final prototypes need to be built and sent to the CM (2 weeks).
  
• A few prototype housings also need to be built/machined and sent to the CM (3-4 weeks).
  
• GPS antennas need to be built (1 week setup + 3 week lead-time).
  
• GPS chip needs to be manufactured (4 weeks).
  
• Bill of materials (BOM) needs to be sourced. Some parts have a lead-time (up to 3 weeks).
• Housings need to be produced by injection molding at CM (no time-line available yet from the CM for this).
  
• After all this is completed, usually an engineering pilot build is done for design verification and after that a production pilot build.
• Test procedures need to be implemented and test fixtures designed and put in place (4 weeks). This includes both testing of the PCB as well as a final test of the performance of each GPS module.

As you can see, quite a lot of things need to be managed and synchronized. But in order to bring you the best working GPS product out there for your iPhone and iTouch, no corners can be cut.

I will keep you posted as things progress :).

First design of the housing

Top view:

Bottom view:

I have completed a first draft design of the housing. Here are a few comment on the housing:

1. Take a close look at the Apple design of your dock connector. I have managed to take that connector apart without destroying it. It's a pretty sleek design, consisting only of two parts: a sleeve that goes around the connector and a cap that slides over the connector and inside of the sleeve. I have made the housing for the GPS module in a similar rounded/flat shape as the Apple sleeve. Apple's sleeve is 26.1mm x 9mm x 5.6mm (width x length x thickness). The GPS module housing is 25.4mm x 22.2mm x 8mm. So it is a little thicker as the dock connector and about 2.5 times as long.


2. You can see the micro USB connector on the left side of the module (top view).This plug can either accept micro USB-A or micro USB-B cables. I have found a trust-worthy supplier for the micro USB-B cable and the cable will be included with the GPS module to make life easy :).


3. On the top view you see a small green light. This is the LED indicator that displays the status of the GPS module: flashing orange means the module is searching for a satellite lock. Once a lock is found, the indicator will light steady green. My plan is to make this indicator aperture similar to Apple's MagSafe power adapter that is used on the MacBook.

In the meantime, I am playing with some more ideas to make the housing design even simpler...

Board and chipset update

This is a brief note to give you an update on the board assembly that I started last week.

It turned out that the problem of the GPS chip not sending data was not in the GPS chip itself but caused by my own mistake (:-o). I was trying to get the module together quickly to test the new board, and in the hurry, I didn't solder one of the components onto the board, which left part of the GPS chip disconnected. After a very helpful phone conversation with the chip vendor, we traced the problem down in 5 minutes.

I guess sometimes it is indeed good to take a brief break from everything and let things come to peace; after I soldered the missing component onto the board, everything worked flawlessly :)

And I have another update for you: the next chip-sets that I ordered will be A-GPS enabled!

GPS and A-GPS

As a few questions were posted earlier regarding A-GPS (assisted GPS). I will try to outline the differences between regular GPS and A-GPS.

A GPS module is dependent on the GPS satellite signals to find a fix. The weaker this signal, the longer it will take to get a fix. If too weak, no fix will be found at all.

• When a GPS module is first turned on, it will usually have no satellite position data (ephemeris). This is what is called a cold start of the module (assuming the module does have a valid almanac stored). It is then necessary to place the module in open sky to have it acquire satellite data. This can take anywhere from a minute to several minutes, sometimes even longer, depending on the satellite signal strength, surroundings and the sensitivity of the GPS module. This sensitivity of the GPS module typically ranges from -140dBm to -146dBm for a cold start (the more negative the number, the more sensitive the module is).
  
• Once a GPS lock has been obtained, the GPS module will store this recent satellite data (ephemeris, almanac and time) in its memory and the module is said to be in tracking mode. When in tracking mode, the sensitivity increases as the module now has satellite data available. Typical tracking sensitivities are from -155dBm to -160dBm.
• If power is cycled off on the GPS module, then fairly immediately back on, the ephemeris data is still "fresh" (but the time might not be), and a GPS lock will be very quick since the GPS module does not have to collect new ephemeris data. This is called a warm start and the time to fix is typically less than half a minute.
• If the GPS module also still has an accurate time, the fix will be even faster (usually on the order of a second) and this is called a hot start.
  

In general, if ephemeris data is not available or outdated, obtaining a GPS lock can take some time. This is where A-GPS can help.

