Tag Archives: iMX6 Rex Module

How long it took to design the iMX6 Rex module prototype?

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imx6_rex_module_top_HR_68px
I need to say, Martin had no previous experience with advanced electronic design. He started working on this project in April 2013 and we have got the prototype boards in October 2013. He graduated at University in Jun 2013. It took 7 months to get the board.

Click on any of these graphs to download the full report in PDF.

iMX6 Rex Timesheet - Total

iMX6 Rex Timesheet - Schematic

iMX6 Rex Timesheet - Library

iMX6 Rex Timesheet - PCB

Download the complete information here >>

Martin is taking a part in our new training program which we are developing at FEDEVEL Academy. The iMX6 Rex project is also a part of this program. This program will help everyone interested in hardware design to get a real experience from real projects. We hope, this will help students & young engineers to find a job or to get a better paid job. If you have a company, the FEDEVEL Academy training will help you to prepare your junior & young engineers to start working on your projects as soon as possible. If you are interested, please fill out our survey at http://www.fedevel.com/academy/get-electronic-hardware-design-experience-training-for-students-and-engineers/

iMX6 Module Total Cost Prototype Developement

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iMX6 module in hand 680pxSome people asked, how much it cost us to build the modules.

Here is a summary of our expenses to build 5 prototypes of the iMX6 Rex module
Component cost to build 5 boards (payed 1038.44 USD) ……….. 1038 USD
PCB Manufacturing (20pcs minimum, payed 2421.60 GBP) …… 3896 USD
Assembling 5 boards (payed 645 EUR) …………………………… 866 USD
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Payed to build 5 iMX6 modules total: 5800 USD (this doesn’t include development cost, see below)

The time spent by developing the module total: 438 hours (we will publish a detailed timesheet soon)
Now you can add your own hourly rate and calculate how much the total development of the module cost.

For example, if the hourly rate of your own engineer is $30, then the total cost of the first prototype development would be: 438 (hours) * 30 (rate) + 5800 (expenses) = 18940 USD, but … this is how much it is just to build the very first prototype. Now you need to add software, testing, baseboard, … and no mistakes ;)

If you contract the design, then you may easily pay $80 per hour and your cost would be 438 * 80 + 5800 = 40840 USD

*Notes: Used exchange rate
1 EUR to USD = 1.3429
1 GPB to EUR = 1.1982

The iMX6 Rex module design licensing

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Today, I have read a very interesting post by OLIMEX Ltd – What licensee to choose for Open Source Hardware?

I completely agree with a lot of things in the article. I especially like this part:

“… there are hundreds of derivative designs based on OLinuXino now made by commercial companies which neither give credits to Olimex (as our licensee require) neither contribute back, not even mention that their design is based on ours.

How do I know this? I know, because some of them are bold enough to send us derivative work made from OLinuXino for quote on manufacturing … :)

Some even do not do any changes than to replace silkscreen with their company name instead Olimex.

And there are some which ask US to replace our name on the OLinuXino boards with theirs :) and promise to order XXX pcs if we do so.

So the bottom line is – if you want to give away just do it and do not search anything in return.”

It was not an easy decision to choose the license for our project. The iMX6 Rex was developed for teaching purposes – this also explains why we used Altium. It’s not our intention to earn money from selling the design nor boards. Therefore anyone with an interesting project, do not hesitate to contact us. There is a pretty high chance that we will agree on a free iMX6 Rex module license for your commercial project. Just ask. For personal use, the design is free. I also need to add, that our development baseboard is fully open source – including commercial use, see Development Baseboard license >>

At the moment, we do not need fully open the module design. I am completely aware of, that many people will ignore the licence and will copy and reuse the design. Not everyone. When we feel the right time comes up, we can always change our decision and fully open the iMX6 Rex module design. However, it would not be possible to do it the other way round (if we opened it now and later we thought that was not the right decision).

We have already agreed to licence the design for free with several people/companies. I was surprised, people will appreciative your work. We offered a free licence, but most of them decided to pay royalties, even they don’t have to. Thank you very much.