Testing Challenges of Future Wireless World

Position Statement Wireless communication systems are widening ever futher from “connecting people” to “connecting technical constructions of a modern infrastructure”. This UBI (Ubiquitous Computing) environment consists of freezers, cars, housing apparatus, watches, remote health care and wellness monitoring devices etc., which are capable to wireless mutual and/or outside communication. This environment is an undoubtedly very complex one containing devices from different product manufacturers (mobile terminals, base stations, wireless applications...). The amount of different kind of wireless applications will be huge. This is a big challenge also for testing e.g. how to locate the fault quickly, reliably and accurately and how to ensure interoperability (IOP) between the devices already in R&D phase before the actual product launch. This also has a direct impact in life cycle testing strategies and testing methods. The life cycle testing has to be cost effective with high fault coverage including also advanced diagnostics methods. Continuous debate is underway on concentrating on different solutions for optimisation of the entire testing process of an electronic device. Certainly the optimum testing strategy depends on the type of the device. The testing solutions of a high volume and low cost or low volume and high cost products respectively may need quite different life cycle testing strategies The devices operating in the future environments are based on new challenging technologies as they must have more intelligence in shrink dimensions, operate at higher frequencies etc. Due to the complexity of the devices and the whole system, it is reasonable to assume that more things can fail. The first challenge is how to locate the failure in the environment and in the actual device. From the consumer’s point of view the crucial question is what he or she should do? Remote health care and wellness monitoring applications demand continuous reliable operation and guidance information, because failure can even be fatal. Proactive diagnostics of the devices and the entire communication providing information about the present and future “wellness” and performance of the system is therefore required. Even in non-critical consumer products, advance availability of information about predicted technical problems and how to solve them is user-friendly and strongly supports the expansion of the new technology and business opportunities.