×

Happy to Help!

This website doesn't store cookies. Enjoy the experience, without worrying about your data!

Great, thanks!

Monthly Archives: February 2017

  • February 24, 2017
  • 0

Smart Actuator for Turbocharger – ECU Software and Hardware Development project

Tags :

Category : Automotive control units-design and development , Product Engineering

 

Customer:

One of world’s reputed manufacturers of turbochargers and turbocharger components. Our customer is a trusted Tier-I supplier of turbochargers to automotive and industrial domains

 

Business Challenge:

A turbocharged engine is very important to leverage the benefits of:

  • Lower emissions
  • Lower fuel consumption
  • Lower engine noise
  • Enhanced engine power, torque and more

Within the turbocharger, the turbine shaft connected to the compressor supplies the compressed air to the engine for efficient fuel burning.The position of the vane dictates the amount of air that can be compressed and hence significantly influences the overall efficiency of the turbocharger.

Our customer had designed a product roadmap for the next generation turbocharger with Electronic Smart Actuator (ECA), a closed loop system that will electronically control the position of the vanes based on the inputs from engine ECU (or control unit) and CAN/LIN interface.Development of such an ECU hardware and software would ensure improved efficiency of the next-gen smart turbocharger.

Our customer was looking for a Product Engineering Services partner with expertise in ECU (Electronic Control Unit) software and hardware development

 

Embitel Solution:

Smart Actuator for Turbocharger

 

Smart Actuator ECU (Electronic Control Unit) software development:

  • Our automotive embedded software development team proposed a layered architecture for the actuator ECU software of engine turbocharger
  • This layered architecture of the ECU (control unit) software had the benefits of ease of software testing and maintenance. Following are the details:
    • Target Abstraction Layer (TAL):Our embedded software development team designed low level drivers on RL78-F13 Microcontroller platform for MCU, ADC, PWMIN,PWMOUT,LIN,CAN and UART interfaces.

    • Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL):We designed a reusable, configurable and hardware-independent firmware.

      • This Hardware Abstraction Layer ensures that the ECU software application developer has a set of standard functions that can be used to access hardware functions without detailed understanding or dependence on the underlying hardware platform.

      HAL firmware also ensures ease of migration to a different upgraded hardware platform without any changes in automotive ECU software code

    • Data Abstraction Layer (DAL): The Data Abstraction Layer was designed to convert raw data from the CAN/LIN or other vehicle interface into a physical value and send it to the ECU software application layer (e.g physical value of Battery Voltage instead of ADC raw data).
  • We partnered with the Tier-I Supplier for design and development of Base software modules and Signal Layer software drivers for the actuator ECU
  • The ECU software development process was compliant withV-Cycle SDLC model (SWRS , HLD , LLD , MTD , >90 % Unit Test Coverage)
  • ECU Software drivers were designed and developed for ADC, PWM IN/ PWM OUT, CAN/LIN and UART along with Magnetic Sensor Interfaces
  • Our automotive software developers also designed a Scheduler for the actuator ECU (electronic control unit)

 
Actuator ECU (control unit) hardware development:

  • Our automotive Control Units (ECU) hardware development team partnered with the tier-I supplier for end-to-end ECU hardware development.
  • Following are the details of the ECU hardware development process:
    • Hardware Requirement Specification document was designed for the actuator ECU
    • Circuit Design and simulation of each component
    • Layout design
    • E-BOM procurement
    • Fabrication
    • ECU Hardware Assembly
    • Board bring-up
    • Functional Testing of the developed ECU hardware
  • The entire ECU hardware development was complaint with the automotive grade and safety standards
  • A detailed compliance testing was done for the ECU hardware through EM Analysis and Thermal Analysis

 
Tools and Technologies:

  • Renesas RL78/F-13 Family Microcontroller
  • IAR Embedded Workbench
  • ORCAD : Schematic Design
  • Allegro : Layout
  • Hyperlynx 8.0 : EM and Thermal Analysis

 

  • February 23, 2017
  • 0

J1939 and OBD2 Stack Integrations With IoT Platform for Fleet Safety

Tags :

Category : Automotive control units-design and development , Product Engineering

 

Customer:

An automotive after-market company, with product development centers in USA and India, that provides IoT solutions for commercial vehicles and driver analytics.Our customer has designed innovative driver and fleet safety solutions leveraging Deep Learning, Video Analytics and Artificial Intelligence (AI).

