Engineering guides.
Straight answers to the questions buyers ask us. Most are worked out on a system we built, and each one gives its sources.
How does drone detection work?
Drone detection finds a drone with one or more sensors: radar, a radio receiver, microphones or a camera. Each one has a blind spot, so the strongest systems combine them. A camera system such as SKYLOCK runs a detection model on every frame, predicts where the drone is going and turns a gimbal to keep it in view.
STM32 vs ESP32: which should your product use?
Use an ESP32 when the product's main job is to connect, because Wi-Fi and Bluetooth come on the chip. Use an STM32 when its main job is to control something on an exact schedule, such as a motor. When a product needs both, use one of each and join them with a serial link.
Edge AI or cloud AI: where should your model run?
Run the model on the device when the machine has to keep working without a network, answer quickly or keep its data to itself. Run it in the cloud when the model is too large for the device and the answer can wait for the network. Many systems do both: fast decisions on the device, heavy work on a server.
Visual SLAM vs LiDAR SLAM for indoor robots
SLAM lets a robot build a map and work out where it is on that map at the same time. Visual SLAM does it with cameras, which cost less and see detail but need light and texture. LiDAR SLAM does it with a laser scanner, which measures distance directly but costs more and can miss glass.
How to move quality inspection off paper
Record each defect where it is found, by the person who found it, on a screen that takes no longer than the paper form. Give every item one of three outcomes: accepted, rework or rejected. Then the dashboard, the audit log and the reports all come from that one record.
How to turn a prototype into a product
Define what working means, in numbers with their conditions. Build the riskiest part first and test it where it will be used. Then design for manufacture and prove the product in three builds: engineering, design and production. A prototype proves an idea once. A product has to work every time, for people who never met the engineer.
What tasks can be automated with AI?
Automate work with a clear input, a repeatable result and a way to check it: reading an enquiry, filing a document, writing a routine report. Keep a person on anything that is costly to get wrong. Start with one task, test it on your own messages and documents, and look hard at what it gets wrong.
Why a vision model that works in the lab fails in the field
A vision model learns from the pictures it was trained on, so its accuracy falls when the light, the camera, the angle or the place changes. Researchers call this distribution shift. The answer is to collect pictures from where the model will run, test on those, and give every accuracy figure with the conditions it was measured in.
How to verify a company in Pakistan before you hire it
Ask for the company's registered name and its incorporation number, check them on the SECP's public company search, and check its tax number on the FBR's Active Taxpayer List. For engineering or public sector work, ask for any Pakistan Engineering Council or EPADS registration. Then ask to see work you can check is real.
Also worth keeping
- The handover checklistWhat to ask any supplier for when the work is done.
- The weak input checkFour plain questions on which input puts your product at risk.
- The logShort clips of the work running, with what each one shows.
Tell us what has to work.
One sentence is enough. An engineer will reply.