8 Experts on Overcoming Challenges of RF Solution Design 14
"Many wireless products have a substantial software
development cycle because so much RF hardware
is now software driven."
Gordon W. Hudson
RF Engineer—Hetronic, Inc.,
A Division of Methode Electronics
With a passion for electronics, physics, and
radio since his youth, Gordon's professional
focus is on low power RF PCB-level design
primarily in the HF to UHF range.
Gordon has been involved with several RF
module and RF remote control companies,
designing and optimizing embedded and
modular transmitters, receivers, transceivers,
amplifiers, filters, and antennas since 2002.
Gordon's interest in RF extends beyond the
professional. He holds an FCC extra class
ham radio license and operates his own RF
consulting firm.
One of the biggest challenges in developing wireless devices is overall development
cost. Many factors can contribute to those costs, the most important of which is time.
Product development includes not only the time spent incurring direct development
costs but the time that that product is not on the market generating revenue that offsets
costs.
During that development cycle, which can often be six months to a year before you have
a certified product, you have engineering costs and the costs of certification testing.
You also have software development costs. Many wireless products have a substantial
software development cycle because so much radio-frequency (RF) hardware is now
software driven. For example, using the 900-megahertz (MHz) ISM band in the United
States is pretty straightforward, but if you take that device to Europe, where they have
the 869-MHz band and you want to use a certain amount of RF power and air time,
you have to employ "polite spectrum access," where software in your device listens
for somebody else on that frequency before it transmits. If another device is using that
frequency, your device must switch channels before it can transmit. There is a lot of
cognitive RF functionality now and a lot of intelligence in the radios based on where they
The Most Important Cost Factor
Is Time
