Free e-book: IEEE 802.15.4ab vs IEEE 802.15.4z

The embedded team behind your silicon - without the six‑month ramp

Q: Can needCode provide embedded engineers who already know our chipset?

Yes - needCode's team includes engineers with direct production experience at major chipset vendors including Nordic Semiconductor, Qorvo, Texas Instruments, Silicon Labs, and Espressif, so they start from knowledge of silicon internals, timing, and hardware limits rather than a learning curve. We supply this as staff augmentation, a dedicated bring-up squad, or a full team extension integrated with your release process. The model is proven: needCode ran a 30-engineer centre for Qorvo with a zero-churn core team retained over five years.

Q: How fast can you ramp an embedded team for a new chipset bring-up?

needCode ramps faster than internal hiring because the engineers are already silicon-aware and the bring-up playbook is established across nine completed hardware-platform bring-ups. A feasibility and architecture engagement starts within 2-4 weeks, and the team scales against your program milestones from there. This is built for the exact situation where embedded hiring would take six months or more and the launch will not wait.

Q: Do you have experience developing SDKs for UWB and BLE chipsets?

Yes - needCode has delivered production SDKs, drivers, and stacks across nine hardware platforms, including UWB silicon (Qorvo QM33/QM35, legacy DW1000/DW3000) and BLE platforms, as a certified Qorvo partner. Our team co-authored Bluetooth SIG specifications and delivered the world's first certified BLE Mesh stack. We build the full SDK - BSP, HAL, OSAL, middleware, OTA, security, documentation, CI/CD, and test.

Q: Can you build an SDK that helps win design-ins?

Yes - needCode treats the SDK as the design-in differentiator, because between vendors with comparable silicon the developer's first thirty minutes with the getting-started experience often decides the award. We design production-grade SDKs that halve time-to-prototype, ship documentation as a release artifact, and turn support from a cost line into a roadmap accelerator. Every architectural decision is mapped to a business outcome such as longer silicon-family lifetime or shorter customer sales cycles.

Q: Do you provide a dedicated UWB protocol sniffer or diagnostic tooling?

Yes - needCode provides a proprietary UWB Protocol Sniffer that captures and decodes IEEE 802.15.4a/z frames with FiRa and CCC decoders, dual-channel, with packet decryption. It addresses a universal market gap, as NXP, ST, and Infineon do not ship a dedicated UWB sniffer of their own. It is available for evaluation and co-development and de-risks bring-up and interoperability debugging.

Q: How do you handle certification and compliance for our silicon?

needCode is an active contributor to FiRa, CSA, the Bluetooth SIG, IEEE 802.15.4ab, and Android AOSP UCI APIs, and runs pre-certification testing, lab preparation, and conformity validation to reduce first-attempt failure rates. Automated CI/CD pipelines run tens of thousands of tests per release and have cut certification timelines by up to 40%. We also build in CRA-grade security - secure boot, signed firmware, dual-slot OTA - ahead of the December 2027 conformity gate.

Q: What is the difference between hiring needCode and building an internal SDK team?

needCode gives you silicon-aware capacity immediately, without the six-month hiring ramp and without the fixed headcount cost between product cycles. Our engineers arrive with production experience from major chipset vendors and an established SDK and bring-up playbook, where an internal hire starts from onboarding. For ongoing work the team-extension model integrates with your release process, as it did across a five-year, zero-churn engagement with Qorvo.

Q: Do you work as staff augmentation or fixed-scope projects?

Both - needCode engages as a fixed-scope SDK audit or greenfield design, a phased modernisation, or a dedicated long-term team extension, matched to where the platform is in its lifecycle. Commercial models such as staff augmentation, time and materials, and fixed price are selected to fit the engagement rather than led with. The long-term partnership model is how needCode operates as an integrated part of a vendor's release process.

