In short. We designed the signal acquisition board for a client’s wireless EEG monitoring device: the analog front end that captures microvolt brain signals, the digital and radio sections, and a board ready for serial production. The work started in January 2022 and took 14 months and about 800 development hours, 40% below the initial estimate. The client’s device later received FDA marketing authorization and went into production.
The challenge
EEG signals are microvolts. Digital circuits and the radio on the same board inject noise that can bury them, and the usual answer, more filtering stages, adds parts and cost. The schedule also left no room for the usual sequence of finishing the analog design before starting the digital one.
What we did
Analog and digital in parallel
Analog and digital engineers worked side by side from day one, so interface problems such as digital noise in the front end were fixed in days rather than weeks of change requests.
A ground plane instead of extra filters
Grounding schemes and clock patterns were tested against the noise, and a ground-plane layout that filters interference without extra components replaced additional filtering stages. That cut the BOM cost by 15% and improved signal quality.
Documentation from day one
Every design decision was recorded in a standard format the same day, with a live risk register the whole team updated.
Ready for production
The board was finished for serial production; manufacturing cost came in 30% below target.
What we would tell the next team
- Start integration testing early with crude prototypes instead of waiting for perfect subsystems.
- Use one-page templates for design decisions, test results and component selection; fifteen minutes a day saves months at submission.
- Treat risk management as a daily activity with a shared register, not a periodic review.
The original project story: EEG monitoring device, concept to FDA in 14 months.
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Sources
- OVA Solutions: the EEG monitoring device development story, January 2025
- OVA Solutions project portfolio, 2026
Client names are not disclosed. Updated on October 9, 2026.