Hi,
I'm a HW & FW & SW freelancer. I'm working on a card scanner and I would like to ask you, how much would you ask to design this scanner. This are requirements:
- double sided image scanner for credit card sized cards. User inserts 2 1/8" wide card into slot of the scanner, wheels/rollers powered by a motor moves the card between two contact image sensors (CIS, 300 dpi reolution), the image is being sent to control PC during scanning process. When the scanning process finishes (should take less than 2 seconds), the card stops inside the scanner, waiting for control PC to process the image data. Then PC sends command to release the card - motor reverses and the scanner moves the card back into the slot where user removes the card from the scanner.
- my job: electronics & firmware with analog front end, optical sensors to detect card, motor control, communication protocol (USB) and some basic software on PC to demonstrate and test the scanner. Mechanical part (CIS placement, rollers/wheels, slot, ...) is not my job.
- I pay for electronic components and PCBs during development, I use my own equipment - scope, power supplies, multimeters, soldering station, ...
- USB is used to power the scanner including motor. The PCB can have 2 USB connector to supply enough power for both scanner electronics and motor.
- CIS calibration procedure must be implemented to achieve decent image quality (on PC the image is processed using OCR; a note: OCR is not my job, I just send image data from scanner and receive them on PC and provide some basic interface to command the scanner from PC and to signal a status of the scanner on PC)
- measures against attempts of inserting too long or too short card must be implemented. The card can stuck inside the scanner because it can have some defects. When this happens, the scanner waits for somebody to manually release the card.
- cost of the electronics (assembled PCB, motor, optical sensors) should be 40 - 50 USD @ quantity 100. CIS cost is not included in the price.
- final product of the project is assembled PCB and demo software for Windows. Connector placement and shape of the PCB is specified by customer.
How much $$$ would you ask for this project? I'm just curious about my price estimation hopefully being similar to more experienced designers. I'm aware that cost of labour is different at different places around the world.
This is one of the prototypes and scanned image to see what the acceptable quality is. And demo app for PC.