Feasibility Study

Engineering investigation that proves the risky bits before the development project commits

A Discovery Workshop produces a specification. A Feasibility Study answers a different question: can the product be built the way you want it built? When the honest answer isn’t obvious, Ignys runs the investigation work to find out on paper first, and with a proof of concept demo unit where physical evidence is needed.

When feasibility is the right question

Not every electronics project needs a formal feasibility study. Some are extensions of well understood patterns where the path from concept to product is clear, and a Discovery Workshop to produce a specification and then straight into six-stage development is the right starting point.

Other projects have genuine uncertainty. The product depends on a sensing accuracy that nobody has demonstrated at this cost target. Or a battery life claim that depends on a radio profile in an environment that hasn’t been tested. Or a manufacturing cost that depends on assumptions about volume, process and supply chain that haven’t been validated.

In those cases, committing to a full development programme without resolving the uncertainty is an expensive gamble. A Feasibility Study is how you resolve it cheaply, before significant budget is at risk.

Feasibility is contextual

There is no single template for a feasibility study because the relevant questions depend on the product. The typical drivers are:

• A one off prototype, a hundred-unit pilot, a ten thousand unit commercial product and a million unit consumer product all warrant different feasibility questions.
• Industrial, consumer, regulated environments and safety relevant systems each impose different feasibility constraints.
• Customer requirements. Cost targets, performance specifications, reliability expectations and service life all need to be tested against what is physically and commercially achievable.
• Manufacturing approach. What is manufacturable at your target volume and cost, given the assembly and test capabilities of suitable partners.
• Technology choice. Novel sensing, communications, energy harvesting, edge processing or AI on embedded hardware all introduce specific feasibility questions.
• Battery vs mains, primary vs rechargeable, energy harvesting, expected service life, charging strategy and the energy budget against the application load.
• Compliance and certification. Whether the product can meet the required standards in its intended form factor, with the chosen technology, in the target market.
• Operating environment. Temperature, humidity, vibration, ingress protection, RF environment, EMC neighbours and any sector specific environmental requirements.

How we run a feasibility study

Feasibility studies at Ignys typically run in two phases. Many products only need the first.

Phase 1: paper-based feasibility

A desk-based engineering investigation. Our engineers work through the architecture options, component availability, BOM cost modelling at target volume, power budget, compliance route and risk register. Where supplier conversations, datasheet analysis or vendor evaluation are needed, we do them.

The output is a documented feasibility report with a clear recommendation: proceed, proceed with caveats, or stop and reconsider. The reasoning is laid out, so the recommendation can be defended internally.

Phase 2: proof of concept demo unit

Where paper-based analysis can’t fully resolve a critical assumption, we build a focused proof of concept. This is not a product prototype. It is a minimal build that proves whether the riskiest part works, in practice, in something close to the real conditions.

Typical examples: a battery powered radio module with a real antenna deployed in the intended environment to verify range and signal quality. A sensor breakout demonstrating the required detection accuracy under realistic conditions. A power management circuit confirming the energy budget holds up under realistic load and duty cycle. An RF environment survey for a product that has to coexist with significant interference.

The point is to spend small to prove the riskiest assumption before committing to the development project that depends on it.

What you take away

• A documented feasibility report with a clear engineering recommendation.
• An engineering risk register identifying the items that needed investigation, what was found and what remains open.
• Component, architecture and supply chain analysis grounded in the specific product.
• BOM cost modelling at the target production volume.
• Compliance route assessment with indicative testing cost and timeline implications.
• Where a proof of concept was built, the physical unit and a documented summary of what it demonstrated.
• A view of what a Discovery Workshop or development project should look like next, if proceeding.

Engineers running the study. Not account managers.

A feasibility study is only as valuable as the engineering judgement behind it. At Ignys, the engineers who would deliver your development project are the same engineers who run the feasibility study. The risks they identify, the recommendations they make and the proof of concept they build all draw on the same disciplined process work that has won Ignys the ELEKTRA Award for Electronics Design Team of the Year three times running.

We are not tied to specific component franchises or platforms. That means our component and architecture recommendations reflect what is right for your product, not what is convenient for us to source or support.

Who a Feasibility Study is for

Feasibility studies are built for product teams with genuine technical uncertainty in front of them and a commercial decision to make about whether to commit to development.

Is this you?

• Your product depends on a performance target that has not been demonstrated and you need to know whether it is achievable before specifying the rest of the project.
• You’re considering a novel technology choice and need an independent engineering assessment of whether it will actually deliver, at cost, at volume, in your operating environment.
• You’re inheriting a project from elsewhere and want a structured technical investigation of the assumptions before further investment.
• You have a target unit cost and you need to know whether the product can be designed and manufactured to hit it.
• You’re facing a compliance route that nobody on your team has navigated before and the risk of getting it wrong is high enough to investigate properly upfront.

Getting started

A feasibility study begins with a short initial call. We’ll ask enough about the product to understand where the uncertainty actually sits and what would need to be proven to remove it. From there we’ll propose a scope that addresses the specific questions, sized to the decision you’re trying to make.

Product Success By Design.