The Problem
The RF Lab Was Built for a Different Era
For decades, RF engineering has depended on a simple model: the lab is physical, the instruments are local, the engineer is present.
That model worked when teams were co-located and workflows were contained. But today, engineering looks very different.
"Engineering has become distributed — but the lab has not."
The Friction
This mismatch is creating new bottlenecks across the industry:
Debug slowed by coordination overhead before engineering even begins
Customer trust limited by lack of real-time visibility into measurements
Experts constrained by geography, not by knowledge or capability
Workflows shaped by logistics instead of engineering judgment
"The cost of delay is no longer technical — it is operational."
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The Series
Four Posts. One Structural Shift.
Each post explores a different dimension of how distributed engineering is exposing the limits of the co-located lab model.
The Narrative Arc
Structured. Intentional. Sequential.
This series moves deliberately from problem, through impact, toward the inevitable transformation now underway.
01 — Problem
The Lab Is Local
Labs built for co-location
Engineering now distributed
Infrastructure hasn't caught up
02 — Impact
Friction Compounds
Debug becomes logistics
Collaboration becomes friction
Customers lose visibility
03 — Shift
A New Model Emerges
Lab becomes shared infrastructure
Engineering becomes session-based
Visibility becomes real-time