An A-GPS receiver can help getting ephemeris, almanac and time data from an assistance server. The assisting data can either be downloaded every time the GPS module is turned on (e.g. through the GSM network or WiFi) or in advance (e.g. once every 14 days at home from the internet). In the first case, ephemeris data, almanac and time are downloaded. In the latter case, differential almanac correction data is downloaded.

In order to be able to use A-GPS, we need three things:

1. A chip that is A-GPS compatible, i.e. the chipset allows for download of assisting data to the GPS module,
2. An assistance server from where the assisting data can be downloaded. Assistance servers are usually provided by GPS chipset manufacturers and need to be mirrored for client usage. (Apple is probably mirroring Broadcom's servers for use on the 3G iPhone).
   
3. A way to upload the A-GPS data to the GPS chipset. This can usually be done through a software download daemon which both acquires the data from the assistance server and sends it to the GPS chip at certain time intervals.

So A-GPS can make your GPS module find a faster lock, typically increasing the cold start sensitivity to about the level of a hot start.

It needs to be mentioned however that if a satellite signal is simply too weak (e.g. <-160dBm in parking structures or big concrete buildings), you won't see any improvement at all in the performance of your GPS module, even if you have an A-GPS enabled chipset as the GPS receiver won't be able to receive any signal even though you tell it were the satellites are.

Regarding the GPS chipset that I am using, the chipset can be enabled for A-GPS use and assistant data could be downloaded to the module through the serial port if the data can be obtained from an assistance server.

The Return of the Boards (part 3)

As you can see in the photo, the two boards that were sent out a while back have returned!

Also, before we discuss the boards, we hit 1500 votes this week as well (and that despite all the distracting iPhone 3G buzz) !

Regarding the boards, I started assembling one board last Thursday night but ran into problems testing the board. It took me two nights to debug the problem. The boards seem to be oke; the GPS chip I am using is the same as the one on the prototype II boards and it functions there without problems. I suspect the problem is in the GPS chip itself: although all output voltages seem oke, no data is transmitted. I had a spare unit which I tested off the board and this one has the same problem. I will have to contact the manufacturer to see what the problem is and to get functional replacement units.

Well, I guess things can't always go smoothly. I am sure we will recover quickly from this after I get new functional chips. I'll keep you updated once I find out more from the manufacturer. This shows that you always need to double check your suppliers, especially when you are using their latest technology. It also shows that it is a must that every single unit that gets shipped is quality controlled. In fact, I will guarantee that every GPS module that I will ship, will have been inspected and is 100% functional. Or as we say in dutch "De klant is Koning" (literally translated as "The customer is King" :).

In the meantime I have also been working on housing related things this week: I have pretty much completed the 3D modeling of the most important parts on the board (which will be needed to make sure that the housing doesn't interfere anywhere on the inside with the board/components). Also, I have already outlined the housing itself. Detailing of the inside will be next.

iPhone 3G buzz....

After having read some of the discussions on the previous post, I think it might be good to speak some sobering words and try to see things in perspective.

• The new iPhone is extremely cheap, even cheaper than an 8GB iTouch..... BUT you will have to sign a two year contract with AT&T (see here) for most likely a minimum of $39.99 a month.... or sign and then break the contract and pay the termination fees (probably around $200). So that puts the price tag right back at $399. My guess is that AT&T is subsidizing Apple those $200 for every phone sold.
• AT&T is still the exclusive U.S. carrier...
  
• Rumors are going around that you won't be able to buy an iPhone without signing a contract, either in the Apple Store or the AT&T store (see here)
• Regarding the iPhone 3G itself, how many of the current iPhone users would actually upgrade to the new model? Most likely those users who are already with AT&T and who are willing to spend the additional $199. I would guess that for most of the hacked phone users (who don't wan't to be with AT&T to start with), dishing out $199 + cancellation fee would be a little over the top.
• Steve mentioned that around 6 million of the original iPhones were sold. It was estimated that around 750,000-1 million phones were hacked at the end of Jan. 2008 (see here) and maybe it is even up to 20-25% now. How many of these phone users would want a plug-in GPS module? Even at less than 1%, it would be worth to make the effort.
  
• Note that even today after the announcement, iPhone users have been voting that they still would like a GPS module.
  
• Lastly, don't forget the iTouch users. The iTouch doesn't have GPS (at least for the time being), so who will take care of them?
  

So to make the story short, I will keep on doing what I have been: working hard to come out with a GPS module for iPhone and iTouch users at an acceptable price and as soon as possible.

PmgR

Compatible? YES!

Link for iPhone and iTouch users here.


