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This article is part of a series of quarterly guest columns by Rick Cory, Applications Engineering Manager, Skyworks Solutions, Inc.

Literature and popular culture abound with predictions: "voice recognition software will make computer keyboards obsolete by 2009," "vehicles with internal combustion engines will be obsolete by 2012," and so on. Does anyone fully believe these prognostications when they read, see, or hear them? A very reasonable answer to this question is "not really," so I will not pretend to know more about the future than you do. Prescience is not necessary to discuss the next big thing for discrete RF components, since the markets have largely already been identified and some of the seminal products and technology are already in development.

We are on the cusp of a remarkable confluence of events and conditions. RF component miniaturization continues to progress. The ubiquitous cell phone has transformed into a highly capable data system fueled by the mobile Internet tsunami, in which its voice communication function is rapidly approaching "also ran" status. And, the largest population segment in the world, those people who were born in the decade following the end of the Second World War, are entering the portion of their lives in which they will possibly need an increasing level of health care.

The incidence of vascular disease, heart disease, glaucoma, diabetes, and other chronic maladies will increase the demands on health care systems around the world while affecting the quality of life of those who are afflicted. Devices and systems that employ RF technology have been suggested, and in some cases already employed, in growing numbers to improve the lives of those afflicted by monitoring some of these conditions.

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