Altium Customer Success
Elegance on Alert: Safety by Cilia's Stylish Solution to Personal Security
“We will be able to grow and we won’t be limited by anything because Altium’s capabilities are quite vast.”
Discover how Safety by Cilia is revolutionizing personal protection with their innovative jewelry that doubles as a safety alarm.
At the age of 19, Cissi Nilsson was drugged during a night out in Sweden. The day after this traumatic event, she woke to find herself living with a new kind of fear that thousands of people struggle with. In 2022 alone, over 24,000 sexual assaults were reported in Sweden, but an alarming 80-90% of these cases never led to a conviction.
Rather than feeling devastated by the lack of personal security options on the market, Cissi decided to take matters into her own hands and founded Safety by Cilia. Her team develops a discreet safety alarm that integrates seamlessly into a user’s daily life.
Their safety alarm is designed to look like stylish jewelry, making it a perfect companion for both everyday activities and festive occasions. The device combines GPS positioning, dual alarm options (loud and silent), automatic audio recording, and fast notification features, all encapsulated within an accessory that doesn't compromise on aesthetics or functionality.
Combining Elegance With Technological Complexity
Safety by Cilia chose to partner with Altium as they worked to deliver a hardware prototype for potential investors. Their primary technical challenge was making their device as small as possible to fit within a stylish yet discreet enclosure.
To address this challenge, the team utilized Altium’s MCAD CoDesigner to bridge the gap between mechanical and electronic design constraints. This allowed them to set up board geometry in their MCAD system tailored to the jewelry’s enclosure, and then seamlessly transfer this setup to Altium Designer.
MCAD CoDesigner’s bi-directional synchronization capabilities were pivotal, enabling the team to exchange updates on board geometry and component placement between Altium Designer and their MCAD environment to ensure a perfect fit between the PCB and its enclosure.
“We wanted to adopt Altium earlier on so we could design more complex products later. But it was much faster than I expected.”
Suranjan Ottikkutti
Chief Technology Officer
Safety by Cilia
Balancing Cost, Efficiency, and Size in Product Design
The team’s goal was to make their device affordable for as many people as possible without compromising on quality or functionality. Safety by Cilia’s engineering team had to carefully optimize their component selection process to meet requirements for cost, energy consumption, and size.
To achieve this goal, the team utilized Altium’s Manufacturer Part Search panel. This panel provided the team with a sophisticated search feature based on categories and parametric filtering that allowed them to zero in on the exact manufactured components they needed. They were also able to select a preferred supplier of a physical part based on cost, availability, and other requirements.
Every part in the Manufacturer Part Search includes its own ready-to-use symbol, footprint, and 3D model. With complete component data visible in the panel, the team was able to quickly identify a solution and add the part to their design to ensure its compatibility within a dense 4-layer PCB, all without leaving their design environment.
This streamlined workflow of researching, selecting, and placing parts within Altium Designer enabled the team to speed up their design process and rapidly develop a working prototype while meeting their budget and manufacturing constraints.
“Altium is leading in terms of design for flexible PCBs both in terms of ECAD and MCAD. It’s nice to be able to visualize all the components through the manufacturer search and be able to visually see it…which Altium allows us to do.”
Suranjan Ottikkutti
Chief Technology Officer
Safety by Cilia
Streamlining Collaboration Across Multiple Iterations
As Safety by Cilia progressed through iterations of their product, the need for effective collaboration with investors and manufacturing partners became increasingly critical. The challenge lay in managing and sharing design data with a variety of stakeholders, ensuring that everyone involved had access to the most current information without risking data inconsistency or loss.
To address this challenge, Safety by Cilia turned to Altium 365's robust data management and version control capabilities. This platform provided the team with a secure, version-controlled Workspace where all their hardware design data could be centrally stored and managed.
The team also utilized Altium 365’s Contextual Commenting to streamline their review process during each iteration. This allowed team members to engage in conversations conducted directly within the context of a project, with comments and feedback pinned to specific design assets.
“Having a bigger team with Altium is possible by ensuring that we have as good communication as possible with cloud saves and comments that we can share with everyone. Because really, the way to win at this is getting the product out as soon as possible.”
Empowering Innovation and Outreach
Safety by Cilia's participation in Altium’s Launchpad program was a pivotal element of their success. As their CTO highlighted, “We want to get this to as many people as possible. The [Altium] Launchpad, on top of giving a big discount to us, also gave us a lot of exposure and opportunities to spread our message that people should have tools to protect themselves.”
Safety by Cilia's journey from concept to creation showcases their innovative approach to integrating security with elegance. Through strategic use of Altium Designer and Altium 365, the team was able to deliver a product that not only provides a discreet and stylish safety solution, but also reflects their commitment to empowering people to live their lives without fear.
