nabla B is an engineering office in Bochum, Germany. We develop embedded devices and decentralised measurement systems for mid-sized industry — and take them to production.
Day rate from € 80 net. Initial consultation free of charge — by phone Mon – Fri 9:00 – 13:30 CET or by e-mail.
A device is only finished when it is certified, boots, and delivers data in the field. We cover the whole path — or exactly the segment you are missing.
Architecture, schematic and layout in KiCad, bring-up, EMC preparation and certification, handover to manufacturing — including supply-chain experience with PCB and cable manufacturers in China.
Software bring-up and firmware for microcontrollers (bare-metal, RTOS), FPGAs (VHDL/Verilog) and Zynq SoCs — up to a Yocto Linux with documented SBOM and update path.
Measurement intelligence where the data originates: analog front-ends, sensors, PoE networks, time base, telemetry and monitoring infrastructure.
Feasibility, architecture reviews, toolchain rescue. Training for engineers in digital measurement technology and data acquisition — on site or online.
A selection — the full list is on the references page. Much of what we build cannot be shown because of NDAs.
Programmable M12-PoE switch, router and Linux compute node for industrial edge data acquisition: 7 sealed PoE ports, 8-core ARM, Yocto Linux with documented SBOM. System architecture, PoE-first concept, M12 cabling specification and EMC certification.
Measurement electronics and monitoring infrastructure for solder-profile creation and continuous process monitoring on reflow ovens (Productronica Innovation Award 2023): battery-powered temperature-profiling electronics with Wi-Fi, telemetry and observability stack for predictive assessment of solder-quality factors, cloud integration. Including EMC certification in China.
Simplified digital oscilloscope that makes waveform diagnostics usable in everyday automotive workshop practice. Grown out of the aw4null research programme, patent pending.
Embedded instrumentation for electrochemical impedance spectroscopy in the field — detecting biofilms in river systems across the continental US.
Multiple test stands for characterising HV-MAPS silicon sensors for minimum-ionizing particles, plus building up a wire-bonding production line.
Open path from JTAG bring-up without FSBL via mainline U-Boot to a Yocto Linux in QSPI flash that fetches its own updates — deploying hardware like software.
On maxclerkwell.tech Stephan Bökelmann writes about his hobby and research projects: FPGA bring-ups, Yocto, KiCad, particle detectors. nabla B's customer projects mostly don't appear there — most are under NDA. But the blog shows well how we work.
Your contact is Vanessa Wilcken. She arranges your appointment with Stephan Bökelmann and takes care of everything organisational.
