Smart lock engineering services, from circuit board to cloud
Most of our customers are not buying a padlock off a shelf. They need the lock to feed their platform, carry their numbering, wear their brand or fit their process — and someone who will do that work with them. We can, because we design the circuit boards, write the firmware, build the app and run the platform ourselves.
Services, not just products
The hardware is where a project starts. These are the services that make it work in your operation — and the reason most of our customers work with us.
Integration with your system
Events delivered to your MQTT broker or through our API; the Bluetooth advertising specification and a compiled SDK for your developers; our engineers alongside yours until it works.
Custom firmware
Reporting interval, wake strategy, alarm rules and what the lock broadcasts — for example your asset number in the Bluetooth advertisement, readable by the vehicle trackers you already run.
Custom hardware
A housing to your shape, a narrower battery for a slimmer body, the LTE band for your country, extra sensors. Your logo and numbering laser-marked free.
Platform deployment
A dedicated copy of our platform on your server, in your name — we set the server up, so you need no devops team. Or use our hosted platform with no fee.
Your own app
The field app published in your name, white-labelled, or with the source code handed over so your own developers own it.
Trials and field support
Samples, a trial on a real route or site, and an engineer on the other end while it runs. After delivery: firmware updates and a 12-month warranty.
Built in-house, end to end
From schematic to cloud API, every layer is ours — so changes land fast and the design rights are clean.
Hardware design
Schematics, PCB layout, BOM and Gerber files drawn in-house. Boards are built by SMT partners to our files; we own the design, the test jigs and the ramp-up.
Embedded firmware
Low-power scheduling, motor drive, sensing and modem management, written in-house on Cortex-M0-class microcontrollers — one codebase across 4G, LoRa and Bluetooth products.
Cloud platform
The management platform is our own product, not a licence. Hosted, or installed on your servers, with MQTT, TCP and HTTP(S) interfaces to your TMS or WMS.
Mobile app
Our own app for field staff — task inbox, Bluetooth control, position capture, alarms. Android today, iOS coming soon. Delivered white-labelled, or with the source code handed over.
Security
AES-128 encrypted commands, authorised by the platform per person, lock and time window. Each customer's locks carry their own credentials, set at the factory.
Ultra-low power
Microamp-level deep sleep with event, periodic, geo-fence and always-on wake strategies, on primary lithium cells that are replaced on site.
Circuit design that survives a steel box and a cold night
A lock is a hard place for electronics: a metal housing around the antenna, a motor drawing a burst of current from a primary cell, and years of sleeping at a few microamps in between. We design the circuit for those conditions from the start.
- Schematic, PCB layout, BOM and Gerber, in-house
- Radios: LTE Cat 1 modules (Quectel), Bluetooth LE SoCs, LoRa
- Antenna placement and non-metallic windows planned with the housing
- Power design for primary lithium cells: µA sleep, motor peaks, battery monitoring
- DFM with our SMT partners; test jigs and flashing fixtures made by us
- Boards inspected on arrival, then final assembly and test in our own workshop
Firmware that sleeps for months and wakes in a second
Almost all of a lock's life is spent asleep. The firmware decides what is allowed to wake it, what it does in the second it is awake, and how little it spends doing it.
- Wake strategies: event, periodic, geo-fence, always-on for a set window
- Motor drive with seating detection, so a lock that only looks closed is caught
- Cut and pry sensing, reported the moment it triggers
- LTE modem management: MQTT to the platform or to your broker, reconnection, records kept on the device and sent when coverage returns
- Bluetooth advertising and connection handling; LoRa addressing by lock address, channel and Bluetooth MAC
- Firmware updated after shipment — remotely on 4G models, through our app on Bluetooth
The platform and the app, already running
The platform manages devices, transport tasks, geo-fences, work orders and approvals, alarms and the audit ledger, with separate roles for the operator, the customer's administrators and the people in the field. The app puts the task, the Bluetooth control and the alarms in the driver's or technician's pocket.
Both exist and run in production today, which is why we can deploy them under your name rather than start a software project.
- Hosted, or installed on your own servers — we set the server up
- MQTT pass-through, REST API, TCP and HTTP(S)
- Integrators get the advertising specification and a compiled SDK
- Your authorisation rules, users and data belong to you
Because every layer is ours, every layer can be changed
| Layer | What can be changed | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Hardware | Radio and band, battery size, housing, cable, sensors | A slimmer body on the narrower ER14505 cell |
| Firmware | Wake strategy, reporting interval, alarm rules, advertising content | Your asset number carried in the Bluetooth advertisement, readable by a vehicle tracker |
| App | Name, branding, languages, workflow | The app published in your name, or its source code handed over |
| Platform | Server, brand, roles, integration | Events fed straight into the tracking system you already run |
Laser-marked logo, numbering and QR codes are free at any quantity. Changes to moulds or the housing shape start from 1,000 pcs.
From a one-page brief to volume delivery
Assessment
Scope, radio and feature list agreed; selection advice and a quotation.
Design
Schematic, structure and firmware specification frozen; integration documents delivered so your platform work can start in parallel.
Prototype
First articles, functional bring-up and a trial on a real route or site; sign-off once the issues are closed.
Production
Test jigs and flashing handed to the line, batch sampling and shipment reports.
Frequently asked questions
Do you design your own circuit boards?
Yes. Schematics, PCB layout, BOM and Gerber files are ours. The boards are assembled by SMT partners to our files; final assembly, firmware loading and testing are done in our own workshop in Dongguan.
Can you add a feature to the firmware for our project?
Usually, yes — the firmware is written in-house, so there is no module vendor to ask. Reporting intervals, wake strategies, alarm rules and what the lock broadcasts are all changed per project. Tell us what you need and we tell you what it involves.
Our developers want to integrate the locks. What do they get?
The advertising specification in full, the command set through our app or a compiled SDK, the status and error codes, and engineering support through integration.
Commands are AES-128 encrypted and authorised by the platform; how keys are handled stays inside the SDK.
Can you design a new product for us?
Yes. See the OEM / ODM page for how a project runs. New moulds and housing shapes start from 1,000 pcs.
Where to go next
Platform & App
Hosted free, deployed on your server, or fed into your system. The app in your name.
Learn moreOEM / ODM
Your brand, your housing, your numbering — from a one-page brief to volume delivery.
Learn moreAll products
4G, LoRa, Bluetooth and passive locks and seals, on one platform.
Learn moreBring us the part nobody else would change
A band, a battery, a sensor, a field in the broadcast, a platform to feed. Send the brief; an engineer replies within one business day.