 

Business Challenge:

  • One of the driver and fleet safety solutions monitors a range of driving data like seat-belt detection, driver drowsiness, speed of the fleet, engine temperature, emission control, diagnostics  and other automotive ECU (electronic control unit) related data

  • While the driver and environment related data is captured through vision sensors and cameras, a host of vehicle diagnostics and engine data is available only through CAN/LIN in-vehicle networks

  • Our customer was looking for an automotive embedded systems partner with expertise in vehicle diagnostics, J1939 and OBD2 stacks integration and CAN/LIN interface development

  • The customer had recognized the need for a customized solution to meet the unique needs of their AI-based product. However, they also expected the product engineering services partner to help them reduce time-to-market and costs

 

Embitel Solution:

  • Our Automotive Software development team has designed pre-tested, easily configurable and re-usable SAE J1939 and OBD2 (on-board diagnostics) software stacks
  • During the technology workshops, our customer developed trust in our capabilities and the quality of our automotive communication and vehicle diagnostics stacks (J1939 and OBD2)
  • The customer also developed the confidence that configuration and integration of J1939 and OBD2 software stacks will ensure reduced time-to-market and embedded software development costs
  • Our automotive software developers implemented integration of SAE J1939 and OBD2 stacks with Freescale/NXP MCS9S12G controller
  • These pre-tested SAE J1939 and OBD2 software stacks were customized to collect vehicle diagnostics, ECU communication and emission control related data and feed it to the IoT platform
  • SPI interface was designed to facilitate communication between Freescale/NXP controller and the processor of the IoT device
  • Our embedded software team developed a gateway software to capture and process data from CAN/LIN and send it to the processor in a compatible format
  • We also integrated a Flash Boot loader for ECU (electronic control unit) reprogramming through SPI
  • Our team designed and integrated all the low-level device drivers and also customized SPI drivers to support processor and controller communications

 

Embitel Impact:

  • On-chip memory consumption was a critical technology challenge in this project since we were integrating J1939 and OBD2 software stacks with the IoT device for fleet safety and alerts
  • Our automotive team followed best practices of embedded software development and customized the configuration of J1939 and OBD2 stacks to overcome the on-chip memory limitation
  • Since the J1939 and OBD-II stacks and low-level device drivers were pre-packaged, pre-tested and were readily available for deployment, it helped us save software development costs and time for the customer

 

Tools and Technologies:

  • CanOe tool for capl scripting
  • Dcan and Samdia tools for configuration and testing of J1939 stack
  • Freematics OBD-II Emulator for OBD2 stack configuration and testing
  • Software coding language : Embedded C
  • Software IDE: Code Warrior
  • Automotive Protocols : CAN, J1939 and OBD-II

 

  • February 21, 2017
  • 0

Mutation Testing of an Automotive EPS for ISO 26262 (ASIL D) Compliance

Tags :

Category : Automotive control units-design and development , Product Engineering

 

Customer:

An European Automotive Engineering Company, specializing in Powertrain and Body Electronics Development

 

Business Challenge:

Our customer was in search of a trusted Automotive Embedded technology partner with specialized skills in Mutation Testing of the automotive EPS ECU (Electronic Control Unit).

In order to conform to the Automotive Safety Integrity Level (ASIL) D of the ISO 26262 standard, it is mandatory to test the designed automotive ECU software using Mutation Testing method.

Mutation testing is a code structure-based testing method. In this method the original embedded software code is altered to create mutant code.

  • Mutant code is designed to fail for a specific test-case created by QA or testing team. If the original code gives satisfactory output for a test-case and mutant code fails for the same test-case then the mutant is pronounced dead.

