Interrupt 1/4/26

Interrupt

— 2 min read
Interrupt 1/4/26

Project Update: Display Lock and Defined Milestones

Happy New Year! We’re excited to kick off the year with meaningful progress and a much clearer path forward. Over the past few weeks, we’ve locked down several key decisions, aligned closely with our engineering team, and turned earlier unknowns into defined milestones. While this project has required more engineering effort than originally planned, we’re entering 2026 with confidence in the direction we’re heading.

1. Display Development

The display remains the most critical dependency, and we’re happy to report meaningful progress here.

  • Our engineering team believes the final production display has now been selected.
  • One last round of testing is underway to confirm capacitive touch behavior, but confidence is high that this panel meets our electrical, mechanical, and performance needs.
  • Assuming these final checks pass, this removes the last major unknown blocking final PCB routing and enclosure sign-off.

Once this is fully confirmed, we can proceed without further display-driven rework.

2. PCB & Electronics Progress

With the display nearly locked:

  • Electrical and mechanical design files are being organized and finalized for vendor quoting.
  • PCB fabrication and assembly quoting is underway.
  • Layout changes at this point are expected to be minor and localized, primarily to:
    • Finalize display connections
    • Adjust port placement where required by PCB routing

The overall electrical design direction remains unchanged from the last update.

3. Mechanical / Enclosure Development

Mechanically, we’re now in a “lock-down” phase:

  • Aesthetics are finalized
  • At this stage, only port location adjustments are expected to accommodate the final PCB layout
  • No major enclosure redesigns are anticipated

4. Firmware

Firmware development continues to be handled in structured phases, with a focus on proving real-world functionality early:

  • Core RF functionality will demonstrate:
    • Multiple frequency ranges
    • Multiple modulation types (aligned with what comparable tools support)
  • GPIO access for I²C and SPI will include:
    • Working examples
    • Simple scripts that demonstrate real device communication
    • Clear proof that ports function as intended.
  • Early firmware demos may be basic, but will be sufficient to:
    • Verify hardware
    • Record functional videos
    • Show real-world interaction with external devices

5. Updated Timeline Snapshot

We now have clearer target dates.

Firmware Milestones

  • Firmware Phase 1 – January 26
  • Firmware Phase 2 – February 26
  • Firmware Phase 3 – March 26

Hardware Milestones

  • Completed hardware design – February 26

Wrapping Up

The biggest takeaway since our last update is that we now have:

  • A final display
  • Defined firmware and hardware milestones
  • A clear path to the first full production-representative prototype

We know timelines have moved compared to early expectations, but the project is now in a much more predictable phase. As we move through firmware demos and prototype builds, we’ll be able to share photos, videos.

Thank you again for your continued patience and support. We’re focused on getting this right.

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