Q: Which RTOS and toolchains do you support?

needCode ships on Zephyr, FreeRTOS, ThreadX, bare metal, and Linux for gateways, building with GCC, LLVM/Clang, IAR, Keil, CMake, West, and Kconfig from a single board to a 600-board family. Security and OTA use TF-M, PSA Crypto, MCUboot, mbedTLS, and custom dual-slot bootloaders. We pick the toolchain that matches your silicon and lifecycle rather than imposing one.

Q: How does needCode protect our confidentiality and IP?

needCode is certified to ISO/IEC 27001:2022 for information security and ISO 9001:2015 for quality, and works as an embedded extension of your team under the confidentiality terms a silicon vendor's IP requires. The model is built on continuity, demonstrated by a core team retained with zero churn for over five years at Qorvo. Standards-body membership and secure development practices are applied throughout.

needCode is the embedded engineering partner for semiconductor manufacturers. When chipset R&D needs SDK, bring-up, test, and certification capacity faster than it can hire, we supply a silicon-aware team that ships production firmware — and an SDK that wins design-ins instead of losing them quietly in evaluation. Trusted by Qorvo; staffed by engineers from the vendors you compete with.

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See what we build for silicon vendors

We work with Industry Leaders

Comparable silicon.
The SDK decides the design-in.

Process nodes converge. IP blocks are licensed. RF front-ends are increasingly commoditised. Between vendors with comparable silicon, the real differentiator is what a developer experiences in the first thirty minutes of the SDK — and that single getting-started page often decides whether your platform is even in the conversation when the design-in is awarded.

The problem is rarely capability. It is bandwidth. Launching three platforms at once, against certification deadlines and a fixed headcount, an SDK or bring-up team cannot be ramped in the six-to-nine months a program allows. needCode is that capacity on demand — and unlike a generalist contractor, our engineers have shipped production firmware at major chipset vendors and already know the silicon, the standards, and the stack.

Design-in pressure

A weak SDK loses customers you'd have won on technical merit. A production-grade one halves time-to-prototype and keeps your platform on the shortlist.

Bandwidth pressure

Three simultaneous launches, no spare SDK headcount, and embedded hiring that takes six months or more. The bottleneck is capacity, not talent.

Compliance pressure

CRA conformity gates the CE mark from December 2027. Security retrofitted late is a silicon revision, not a firmware patch.

What we build for silicon vendors

From a single SDK to a standing bring-up bench. Five workstreams, each routing to a team that has shipped it before - not a generalist learning your chipset on your budget.

Production SDK Design & Development

The nine-capability SDK that wins design-ins: BSP, HAL, OSAL, middleware, OTA, security, documentation, CI/CD, and test — architected portable across silicon generations so one platform's work carries to the next. Documentation treated as a release artifact, not an afterthought.

SDK Design & Development

Ultra-Wideband

BLE

Platform Bring-Up

New chipset platforms taken from zero to working reference. 9 hardware-platform bring-ups completed across ESP-IDF, nRF Connect, MCUXpresso, ModusToolbox, and Simplicity Studio — the critical gap between an SDK promise and production-certified reality.

Platform Bring-Up & SDK

Automated Test & CI/CD

Custom RF test benches and CI/CD pipelines running tens of thousands of tests per release across multiple hardware platforms. First-attempt FiRa, BT SIG, and CSA compliance — cutting certification timelines by up to 40%.

Automated Testing & CI/CD

UWB Protocol Sniffer & Diagnostics

IEEE 802.15.4a/z frame capture with FiRa and CCC decoders, dual-channel, packet decryption — the dedicated UWB sniffer NXP, ST, and Infineon do not ship. Available for evaluation and co-development; the fastest way to de-risk bring-up and interop.

UWB Sniffer

Standards & Certification

Active contributor to FiRa, CSA, the Bluetooth SIG, IEEE 802.15.4ab, and Android AOSP UCI APIs. Pre-certification testing, lab preparation, and conformity validation that reduces first-attempt failure rates — standards-body membership leveraged for early spec access.