  • If the mutant code doesn’t fail for a specific test-case, then the test-case is modified and tested for same mutant to ensure that the mutant is dead..
mutation testing

Such a complex automotive software testing procedure can only be performed by a highly-skilled team with in-depth expertise in Advance C and domain expertise of the Automotive Embedded Systems and Control Units.

Our customer also had an urgent need as the project completion timelines were very stringent and ISO 26262 functional safety certification of ASIL D level had to be achieved before the launch of the automotive EPS in the market.

 

Embitel Solution:

Our Automotive Software Development team not only had the required skills in Advance C coding but we also added value with 10+ years of automotive domain experience.

  • We analyzed the entire EPS ECU software architecture and developed in-depth understanding of the complete structure of the software code
  • Our automotive domain experts worked with our QA and Testing teams to identify use-cases and design different test-cases with 100% coverage for all scenarios
  • Our software testing and QA team designed Mutant Codes for all the test-cases
  • The QA and Testing teams partnered with the customer for technology workshops in order to understand and get hands-on training with the proprietary tools
  • All the test-cases were executed and mutant testing results were reported using the proprietary tools of our customer
  • Our automotive ECU software testers analyzed mutant test results to identify ‘acceptable’ and ‘not acceptable’ mutants (mutant codes that were not killed)
  • Our automotive engineers reworked on test scripts to kill ‘not acceptable’ mutants

 

Tools and Technologies:

  • Advanced C skills
  • Mutation Testing method
  • Microsoft Visual Studio
  • Proprietary Tools belonging to the customer.

 

  • February 15, 2017
  • 0

Magento 2.0 marketplace development for India’s leading financial services provider

Tags :

Category : Digital Commerce , Others

 

One of India’s leading financial solutions companies sought to establish online presence for their offerings, particularly for consumer finance. The goal was to provide a localized shopping experience (based on local vendors) and enable brick-and-mortar retailers to reach out to those who preferred making purchases online.

This renowned company partnered with Embitel for development of a marketplace on Magento 2 in order to make purchase of their financing options available to customers online too.

 

Business challenge:

  • Development of a marketplace to showcase catalog of consumer products from various vendors, and corresponding financing options for each product.
  • Efficient management of the large amounts of data: products catalog, vendor data and customer database.
  • Integration with the company’s customer registration portal, that includes a continuously-evolving database.
  • Integrate with their loan processing system for a seamless shopping experience and online processing of loan

 

Embitel solution:

  • Implementation of a responsive ecommerce marketplace on Magento 2.0 community edition
  • Custom development of middleware and using of NoSQL Database to facilitate processing of high volume data from multiple sources efficiently, and a set of web services to present the finished data on the store front
  • Integration with elasticsearch search engine for accurate and personalized search performance, and also render dynamic faceted navigation
  • Integration of other features – customer login, order processing module, and more.
  • Display of products and offerings based on customer location

 

Business impact:

  • Successful development and launch of Magento 2 multi-vendor webstore as per client specifications
  • Ecommerce support services for enhancement of webstore functionality and features
  • Positive response and performance of the ecommerce website has encouraged the client to plan for expansion of product range

 

  • February 13, 2017
  • 0

HMI design & Mobile App development for Industrial Drive Controller Application

Tags :

Category : Automation , Mobility , Product Engineering

 

Customer:

One of the world’s most renowned suppliers of industrial drives and gearboxes for motion control, power transmission, rack & pinion applications and servo motors. For more than 8 decades, our customer has been a trusted supplier of quality and efficient Industrial Automation solutions

 

Business Challenge:

  • A PC-based application was being used by the end-users to control industrial drives of the motors connected to the machines, on the shop-floor.
  • However our customer’s internal technology R&D team had concerns w.r.t to their existing features and HMI of the PC-based Industrial Automation application.
  • This PC application was being used by their customers to control industrial drives of the motors connected to the machines on the shop-floor.
  • Operator-centric HMI design and Web or Mobile based solutions are very critical since manual operation of the industrial drives can lead to fatal physical  injuries on the shop floor or assembly line
  • For the existing product line of the industrial drives, the customer had a legacy web-based PC application along with physical controls on the drives and gearboxes.
  • This legacy industrial automation application had a number of limitations:
    • Existing HMI design & industrial automation solution supported limited controls and hence operators were also required to use the physical controls of the drive. This increased the possibility of shop-floor accidents
    • The legacy industrial automation app did not provide effective illustration and visual feedback of the actual working environment and condition of the deployed motors.