Just recently, a GPS plug-in for the Maps.app was released by xWaves. The video above shows how my GPS module also works with that software.

The source code for the software was released as well and can be found here and checked out with regular svn. All credit for this software goes to the people at xWaves.

Below is some more information on how the software works:

• The software currently talks to the GPS module directly through the serial port. The standard baudrate is 19200 which I had to adjust to match my module. It will be best if the software is updated in the future to automatically check what baudrate the GPS module is running at. Another option is to add in functionality to work with a gps daemon.


• The xGPS program is a daemon that runs in the background and is started through a plist file in the Launchdaemons directory. This deamon talks to the Maps.app and the serial port and tells the Maps.app to update its location with the data obtained from the serial port.


• The software currently needs to connect to the internet to update the map as it calls the Google website to update its location. It would be nice if someone figures out how to circumvent this and have the Maps.app update its location directly from its database without having to connect to the internet. In that way you could upload your own maps to your iPhone/iTouch and use those while on the road.
  

Then finally one comment on the video. I stated: "...the GPS module is charged through the USB..." What I actually meant to state is that the iPhone is charged through the USB. If you look closely, you can see the charging sign in the video.

Then lastly, before signing off for tonight, I also wanted to let you know that I am currently working hard on the housing design and getting manufacturing for the boards set up.

Froooozen!

I had a busy week. I have frozen the board design and sent out two PCB designs on Friday.

Both boards have the same functionality, but one of them is pushed to the smallest limit in terms of size (15.2mm x 23.4mm, see the left side of the photo). It will have to be seen if this board can be manufactured and assembled automatically with components. In case not, I have the second PCB design which is a little bigger (17.7mm x 23.4mm, see the right side of the photo) and which should not have any problems for fully automatic manufacturing and assembly.

I will be spending the next couple of weeks on the mechanical design of the package. This package will be based on the larger board. The two PCBs have been laid out in a smart way such that both will fit in the same larger package.

If it turns out that the smaller board can be assembled automatically (or if hand assembly of one or two components is not a problem), then the mechanical package can be shrunk in size by just changing one single dimension of the package! That's why it took a little while to come up with the current frozen board design.

You can also see that I have redesigned the website slightly and re-arranged some things: posts in the center, polls and the blog archive in the left side bar, and my human rights related links in the right side bar.

Upon request, I have also added a donation button on the left top for anyone who wants to donate. In addition, I have added some Adsense ad-links throughout the page. I have noticed that they are quite on the topic of the blog and they will also bring in a little bit of revenue when people click on them.

I am glad I was able to get this final board design out the door before the end of May :)

I/O connectors

Since quite a few people were concerned about the USB connector, I am writing a short summary of the I/O connectors that I have looked into (see the photo)

• 30 pin Apple dock connector (left bottom): best solution, but due to its large footprint it gives a rather large board when combined with a patch antenna. The prototype II board combined this connector with a chip antenna while providing a small board size, but the performance of the chip antenna turned out not to be as good as a patch antenna.
  
  
• 10 pin I/O connector (left top): next best thing considering it has 10 pins and allows routing of other signals besides the 4 and 5 pin USB connectors. However, there are no standard cables around that can plug into this connector and they would have to be custom molded.
  
  
• 4 pin mini USB (second column from left): this is the connector I used on the prototype I boards. It has the smallest footprint among the mini USB series connectors.
  
  
• 5 pin mini USB connectors (third column): this connector is the most commonly used on the mobile equipment of the recent past. It comes in different form factors (see photo from top to bottom): midway mount, bottom mount, top mount. It has a larger form factor then the 4 pin USB.
  
  
• 5 pin micro USB-B connectors (most right column):this connector is the new standard for current and future mobile equipment and has quite a lot smaller footprint than the mini USB connectors. It comes in multiple form factors, two of which are shown in the photo: midway mount, top mount.
  

Regarding the mini USB cables, these are readily available these days from various places: 4 and 5 pin mini USB at Amazon, various USB connectors at Pricewatch, or just Google for mini USB.

The micro USB cables are a little more recent, but you can also get them from Amazon for $2, or from Walmart for $5.

So I don't really think it matters too much from an availability/cost standpoint what connector we choose. I might even make the cable available with the module. More important are other factors like footprint and height on the PCB.

As such, I have set the top-mount micro USB connector as the device of record (DOR) as it has the smallest footprint and lowest profile.

In the meantime, I will keep an eye out for any other low-profile multi-pin connectors that are around.

