User-friendly GUI app for the semiconductor industry – how Sii supports the development of innovative sensor solutions
Effective functioning without advanced consumer electronics isn’t possible in the era of digitization. People no longer want to push buttons or type in commands to activate devices but rather expect them to intuitively understand what they want them to do. For the solutions to get smarter and more user-friendly, semiconductor manufacturing companies need to quickly implement development-oriented actions, often requiring prompt assistance from other technology providers.
Challenging project start
With one of the leading semiconductor companies as a client, Sii – the top IT and engineering services vendor – has been engaged in the production of state-of-the-art solutions that enable simple and effortless user interactions with all kinds of smart devices. The project initiated by the major market player included the development of a new GUI application supporting multiple types of innovative sensor solutions. Unexpectedly, its first phase turned out to be demanding, at the same time being an interesting challenge for Sii engineers.
– The set deadlines were very strict and requirements were changing quite often – says Maciej Scęcelek, Project Technical Leader at Sii. – Moreover, the complexity of the software development kit (SDK) used by the team was undervalued, resulting in a wrong architectural decision made at the beginning of the project. To get over it, we had to rebuild almost the entire initial architecture concept – he adds.
New app in making
Based on the client’s needs and vision, Sii’s expert team worked out a detailed plan aimed at making a robust GUI app capable of connecting to and controlling a variety of sensing devices. Both convenience of use and reliability were treated as a major priority. After designing the architecture and breaking down the client’s requirements into product requirements, Sii specialists prepared the product backlog, including task estimation. The next, most crucial stage was the implementation and verification of the ordered features as well as creating a helpful manual and test reports. C++ and QT framework were used to build the solution. The basic usage scenario for the created application was to download data from the supported devices in real-time or to present this data in the form of specialist, configurable graphs, whose availability and functionalities depend on the connected device.
– Our multi-stage project ended with success. Sii experts managed to deliver a highly effective GUI app, meeting the strict schedule. Thanks to this, the development process of various sensor solutions by the client’s R&D engineers was supported – explains Maciej Jagielski, Delivery Manager at Sii. – The role of the created application is mainly to enable effective analysis of the behavior of devices that are in the design phase, giving the possibility to improve them by selecting the optimal configuration settings. We are proud that through our work we contribute to the development of more advanced, more accessible sensor technology – he concludes.
What comes next
Even though the GUI-app development project came to an end, the client decided to continue cooperation with Sii. The expert team has been asked to support new device types and implement the expert-user mode in the application. In addition, the action plan includes extending support for the existing devices with new features defined by the client.