 

Embitel Solution:

Industrial Drive Controller Application
HMT-Design

 

  • Our Industrial Automation and Mobility team partnered with the customer for technology workshops to understand the existing processes and pain points.
  • Automation and Mobility team proposed and developed a Mobile App with an operator-centric HMI design, remote monitoring and custom control features.
  • This Industrial Automation Mobile Solution not only provides feedback from the drive controller, but also is used to relay control commands to the drive controllers to adjust position of the motor axes, speed, torque and more.
  • The Mobile App solution for Industrial Drives ensured safer proximity to the actual drives and motors as compared to the legacy PC-application where there is no visual feedback.
  • To overcome the drawbacks of the PC-application that required LAN connection with the industrial drives, mobile app helped operators to connect with drives and motors through highly secured Wi-Fi connection or unique QR codes.
  • Operators can easily identify the industrial drive controllers connected to the Wi-Fi network and control any specific motor at permissible distance from the machine shops.
  • Industrial Drive Mobile Application ensures that operators receive real time feedback from the deployed motors.
  • Our Automation and Mobility developers have designed a highly secure, proprietary and industrial grade communication protocol to enable data exchange between the mobile app and industrial drive controllers.
  • This solution has been designed for mobile operating systems like Android, iOS and Windows.
  • All operator authenticity and validity checks for changing any parameter of the motors have been integrated.
  • All the issues/events are notified to the operator through the mobile application as per the defined priorities shared by the customer.

 

Embitel Impact:

  • This mobile app solution for Industrial Drive application ensures that all motor-related status are visible to the operator in real time, and hence chances of any unintended faulty handling and accidents are eliminated.

 

Tools and Technologies:

  • Software development Languages :Java, swift, Objective C ,CSS, HTML5 and VC++ .
  • Proprietary protocol developed is based on TCP/IP.
  • Development Environment: Android studio, xCode, VS 2012 and Phonegap.

 

  • February 8, 2017
  • 0

Industrial IoT solution for UPS Battery monitoring System & Predictive Maintenance

Tags :

Category : Automation , Mobility , Product Engineering

 
Customer

One of the world’s most respected and renowned suppliers of electric and automation systems for Industrial Plants. With a strong focus on R&D and quality, over the years our customer has earned the reputation of being a trusted Tier-I supplier of high-quality electric motors and drivers, power electronics equipment, and Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS)

 
Business Challenge

  • During the latest UPS field deployment tests, a critical issue related to timely maintenance was observed by the customer.
  • The customer had sourced the Valve Regulated Lead Acid (VRLA) batteries from a third-party supplier. The existing UPS network could not effectively predict the rate of drainage of the battery charge.
  • This meant that, as an industrial automation supplier, our customer could not deliver the advantages of predictive maintenance (no downtime and lower cost of ownership) to its clients.
  • Also, due to the absence of an IoT platform solution for battery monitoring and management, any battery failure would have a direct impact on the performance and longevity of the UPS network.
  • The customer wanted to minimize this weakness: monitoring the rate of drain of battery charge.
  • They approached our IoT software development team for an Industrial automation solution.

 

Embitel Solution:

  • Design and development of an IoT solution using industrial grade network of sensors for data collection and battery monitoring.
  • Design and development of a data aggregator and storage system, wherein data can be stored either locally on the device or on an external server.
  • Industrial IoT (IIoT) sensors are connected to the local monitoring unit over a wireless LAN connection to minimize the cabling cost. A backup Ethernet connection has also been designed.

