It is that time of the year again when Swami Hindle makes his Microwave Industry Predictions.  Last year, some of the hot industry topics included wider adoption of GaN technology (military, Cable TV, etc.),  a big focus on PA efficiency with DPD and envelope tracking techniques, software defined test instrumentation (and adoption of the PXI platform), tunable device technology for antennas (especially in handset applications), 4G technologies such as MIMO and carrier aggregation, broadband devices to cover multi-bands, more powerful software modeling/simulation tools that are tightly integrated with testing instrument and progress in commercialization of mmWave products (backhaul and short distance broadband connections).  Here are my predictions for 2013:

1. 4G LTE will take over the infrastructure market and VoLTE will take off
2. Small cells will be the path to relieve capacity crunches in the cellular market
3. 5G will start to be developed and become the next big thing for T&M and device manufacturers for future design directions
4. 802.11ac will take off being widely adopted and 60 GHz applications will start to penetrate the market (802.11ad, WiGig, etc.)
5. Connected vehicles will be the next big thing for automakers and many high end models with have it as an optional feature
6. The M2M market will finally start to see significant growth with in-home connections and medical applications leading the way
7. The handset frontend device market will adopt several tunable antenna technologies into their modules along with efficiency improvement technologies such as envelope tracking
8. Modeling and simulation software will see major integration with test equipment and there will be further consolidation of companies in those markets
9. Software defined test instrumentation will continue to change the face of test equipment
10. Interference issues will continue to plague the satellite and cellular markets so innovative filtering technologies will emerge to solve many of the issues
11. UAV technology will continue to take off and software will be created to let them make their own tactical decisions without an operators intervention (cognitive UAVs)
12. Microwave ablation will be used as the primary treatment for several types of tumors in the medical field

What predictions do you have for 2013?  Let us know by commenting here.