Reverse Engineering a NETGEAR MD200 PCB – feasibility and recommended workflow?

General
1

Hi everyone,

I’m currently investigating the feasibility of reverse-engineering and reproducing the two PCBs inside a NETGEAR MD200 Nighthawk Mobile Hotspot Cradle.

I have the original hardware and four high-resolution photographs showing both sides of both boards. However, I don’t have the original schematics, Gerber files, BOM, or firmware.

My goal is to understand what would be required to recreate the electronics as a functional, manufacturable replacement.

I would appreciate your advice on a few questions:

  1. How would you approach reverse-engineering these boards?

  2. What information can realistically be recovered from high-resolution PCB photographs, and what additional measurements or imaging would be required?

  3. What type of engineer or specialist would be best suited for this project?

  4. Could Quilter be useful for the layout stage once the schematics and connectivity have been reconstructed?

  5. What would be a realistic estimate of the engineering effort involved?

I can share photographs of both boards if that would help with an initial assessment.