    • IoT SOlution

  • These IoT sensor modules collect the voltage and temperature information from the installed batteries of the UPS.
  • The collected data is packaged and forwarded to the local monitoring unit for decision making. To monitor the rate of battery discharge and ensure predictive maintenance, the system has been designed to calculate the string current.
  • Thus implementing Ohm’s Law as part of the algorithm, the battery monitoring and data analytics software is able to isolate the weakening batteries and notify the local administrator to take appropriate action for predictive maintenance.

 

Embitel Impact:

  • Our client now has the ability to ensure :
    • Zero system downtime due to Predictive Maintenance (PdM) of the in-service UPS
    • Reduction in overall cost of ownership for the clients
  • The designed industrial IoT and automation solution also enabled our customer to address the load balance challenges during the charge and discharge cycles.

 

Tools and Technologies:

  • OrCAD design tools for schematic development, HyperLynx – Signal Integrity, Power Integrity, and Thermal Analysis.
  • Texas Instrument (TI) Industrial Microcontroller
  • Texas Instruments (TI) FreeRTOS for embedded software development.
  • Texas Instruments Code Composer Studio for the development of the local master units and the sensor module units.
  • QT framework for HMI design of the PC-Application and ATS.
  • TCP/IP server for the remote PC configuration.
  • ModBus slave stack for interface with Building Management Software.

 

  • February 8, 2017
  • 0

IoT Platform Development for a Solar Tracking System

Tags :

Category : Automation , Mobility , Product Engineering

About the Customer:

  • Our client, the Indian subsidiary of one of the Global Pioneers in Renewable Energy Generation, had a mandate to improve the efficiency of their existing open field deployments of solar panels.

 

Business Challenge:

  • The customer had deployed thousands of solar panels on the field. They wanted to increase the overall output by ensuring 100% alignment of the solar panels with the trajectory of the Sun (throughout the day).
  • This increase in the generated power was expected to translate into an improved RoI from the open field deployments.

Why was the existing solar energy tracking system not efficient?

  • The existing solar tracker, that was designed to harvest energy throughout the day, was following a single trajectory. Such a trajectory meant that the orientation of the solar panels (payloads) was not optimized as per the changing position of the Sun from dawn to dusk.
  • As a result, the estimated annual power generation numbers were not as per the expectations.

What was required to achieve the desired RoI from the field deployments?

A network of Sun-Position Algorithm (SPA)-based solar trackers had to be designed to ensure efficient harvesting of the Sun’s energy from dawn to dusk.

Additional limitations of the existing solar trackers:

  • The customer had a limitation with their existing solar trackers – Each tracker could manage only one block of PV-panels.
  • The customer also required a second block of PV-panels to be monitored using a single tracker.
  • This was necessary to ensure reduction in capex and increase system utilization.

The client realized that such a solar tracking system could be designed based on the architecture of Industrial Internet of Things (IoT) and would require expertise in wireless communication protocols, embedded software, hardware design, cloud application and web application development.

After multiple technology workshops and design sessions, our customer developed confidence in the experience and expertise of our IoT developers, designers and Industrial Automation experts.

This marked the beginning of our long-term and successful partnership with the customer.
 

Embitel Solution:

Our IoT and Industrial Automation teams developed the hardware & software for the embedded control systems that were integrated with Solar Panels.

Following are the details of the IoT project:
 

IoT platform development for network of solar trackers:

    IoT-Solar-Tracking-System-SCADA-solution-Embitel-Bangalore-Automation

  • The solar panels were connected to solar trackers (controllers) that changed the orientation of the panels based on the movement of the sun. The motion of the solar panels was regulated by the following input details:
    • Time of the day
    • Time zone
    • Location of the panel (based on GPS coordinates)
  • Our team also designed an IoT platform solution for a network of solar trackers. This IoT based solar tracking system communicated through ZigBee and WiFi wireless protocols and serial communication interfaces.
  • Our hardware design ensured that a network of eight solar trackers can be integrated on a single hardware board.
  • An IoT-enabled master-slave network was designed, wherein a master controller controls up to 24 slave trackers. This master controller also sends consolidated data to the centralized server.
  • We partnered with the customer for end-to-end design and development of the hardware board and firmware software for this Industrial Automation project.
  • The embedded hardware for the Sun tracking system is designed on NXP micro-controller LPC1768 platform.
  • The custom-built Industrial IoT gateway device is a linux based system designed on Atmel SAM A5 platform.
  • Device drivers for all serial communication are RS-485 based half duplex as well as full duplex systems.
  • Communication interfaces between master-slave solar trackers have been designed using industrial grade ModBus Stack.
  • A mesh network, designed using the XBee modules, serves as the primary mode of communication between the master device and the tracker devices.
  • A fallback communication channel has been developed for XBee connectivity, using the RS-485 communication link.

