Nebra RPi Compute Module 3/3+ Daughterboard

Ryan Walmsley -

Summary

Company: Nebra LTD.
Tasks: Electrical Design, PCB Design,  Hand Assembly of Prototypes, Documentation & Testing, Software.
Date: First produced December 2020
Status: In Production

Overview

One of the main parts of the Nebra Indoor & Outdoor Hotspots, the RPi CM3/3+ Compute Module contains all the key circuitry for a compute module to power up and routes all the GPIO pins required for the boards along with USB to one 60 pin header making it quick to integrate into the Indoor & Outdoor Hotspots.

Splitting this circuitry into it's own board provided multiple benefits including:

  • In most cases the hotspot itself would be located in a location where it is not viable for the user to plug in a laptop or computer to the gateway itself to re-program the compute module if required. By having this plus the necessary circuitry required for re-programming of the compute module on the daughterboard the user can then remove this from the gateway and re-program the compute module much easier.
  • By having this circuitry already completed means that it can be integrated into other products in rapid times. Originally designed for the Outdoor Hotspot when the need for an Indoor Hotspot popped up I was able to design the indoor hotspot much quicker by having this completed ready to go part of the circuit.
  • Allows the mainboard hardware to stay the same while then being able to develop new daughterboards in the future.
  • The more complicated routing and circuitry is on a separate board, these have a slightly higher potential failure rate in production meaning just this one module rather than the entire board requiring re-work.