Standards & Certification

Launching more than your team can staff?

Book a discovery call with our CEO

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Why chipset R&D teams bring in needCode

Staffed by engineers from major chipset vendors

Our team includes engineers with direct production experience at Nordic Semiconductor, Qorvo, Texas Instruments, Silicon Labs, and Espressif. They arrive knowing silicon internals, timing constraints, and hardware limits - not a learning curve you pay for.

A standing relationship, not a revolving door

We scaled a dedicated development centre from under 10 to 30 engineers for Qorvo and retained the core team with zero churn for 5+ years. Continuity that protects your roadmap, your context, and your IP across product cycles.

We help write the standards

Active in FiRa, the UWB Alliance, the Bluetooth SIG, CSA, and IEEE 802.15.4ab - and co-authors of official BLE Mesh specifications and the world's first certified BLE Mesh stack. Your SDK is built to the spec by people shaping it.

The diagnostic tool you don't have in-house

Our UWB Protocol Sniffer captures and decodes 802.15.4a/z with FiRa and CCC decoders - a capability the major UWB vendors lack internally. It turns bring-up and interop debugging from guesswork into evidence.

Four ways to bring needCode in

From a one-week audit to a multi-year partnership. We tailor the engagement to where the SDK is in its lifecycle.

01 SDK Audit & Roadmap

Duration:
2–4 weeks
Best for:
Existing SDKs needing external assessment before a major release
Deliverable:
Audit report, prioritised remediation roadmap, leadership readout

02 Greenfield SDK & Platform Bring-Up

Duration:
8–16 weeks design + phased delivery
Best for:
New silicon families where the SDK is designed alongside the chip
Deliverable:
Architecture, design specs, working reference on the target dev kit

03 SDK Modernisation & Certification

Duration:
12–24 weeks, phased
Best for:
Mature SDKs needing RTOS portability, CRA security, or a documentation overhaul
Deliverable:
Migration plan, refactored components, deprecation guides, updated CI, conformity support

04 Long-Term Team Extension

Duration:
Multi-year, retainer-based
Best for:
Silicon vendors who want needCode integrated with the full release process
Deliverable:
An embedded engineering team inside your cadence — the model behind the 30-FTE Qorvo programme

What we ship on

No religious wars. We pick the toolchain that matches your silicon, your team, and the expected lifecycle of the product.

Wireless

UWB (IEEE 802.15.4z / 4ab)

BLE 5.4 / 6.0 Channel Sounding

Zigbee / Matter

Thread

Languages & RTOS

C99

C11

C++

Assembly

Zephyr

FreeRTOS

ThreadX

Bare metal

Linux (gateways)

Toolchains & build

GCC arm-none-eabi

LLVM/Clang

IAR EWARM

Keil MDK

Segger

CMake

West

Kconfig

GNU Make

Bazel

Security & OTA

TF-M

PSA Crypto API

MCUboot

mbedTLS

CryptoCell

ARM TrustZone

Custom dual-slot bootloaders

Documentation, CI & testing

Doxygen

Sphinx

GitHub Actions

GitLab CI

Jenkins

Unity

CMock

Renode

QEMU

Case studies

Proof from the silicon vendors we already serve.

This is the segment needCode was built for - and the deepest proof on the site.

Qorvo: RF Leadership

Context: Rapid scaling for new chipset bring-up.

Scale: Grew from <10 to 30 FTEs.
Output: Supported bring-up of 9 new hardware platforms (SDKs, Drivers, Stacks).
Retention: Zero-churn core team retained for 5+ years.

Dedicated Development Center for RF Solutions

Bluetooth Mesh Smart Lighting Control System

Smart Lighting: Core R&D Extension

Context: Client needed deep, specialized expertise to pivot from proprietary tech to a new global standard.

Service: Deployed a dedicated squad of embedded engineers to function as the client's core R&D team.
Output: Co-authored official Bluetooth SIG protocols and delivered the world’s first certified BLE Mesh stack.
Value: Enabled the client to secure Series A funding and defined the industry standard for smart buildings.

