Five skills required for RF test engineers

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Five skills required for RF test engineers

RF Test Engineers are an integral part of every manufacturing environment as well as the development team of advanced RF products and projects.

Some people say that the prospects for working in RF are not good and testing positions are even less valuable. However, it is understood that this position is in great demand in the communications industry and even in the military and aerospace fields. According to Glassdoor statistics, the average annual salary of RF test engineers reaches US$ 77,300 .

So, what skills should a qualified RF test engineer have?

Generally speaking, the most basic requirement for RF test engineers is a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering; however, some companies accept applicants with a computer engineering background or other technical backgrounds, such as mathematics, computer science, or physics; and some companies have more stringent requirements, such as defense contractors, who require job applicants to have qualified security clearance certificates.

Here are the top five skills an RF test engineer needs:

1. RF knowledge

For most job applications, they may only have basic RF knowledge, but a general RF test engineer should have a deep understanding of cellular or Wi-Fi technology, including how to measure and describe various types of spectrum and so on.

2. Experience in using test equipment

This is also the most basic, because the main content of this job is to conduct RF testing, so it is crucial for RF test engineers to have a clear understanding and be able to easily face RF test equipment. The equipment frequently used by RF test engineers includes spectrum analyzers, signal generators, vector network analyzers, power supplies, power meters, battery simulators and pulse generators. Employees with experience in equipment test setup will obviously be more favored by companies, such as understanding the impact of wiring and being familiar with various troubleshooting methods.

3. Data Analysis Capabilities

The job of RF test engineers is not just to generate data, they also need to analyze data and write reports based on it, troubleshoot faults, and a deep understanding of test data also helps RF test engineers communicate with others. Therefore, in addition to general analytical skills and problem-solving thinking patterns, any company hopes to see future test engineers have a considerable familiarity with data analysis, databases, uncertainty concepts and calculation evaluation, correlation analysis, and process capability statistical analysis.

4. Software and Scripting Skills

RF test engineers need to have knowledge of C/C++ scripting and be familiar with software platforms such as MatLab and LabView as well as the use of related software including Python . This is because RF test engineers are often responsible for test plan development and scripting as part of technical test engineering work.

5. Communication skills

This is a plus. RF test engineers need to have good written and verbal communication skills to ensure they can communicate well with their team and other business units in the company. Often, this includes the ability to communicate highly technical concepts to people who do not have a professional background.

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