Of course, with the convenience comes challenges for wireless device designers. As the wireless marketplace continues to become more competitive, end-product developers are attempting to cram more functions into each wireless device, such as Bluetooth and video displays into cellular handsets, and wireless-local-area-network (WLAN) functionality into virtually any handheld device with a microprocessor and capable of running software. One of the design challenges of having multiple wireless standards sharing such a small space is co-existence, since the different standards must be able to operate seamlessly in the presence of nearby RF/microwave radiation (within the handset itself).

Credit is due to measurement facilities (see the AT4 wireless story below) and to test-equipment manufacturers for providing the capabilities and measurement gear for evaluating wireless devices with multiple standards. In some rare cases, such as Agilent Technologies (www.agilent.com), the test-equipment supplier also provides computer-aided-engineering (CAE) software to help in the design process, even working in tandem with the measurement equipment to help develop better models and inevitably speed the time to market.