Instruments integrate with EDA software to get RF and microwave products to market fast. RF and microwave applications are proliferating, with wireless capabilities extending into a plethora of consumer products. This proliferation is presenting challenges to design and test engineers, who find that they need an effective way to link their RF simulation tools and instruments to get quality wireless products to market quickly and cost-effectively. The proliferation results from what Mihir Ravel, National Instruments' (Austin, TX; www.ni.com) VP of technology and corporate development, calls "the democratization of RF"—the penetration of wireless technology into everything from handheld computers to washing machines that automatically notify service personnel when they're out of order. The democratization of RF implies a democratization of engineering functions as well. Once, baseband functions could be delegated to logic designers, who could use their knowledge of hardware-description languages and related EDA tools to develop topnotch digital devices. RF and microwave specialists could then implement—on separate chips, modules, and boards—the complementary high-frequency circuits, such as low-noise amplifiers, phase-locked loops, and power amplifiers. Democratization, though, has blurred the lines between pure-base-band and pure-wireless components, making it critical that baseband and wireless engineers gain expertise in each others' fields. Test strategies, too, require an integrated approach. Logic designers have long understood that effective designs must take test into account—witness the prevalence of scan capability within chip designs and the growing popularity of boundary scan within printed-circuit board and system designs. Furthermore, standards such as the IEEE P1500 Standard Test Interface Language (STIL) have emerged to facilitate test development from design data. For mixed-signal wireless designs, however, de facto standards like scan and real standards like P1500 have been nonexistent. To address the need for design-for-test technologies for RF/microwave products, vendors are developing coordinated design and test strategies that should aid engineers who can no longer conveniently partition RF/microwave circuitry from baseband circuitry and hand off the RF portion to experts in that field. Similarly, the strategies can help to ensure cooperation among design and test personnel.
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