DigRF v3 Challenges The DigRF v3 standard presentsnew challenges for mobilewireless development, integrationand validation teams as thecommunications link between the BB-ICs and the RF-ICs evolvefrom analog to digital. Digital IQdata and control information aretransferred between the BB-ICand the RF-IC over the DigRF v3interface. Engineers traditionallyuse spectrum analyzers toevaluate the analog interfacebetween the BB-IC and the RF-IC,but now they need new toolsbecause spectrum analyzers are incapable of measuring theDigRF v3 digital serial interface. RF-IC development teams mustverify operation of the RF-ICbefore the start of the handsetintegration phase. Spectrumanalyzers and signal sources are no longer sufficient forcharacterizing the new generationof RF-ICs that comply to theDigRF v3 standard. To validateRF-IC operation, engineeringteams need DigRF v3 digitalserial stimulus and analysis toolsthat operate in concert with thetraditional RF tools. The challenges for BB-IC validationteams mirrors that of the RF-ICteams, as the signal sources andspectrum analyzers must bereplaced by DigRF v3 digitalserial stimulus and analysis toolsto validate BB-IC functionality.