Creative Werks: Innovation rescue

Context: Hardware obsolescence threatened production shutdown.

Action: Full-stack takeover (PCB redesign + Firmware + Mobile App).
ROI: 1230% ($1.6M value generated).
Speed: Payback period of 2–3 months.

NeedCode-case study - IoT Solution for Boat Lift Modernization - cover2s

PowerPollen: AgTech automation

Context: Lack of internal expertise stalled a critical automation project.

Action: Re-architected system using unified MCU and ISOBUS standards.
ROI: 13.8x ($2.9M value generated).
Impact: Enabled $1.9M increase in harvester value.

Strategic Partnership

needCode is an official business partner of Qorvo, bringing over 8 years of proven expertise and trusted service to the technology sector.

Check our performance

Members of the UWB Alliance

In 2025 we became a member of the UWB Alliance. This strategic step reinforces our commitment to pioneering Ultra-Wideband (UWB) technology.

Proudly Certified for Excellence and Security

needCode is officially certified for:
ISO 9001:2015 – Quality Management
ISO/IEC 27001:2022 – Information Security

ISO certifications reflect our focus on delivering reliable IoT solutions, smart product development, and secure technology services.

Testimonials

“I think the key takeaway from needCode is their ability to adapt and understand the customer's requirements. That took away probably a large portion of what could have been a lot of development time and expense for both companies.”

Bob Folkestad

President at Creative Werks

“One aspect that truly sets needCode apart is its profound expertise in firmware development. Their proficiency in various programming languages, embedded systems and hardware architecture is truly impressive. When faced with difficult problems, their strong problem-solving skills and analytical mindset shine through, allowing them to overcome obstacles with remarkable ease.”

Semeh Sarhan

CEO at Xtrava

“I worked with needCode while leading the NWTN-Berlin team in 2018. A big chunk for our FW development has been outsourced to them and they had proven to iterate very quickly, following specs and deliver on time. It was great working with them. I recommend working with needCode’s team on any Embedded SW development.”

Marco Salvioli Mariani

CTO at NWTN Berlin GmbH

“needCode Team proved to be one of the best engineers I have ever met. The part I like the most about the team is the more difficult an obstacle seems to be, the more motivated they were to find a solution and a way forward.”

Szymon Słupik

CTO at Silvair

“needCode is an outstanding partner. Their quick follow-up, scalability, and extensive professional network set them apart. Their expertise in wireless technologies has been valuable, supporting us from low-level drivers to architecture discussions.”

Tim Allemeersch

Director at Qorvo, Inc.

“needCode did a great job improving the firmware of the Vai Kai connected toys and developing new features, surpassing our expectations multiple times. I would definitely recommend hiring Bartek and needCode for the embedded software projects!”

Matas Petrikas

CEO & Co-founder at Vai Kai UG

Insights

Automating Bluetooth Qualification: From Weeks of PTS to an Overnight Job

There is a particular ritual in Bluetooth product development that anyone who has been through it remembers vividly. It is the manual qualification regression: sitting in front of a Windows machine running the Profile Tuning Suite, clicking through hundreds of test cases over the course of a week or two, interpreting results that range from […]

Monolithic, meta-tool, or registry: choosing how to ship your embedded SDK

Most SDK teams do not consciously choose a delivery model. They inherit one. The first release of a new platform ships as a single archive because that’s the fastest way to get something into customers’ hands. The next few releases follow the same pattern because it works. By the time the team has five product […]

Documentation as a product: how good SDKs treat docs as code

The deliverable customers interact with most often is the one most commonly treated as a secondary artifact. Six document types, six audiences, and one release gate that fixes most of the failure modes. A semiconductor SDK can have an exemplary architecture, a thoughtfully versioned C API, a security framework that maps cleanly to PSA Certified […]

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