 

Embitel Impact:

  • The designed IoT solution successfully achieved all the objectives of our customer. It addressed their main concerns of efficient power generation and monitoring.
  • The Industrial IoT (Internet of Things) platform also helped reduce the cost of field operations.
  • Our customer was able to increase their field coverage, including the irregular corner and fringe boundaries.
  • There was more than 20% improvement in power output of the plant.

 

Tools and Technologies:

  • OrCAD design tools for schema development, HyperLynx– Signal Integrity, Power Integrity, and Thermal Analysis.
  • Atmel Linux development tool for the master board and Xpresso Eclipse IDE plugin for the tracker boards.
  • ModBus over RS-485- ModBus Stack in Master mode from Silas.
  • QT framework for PC-Application and ATS.

  • February 7, 2017
  • 0

Need reasons for migration to Magento 2.0? 5 ecommerce success stories from USA to inspire you

Category : Digital Commerce & Experience Blog

Magento 2.0 made its first appearance in 2015, and quickly sparked off a flurry of news regarding its improvements and benefits for businesses. From a better inherent structure, to a much improved and optimized technology architecture, and to a wide range of available plugins and extensions, Magento 2 promised it all.

Almost 2 years later, BuiltWith reports over 8000 websites worldwide are live on Magento 2, and almost half of these are based in USA.

Magento2

Distribution of Magento 2 stores across the world. Source: Builtwith.com

Ecommerce websites in the USA have leveraged the potential of the platform in varying patterns. Magento 2 themes and Magento 2 extensions for ecommerce websites have been implemented to suit the needs of businesses from various sectors, and have met with success.

Let’s look at some of these Magento 2 ecommerce websites from USA for inspiration for your ecommerce implementation.

SOL

SOLFrom a being a well-performing in-store lingerie brand, SOL wanted to give its business a big boost with an online store.

When a Magento 1.x Community Edition store did not give the brand the desired results, the brand quickly reconsidered and decided to migrate to Magento 2 enterprise edition. It became the first Magento 2 website to launch in the US.

The SOL website was developed with a responsive theme, and the brand’s seamless shopping experience that integrated online and offline stores started yielding results in a short time. Total online revenue grew about 104% in the first 6 weeks of going live, of which 60% was from mobile devices.

Alcatel One Touch

Alcatel One TouchAs a rapidly growing smart gadget brand in the US, Alcatel sought to use ecommerce as a flexible and scalable channel to match growing demand. Alcatel USA proved to be one of the early Magento 2 webstores in the region.

Alcatel’s website is rich with information, pictures and videos. Magento 2 supports all these requirements on the website, even as the brand retains a clean look with easy navigation to make it user-friendly.

The website doesn’t yet offer a direct purchase option for products, but redirects customers to a retail website.

Land Rover USA

Land RoverThe catalog of Land Rover’s retail ecommerce store lists clothes and accessories for men, women and kids for travel.

As a premium travel facilitator and vehicle brand, Land Rover’s Magento 2 ecommerce store UI is in sync with its brand image: clean and classy.

This Magento 2 store has a catalog that’s easy on the eye, has a quick checkout system anda nifty shopping basket preview, with very smooth navigation. It’s a clear example of an out of box Magento 2 solution that delivers great webstore suited to the brand identity.

Dollar General

Dollar GeneralThough not an online-focus retailer, Dollar General has such a sizeable presence, it’s hard to ignore. The USP of this gas-station retail outlet is the cheap, discounted array of products on sale.