Feel free to post any more comments you have on the subject.

More votes, more prototypes, more testing....

We hit 1000 votes today! This confirms that there is definitely enough interest in the module to keep on going full speed ahead :)

This week I have been busy building more prototypes. I had already built three with the old board and I have built another three this week. Prototyping goes a little faster now that I have the SMT rework station.

I have assembled two of the prototype II boards with a chip antenna (see the bottom two modules in the photo) and one of the old prototype I boards with a thinner patch antenna (see the right module in the middle row in the photo).

I have done some more field testing (that is inside, outside and in my car while on the road) and it does seem that the patch antennas work better than the chip antenna. The chip antennas also are very sensitive to board layout. I had to trim some of the copper on the board before I finally got these two chip antenna boards to work.

So I have decided that it is best to go with a patch antenna solution to guarantee performance. As such, there will be no room for a full dock connector but instead there will be a micro-USB connector which has a slimmer footprint than the mini-USB connectors and which is the new standard for mobile devices.

I also have an update regarding the LED indicator light. The prototype II boards have a bi-color blue/red LED. The blue LED is the power-on indicator and the red LED will flash until a GPS lock is found (combined with the blue it gives a pink/purple colored flash).

This week I will be working on the layout of the final board design for the patch antenna prototypes and I hope to have the board design frozen before the end of May.

The tools of the trade

This post is especially dedicated to those fans who pretty much visit my blog daily!

In order to do a good prototyping job, you need good tools. So this is what this post is all about. For some tools, you can get away with the cheap stuff, for others, you can't cut any corners and just need to spend the money.

The photo shows pretty much all the tools that I am using for the prototyping:

• A good quality solder iron that has temperature control and tips that can be changed. Mine is in the top right of the picture and it is a Weller WES51. I got it from my local Frys store for $100. You can get it online from their website as well. You can go the extra mile and find a station with a temperature sensor inside of the tip and tips that don't oxidize, but it's not really a necessity. Just make sure to keep that sponge wet and the tip wiped and clean.
  
• As mentioned earlier, I had to order an SMT rework station to handle the new board and the more advanced parts. It is on the left in the photo and is a Madell Quick857D. It runs about $200 including tax and you can order it directly from the Madell website. Combine this tool with your board, solder paste and your parts, and you have a superfast assembly of your prototypes.
  
• Then you will need the regular soldering supplies: lead-free solder (everything needs to be RoHS compliant these days, and make sure to pick the no-clean type), solder paste (if you have a SMT rework station), solder flux (no-clean), and solder wick. Check the Kester website for info on lead-free soldering supplies.
  
• You can't get by without a digital multi-meter. You can go cheap here. I have a cheap $5 CEN-TECH P30756 which I bought ages ago and it still works. Just make sure to turn it off after use to save the battery. You can get yours at Harbor Freight Tools for a buck less.
  
• While at Harbor Freight, also grab a pack of cheap pliers for $6, a pack of cheap tweezers for $6.50 and a precision knife set for $10. Also pick up a 6inch digital calipers for $20. For calipers you usually want to go the better more expensive brand, but mine was on sale for $16 so I decided to try it and it seems to work very well.
  

Now, sometimes I ask myself, how come some of this stuff can be so cheap? Apparently most of the tools are made in China nowadays and who knows who produced them: a legitimate company with reasonably well paid employees, or innocently imprisoned slave laborers/kids working 16-20hrs shifts. When it comes to these things, I at least let my consciousness think about those things for a bit to remind myself... I do want to support the people of China, I just don't want to be funding any labor camps (see my human rights related posts on the top right of my blog). How much can an individual contribute... even if it is only a thought, at least you thought about it.

In a lot of cases, even if you go for the more expensive stuff, it still turns out it comes out of China or another Asian country. I guess the only way you can be sure is if it says made in the good old USA.

Well, I hope this is an interesting post for the hobbyists and food for though for everyone else. Take it easy :)

The Return of the Boards (part 2)

A quick post tonight to let you know that the PCB boards for the second prototype series are back. It looks like the PCB house did a nice job on them and delivered them with a nice gold finish.

Having a real board in hand makes me realize how small this design actually is. Your perception gets a kind of distorted when you design on a computer screen for too long and are zoomed-in all the time.

Everything is very tightly spaced as you can imagine. The 0.5mm pitch dock connector footprint in the photo is a clear example of this. This board will require some special tools for soldering as a regular soldering iron is unsuitable for some of the parts that go on the board. I had already ordered that equipment earlier this week and it has just arrived as well, waiting to be unpacked...

