Q&A: Test & Measurement Equipment Suppliers
By Jim Pomager
Editor in Chief
I recently asked representatives from five prominent test and measurement (T&M) equipment suppliers seven questions about the RF and wireless industry. There was a refreshing (and not unexpected) difference of opinion in their answers. Viewed collectively, however, their responses provide an interesting perspective on the current state – and the future – of this complex and constantly changing market.
To view a participant's bio, click on his name.
Agilent Technologies Inc.
Ron Nersesian
Vice President and General Manager
Wireless Business Unit, Electronic Measurements Group
Palo Alto, CA
Anritsu Company
Donn Mulder
Vice President and General Manager
Microwave Measurements Division
Morgan Hill, CA
Keithley Instruments, Inc.
Mark Hoersten
Vice President
Business Management
Cleveland, OH
Rohde & Schwarz International GmbH
Wolfgang Schmittseifer
Managing Director
Marketing and Sales - North America
Munich, Germany
Tektronix, Inc.
Rick King
Vice President and General Manager
Real-Time Spectrum Analyzers Product Line
Beaverton, OR
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1. What is the biggest factor impacting the development of new T&M solutions for RF and wireless?
Anritsu, Donn Mulder: T&M companies share the same concerns that all RF/wireless companies face, and price remains one of the biggest – if not the biggest. While everyone acknowledges the importance of test and quality assurance, most companies don't want to pay too much for it. Therefore, it is incumbent upon test suppliers to develop highly accurate test solutions that can measure today's complex signals while also maintaining cost effectiveness.
Keithley Instruments, Mark Hoersten: One of the biggest trends we're seeing is the incorporation of RF and wireless technologies into products that never had these capabilities before. As a result, seasoned electrical test engineers are suddenly being asked to make RF measurements, and they have little, if any, background, training, or practical experience in this area. They require RF test solutions that are easy to use, enabling them to get results quickly.
Tektronix, Rick King: The most significant trend is the move to digital RF, with Moore's law finally having an impact on RF. Rapid advances in digital signal processing (DSP) are enabling more agile and adaptive systems to take advantage of an increasingly crowded spectrum. This not only enables end-market suppliers to offer more types of devices, it also enables T&M providers to harness DSP to make powerful test equipment.
2. What are the most prevalent customer needs and pain points you see in this market?
Agilent Technologies, Ron Nersesian: With all the technologies and protocols evolving in the wireless industry, time to market is a key challenge, especially when it is unclear which of them will ultimately be successful. Being able to bring a capability to market and experiment with it rapidly is a key mode of differentiation.
Hoersten: Flexibility is a key customer need, since RF and wireless communications come in so many flavors. Wi-Fi, for example, can be implemented as 802.11 a, b, g, j, or n. Flexibility also becomes important when multiple RF and wireless communications technologies converge in a single device. Today's high-end phone may include not only basic cellular communication capability, but also a GPS receiver, an FM radio receiver, and a WLAN transceiver.
Rohde & Schwarz, Wolfgang Schmittseifer: Wireless and mobile technologies are rapidly evolving and are playing an increasing role in our lives. Early availability of test solutions is crucial to successfully bringing new technologies and applications to the market and ultimately achieving end-user acceptance. Both mobile manufacturers and network operators require thorough end-to-end interoperability and conformance testing to ensure seamless introduction of new technologies.
3. What should T&M solution providers be doing to respond to these needs?
Mulder: I believe that T&M companies must take a partnership approach with customers, working very closely with them to develop new test solutions. Customers want instruments that perform a variety of measurements on many different wireless signals, and they must also be easy to use and have fast measurement speed. T&M companies must focus their designs on these important considerations to respond to customer needs.
Hoersten: Historically, the T&M community has produced products that were either general purpose in nature or extremely specialized for a specific application. Although those products are still necessary, there is a growing need for instruments that fit a cluster of applications. We must develop products that provide a balance of speed, flexibility, ease of use, quality, and cost for a group of related applications.
King: Traditional test equipment will still address spectrum, logic, modulation, and time-domain analysis. However, none of these by themselves address the issue of integration and troubleshooting of highly integrated, complex DSP-based RF designs. New types of tools are needed that can move between different domains and examine how signals are changing over time.
4. We have witnessed an explosion of wireless standards. Which one holds the most promise?
Nersesian: Many wireless standards and technologies show great promise. Each serves a unique role in the market, making it difficult to choose a single one. However, one of the most significant new technologies is WiMAX. Widespread deployment of WiMAX is expected over the next few years, driven by its ability to deliver a lower-cost, flexible, high-performance solution for last-mile broadband Internet services. Some analysts believe that, due to these advantages, WiMAX is destined to soon become the third most widely used high-speed Internet access technology, behind DSL and cable modem.
Mulder: Each of the wireless standards now in play brings something to the table. The most likely scenario is that each technology will find its place in the market and carve out its niche. It's much too early to say which of the technologies – if any – will grab the lion's share of the market. That is why T&M companies must develop solutions that address all wireless technologies.
Schmittseifer: We see strong business cases for a variety of standards, depending on different technological and country-specific requirements, as well as different application cases. For example, we expect a tremendous push for mobile data services this year due to the introduction of High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) in networks around the world. And the introduction of High-Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA) will even further increase the demand for data services. The market will also benefit from WiMAX, the generic IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) framework, and the convergence of mobile and broadcast services.
5. RF/wireless technology has found its way into almost all vertical markets. Which market shows the most potential?
Nersesian: There is significant potential in aerospace/defense and homeland security, where the drive for fast mobile communications and highly connected resources is creating a new paradigm. Global concerns about security and the war on terrorism will influence everything from the creation of new wireless security and surveillance tools to communication tools for mobile, rapid, and adaptive joint military and civilian forces.
Hoersten: RFID will continue to have a big impact, because it has applications that touch many elements of our life, including what we eat, how we travel, and what we buy. Even though there is an existing standard for RFID, it's still somewhat of a Wild West environment out there. Users are experimenting with different frequencies and tradeoffs with sensitivity, resolution, operating distances, and so forth. It's a technology that's still in the growth stage.
King: Mobile communications is still a critical application area and will remain the largest from revenue perspective for many years. Near-field communication (NFC) devices such as RFID, the FeliCa contactless IC chip smart card, and proprietary technologies (e.g., tire-pressure monitors) are rapidly becoming the most pervasive, and will be the largest market in terms of number of devices.
6. How do you see the RF/wireless industry evolving over the next five years?
Nersesian: Wireless technology is evolving on a number of fronts. This begins at the silicon level, where device convergence continues to drive higher levels of integration, reducing the radio to a very small number of components dominated by digital circuitry. On the other end of the spectrum, the proliferation of digital standards is allowing us to make much more efficient use of the wireless spectrum. These complex and spectrally efficient technologies are creating whole new classes of measurement requirements.
Schmittseifer: Mobile networks all over the world are being upgraded to support high-data-rate applications such as mobile TV. However, as a result of lessons learned during the introduction of past technologies (such as GPRS), manufacturers and network operators have become much more cautious when preparing to launch new technologies into the market. Thorough testing of new functionalities is a must.
King: The move will be toward smart/adaptive devices that choose their operating mode to be optimized for particular environments (e.g., mobile versus stationary, high data rate versus low data rate, crowded room versus empty room) or activities (e.g., download a file, watch a video, make a phone call). This evolution has already begun but will greatly accelerate as devices become fully digital and software defined.
7. What must the T&M community do to prepare for this future?
Mulder: Test companies must help customers bring new technologies to market as fast as possible and help ensure their success by developing test instruments that can accurately, quickly, and cost-effectively perform measurements on complex signals. We must prepare instruments that can be used during development to help make the designs real, instruments for use on the manufacturing line to help bring technologies to market, and field test solutions to help ensure that those technologies perform up to their potential.
Schmittseifer: We think that a T&M company should be more than just a supplier of test instruments – it should work as a partner with the wireless and mobile community. It should be an active contributor to all major standardization committees. It should develop close partnerships and collaborations with manufacturers, operators, and test houses to optimize its solutions to meet customer requirements. Local support of customers worldwide has become extremely important.
King: From our perspective, the T&M community must provide products that can help customers examine devices that have many operating modes. Static signal generation and analysis will no longer be sufficient. Tools must support the time-varying nature of the end products.
Ron Nersesian, Agilent Technologies
Ron Nersesian started with Agilent (Hewlett-Packard) in 1984 and held sales, marketing, and division management positions before joining the LeCroy Corporation in 1996 as vice president of worldwide marketing. He went on to serve as senior VP and GM of digital storage oscilloscopes at LeCroy, and in 2001 became the company's senior VP and chief administrative officer. Ron rejoined Agilent in 2002 as VP of the Design Validation Division, and in 2005 became VP and GM of the Wireless Business Unit. He holds a BSEE from Lehigh University and an MBA from New York University's Stern School of Business.
Donn Mulder is VP and GM of Anritsu's Microwave Measurement Division (MMD) and oversees the research, development, manufacturing, marketing, and sales support of MMD's products. He has spent 13 years with Anritsu, serving in a variety of management positions for the company. Prior to joining Anritsu, Mulder held positions with a number of microwave companies.
Mark Hoersten, Keithley Instruments
Mark Hoersten is VP of business management for Keithley Instruments. Hoersten, who joined Keithley as a design engineer in 1980, has held several positions at the company, including engineering manager, product market manager, strategic marketing manager, business manager for the Telecom Group, and general manager. He holds a BSEE from the University of Toledo, an MSEE from Cleveland State University, and an MBA from Case Western Reserve University. Hoersten is a registered professional engineer.
Wolfgang Schmittseifer, Rohde & Schwarz
Wolfgang Schmittseifer has been with Rohde & Schwarz since 1984. After three years with Rohde & Schwarz Engineering and Sales (RSE) in Cologne and Munich, he went to the United States in 1987 to manage the company's technology office in Santa Clara. He returned to Munich in the early 1990s and assumed overall management of RSE until 1997. Following that, he became managing director of Rohde & Schwarz Australia. Since January 2000, Schmittseifer has been CEO of Rohde & Schwarz Inc. (RSA) and head of sales for North America within Rohde & Schwarz International. His activities comprise sales, marketing, and service for the entire Rohde & Schwarz product range, and implementation of a strategy aimed at expanding market shares in North America.
Rick King was appointed VP and GM of the Real-Time Spectrum Analyzers Product Line in June 2003. Prior to this position, he was VP and GM of the company's Optical Business Unit. King joined Tektronix in 1988 and has held a variety of engineering, marketing, and management positions. Prior to Tektronix, he held various managerial positions at Wavetek Corporation and Electro-Flow. He also worked as an engineer at Boeing and Hughes Aircraft. King holds a BSEE from the University of Washington and an MBA from City University in Bellevue, Washington.