When You Need Reverse Engineering
Legacy Product Support
Original design files are lost or unavailable. We reconstruct complete documentation to enable ongoing production and repairs.
Obsolete Component Redesign
A key component is discontinued. We reverse engineer the board to enable a redesign with modern equivalents.
Design Improvement
You have a working product but want to optimize it. We extract the design, identify improvement opportunities, and deliver an enhanced version.
IP Documentation
You need complete design documentation for regulatory approval, insurance, or IP registration purposes.
Competitive Analysis
Understanding competitor products to inform your own design decisions (within legal boundaries).
Our Process
Strict Confidentiality
All reverse engineering projects are covered by a mutual NDA. Your boards, files and design information are never shared with third parties. We maintain strict data security protocols throughout the project lifecycle.
Reverse Engineering a Discontinued Motor Controller for a Food Processing Line
A UK food processing company operating a production line built in 1998 — with a proprietary servo motor controller board discontinued by the original manufacturer. A board failure had taken the production line offline, and no replacement boards were available anywhere in the supply chain.
The Problem
The customer had one failed board and one working spare. The original manufacturer had been acquired and the product line discontinued. No schematic, BOM, or technical documentation existed. The board contained a custom-programmed PIC16F877 microcontroller with unknown firmware, and a proprietary ASIC no longer available.
Key Challenges
- No schematic, BOM, or technical documentation — complete reverse engineering required
- Custom-programmed PIC16F877 — firmware must be extracted from the working board
- Proprietary ASIC no longer available — must be replaced with equivalent discrete circuitry
- Production line downtime cost: £4,200 per day — urgency was critical
- Only one working reference board available — cannot damage it during reverse engineering
Our Solution
We extracted the PIC16F877 firmware using a non-invasive read procedure that does not damage the device. The proprietary ASIC was identified as a custom PWM generator and gate driver — we replaced it with a TI TMS320F28027 DSP (for PWM generation) and a gate driver IC that replicates the ASIC's function. The full schematic was reverse-engineered in 8 working days using X-ray imaging for buried via mapping, cross-section analysis for stack-up determination, and manual net tracing. We manufactured 5 replacement boards and 10 spares for the customer's inventory.
Results & Outcomes
"We were facing an indefinite production line shutdown with no obvious solution. Kingdta's reverse engineering team restored our line in under 3 weeks and delivered spare boards that will keep us running for years. The speed and technical depth of their work was remarkable — they treated it as an emergency because it was one."
Engineering Manager, Food Processing Company — Manchester, UK