Dollar General has, and still is, experiencing a rare phenomenon—continuous expansion of retail space, even during lean periods in the industry.

Dollar General’s Magento 2 store offers a huge catalog of products consisting of private as well as in house brands, . This Magento 2 website has integrated payment gateways.

A classic ecommerce store, Dollar General ensures its clientele gets the same simplistic shopping experience online and offline with a huge variety of products to choose from.

EZ Prints

EZ printsEZ Prints is an online-only business that allows customers to log on to the website and choose from a wide range of personalized products such as phone cases, home décor items, stationery and gift items.

Customers can log on to the website, chose from a wide range of designs and personalize with their photos and text. The EZ Prints Magento 2website allows customers to upload photos from their own device or various social media and storage accounts, and has several payment gateways integrated.

In spite of the need for large images to showcase the product detail, and the provision for customers to upload pictures, the Magento 2’s updated technology stacks make it possible for the website to function efficiently.

Need help with Magento 2 migration? Visit our Magento 2 Migration insight page to learn the step-by-step guide on migration.

  • February 7, 2017
  • 0

5 best practices for mobile app UI design

Tags :

Category : Digital Commerce & Experience Blog

While designing mobile app UI, app designers are aware of the limitations of native app frameworks and they have to use the small screens effectively to make ecommerce applications efficient and performance oriented.

The other thing the app designers have to consider is the experience of end users who will  operate the mobile apps – some users may not be very experienced, and may require simple navigation.

But while the mobile app UI needs to be streamlined and easy to use for novice users, it should also not be boring for experienced and educated ones.

To achieve this, app developers can follow these 5 best UI practices for engaging ecommerce mobile app development projects.

Business Strategy Focus

No business or company can prosper without understanding of their target audience and analyzing the concurrent market situation. Likewise, no mobile app will get good results unless the developers understand users’ preferences and expectations from the product. It is, therefore, necessary to do research on the market, target users and how competitors are responding to their needs. This way, developers can have better knowledge of how to proceed.

Interactive Design

Designers should consider the four fundamental rules or pillars that make an interactive design:

  • Goal-driven design: The rule of thumb is to design UI for the right users. Do some user research (interviews or surveys) and create personas of the app users. This way, the app’s workflow can be tailored to users’ needs.
  • Usability: If the app is not user friendly users will not opt for it. If the framework and UX is not easy to use, customer retention will become very difficult
  • Ease of learning: Since every developer wants users to easily learn about the interface, it is necessary to keep the design simple yet attractive and interesting.
  • Response & Feedback Option: Feedback option is very important to get user feedbacksDevelopers must provide this option to users and must respond to users feedbacks

Map Out Content And Build User-Flow

Research and design work go hand in hand. For instance, developers can easily sketch user flows according to their research and understanding. And remember, it is important to start with creating a prototype so that the user flow between content and action can be better understood.

Using Known Mobile Patterns

Mobile application development involves different device-specific patterns or features like orientation, posture, thumb placement, etc. So developers should start with learning various interfaces and list down common mobile patterns. This way, they will be able to make a user interface that is easy to use.

For good UI development, two things must be considered irrespective of the type of mobile app:

  • Gesture: The fundamental thing for touch devices is gesture i.e. swipe, touch, pinch, zoom and double-tap that allow users to effortlessly go anywhere they want.
  • Animation: This feature holds users on a UI and influences them to remain associated for a longer time period. Developers should cleverly combine gesture and animation in order to add more depth to the users’ experience.

Create Backward-Compatible UI(s)

Apps should work on the older version of the platforms as well. The UI components and the APIs which are used in the newer versions of the platform should be backward-compatible. To do so, you should:

  • Abstract the New APIs
  • Proxy to the New APIs
  • Create an Implementation with Older APIs
  • Use the Version-Aware Component

If you’re a novice in app development, a much detailed tutorial of this is available here.

Hope you have found these best practices in mobile app UI design useful. Do you have a great app idea in your mind? Book a free session with our mobile app development consultants to evaluate your project idea and get free guidance on project implementation.

Archives

Contact Us

© 2018 Embitel. All Rights Reserved