Colorful

I received some new LEDs this week and I soldered another module together with a new high intensity blue/red bi-color LED. I decided to put about 5mA through each of them, not knowing how bright they would be. After assembly, I measured the currents: 3.8mA through the blue LED and 5.0mA through the red LED for a total of 8.8mA... and still sooo much light. That means I can design for an ever lower current and probably cut about another 4-5mA out of the power budget. :)

The picture shows all three modules I have built so far (I had to turn down the sensitivity in order not to blind the camera with the LEDs):

• On the left, module #1:
  Green/orange bi-color LED (orange shows, but green and orange LED are on simultaneously, orange overwhelming the green)
  
• On the right, module #2:
  Blue LED
  
• In the center, module #3:
  Blue/red bi-color LED (purple shows, blue and red simultaneously about the same intensity)
  

Sadly enough, my multi-meter pin shorted to Vcc when measuring the red LED, so it died :( I have some de-soldering to do tonight and fix it.

I also changed the charge resistor for the on-board battery to a lower value so as to recharge that battery a little faster (without exceeding the maximum charge current of course).



Module #3 is also using a slightly smaller patch antenna (see the center module in the photo) of about 13x13x4mm compared to the 15x15x4mm ones that I used for the other modules. I took the module out to the store while on my way buying a digital calipers for the housing design. The module performed above expectation, which is a good foresight for the next PCB board which will be using a chip antenna. It would be great if I can freeze the next design, as the form factor is very small and it has a full dock connector on it. If it doesn't perform well, I have to go back to a patch antenna and a micro-USB port in order to keep the module as small as possible.

Also this week I have made some more new contacts with local contract manufacturers, both for the PCB and the plastic housing. My main next priority is coming up with a final drawing for the housing design so that I can have prototypes made of it.

Looking for a housing?

This week has been extremely busy and I definitely need a day of rest and spend some quality time with my family after all those long nights. Quite a lot of things are coming together:

• As you can see I have collected quite a few different housing styles over the last couple of weeks. This will be helpful in designing the package. The top photo shows the top and bottom of each of the housing types.
  To give you an idea of what the size of the boards is in comparison, take a look at this photo:
  
  
  
  The first prototype board is on the left, the new PCB design is on the right (in paper form).
  
  
• The new PCB design went out today for manufacturing. Looking back at the design process, I ask myself: "Wow, how did I manage to stuff all those parts in such a tiny area, including a full dock connector!" And guess what, I even managed to connect 3.3V power from the iPhone/iTouch and the L/R audio out through. I guess thinking about PCBs during my commute to work paid off. Whether this design will make it, is ultimately dependent on the performance of the chip antenna, so let's hope for the best. In the meantime, I will be working on a patch antenna backup solution in case the performance would be lacking.
  
  
• The majority of the new PCB parts has also arrived this week.
  
  
• This new PCB design also has a few "light(n)ing" options since some people have posted in the comments that they were concerned about a bright flashing LED when the module has a GPS lock. They'd rather see this reversed: flashing when searching for a lock and steady on when a lock is found. I will post a poll at some point later to see what configuration is most favorite and what LED colors you prefer. The new design will be able to accommodate for quite a few options.
  
  
• We also hit 750 votes today! And that only 11 days after we hit 500 votes. I think some people posted this website on their own blogs which is a great thing! So if you have your own blog or want to spread the word, feel free to do some advertising :)
  

Well, time to catch up on some sleep now... Gd'Night.

Smaller, please...

I am still working on the new PCB design. The picture shows a preview printed on paper (top right) in comparison to the old boards (left and bottom). The width is about the same and the height is about 5mm shorter and it has a full dock connector instead of a mini-USB plug. I am simultaneously working on the package design as the two will need to be in sync with each other.

Only a short post this time, since I am trying to get things done as quickly as possible. This project requires quite some multi-tasking of different things and I need to be working on all of them in parallel in order not to loose any time (I guess all of you are eagerly waiting for the time when you can place that order):

• Designing the PCB board
  
• Package design which needs to fit the PCB, connectors and iPhone/iTouch
  
• Ordering the PCB components (I am getting parts from quite a few places and all need attention)
  
• Getting ready for production (both for the PCB board, the package and assembly) which means interacting with one or more contract manufacturers.
  

So hang in there with me :) If you'd like to have something more to read in the meantime, you can click on some of the human rights related links on the right.