r than is presently available. This could include, for example, knowing whether peripheral devices such as Bluetooth are active. The lack of a standardised approach to what information is needed, what metrics should be measured, how they should be measured and how the measurements should be used is significant barrier to the general deployment of adaptive techniques. A parallel and related issue is the multiplication of the control lines needed to support these adaptive modules both on the transmit and receive paths. To address this there is a new working group within MIPI called RF-FE, chaired by Nokia, working to replace the multitude of control lines in modern front-ends with a single serial bus. The first version of this specification was recently approved and released. 5.7.2 Conformance Test Costs There are a number of features included in the LTE standards that are targeted at reducing conformance test costs both in terms of hours and dollar costs, automatic reset between test runs being one example. Despite these efforts, the hour and dollar cost conformance costs for additional band costs are substantial even before development test and manufacturing test costs are included. An indicated 100 hours per band for RF conformance and protocol test implies a six-month test 35 http://www.mipi.org/. