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8 Experts on Overcoming Challenges of RF Solution Design 11 designing a consumer product, portability, battery power, and power consumption are often key factors. You must understand trade-offs; for instance, if you want a longer run time, you will need to pay more for a larger battery. • RF expertise. It takes expertise to understand RF requirements and create a design that solves them. Many companies do not have an RF engineer on staff. They may be new to wireless or adding wireless capability to an existing product. Using a wireless module has several advantages. For one thing, all the RF engineering is done. Wireless modules are plug-and-play devices that are small and easy to use from a product manufacturing perspective. Still, choosing the right modules, implementing them, and navigating certification testing can be tricky. A good wireless module manufacturer can help by reviewing schematics and layout; providing best-practices information about power, grounding, and filtering; and even preparing for certification testing. • Software. In many cases, software development is the most time-consuming part of creating an RF solution because many wireless devices are software controlled. Wireless modules simplify software development. In fact, many come with a complete software development environment that includes device drivers, libraries, and an operating system. By choosing this option, you can focus on developing the operational logic. Keep in mind that there are two kinds of wireless modules. One is a wireless chip, or RF integrated circuit (RFIC), which includes all the RF functionality and integrates with a microprocessor or microcontroller in your device. The other is a wireless module that includes both the RFIC and an integrated microcontroller or processor in one package. Modules can run both the low-level communications protocols and higher-level application code. All wireless devices must be certified, and that can be a tricky process. One way to reduce testing costs is to use precertified wireless modules. Certification testing has two parts: ''Many [wireless modules] come with a complete software development environment that includes device drivers, libraries, and an operating system."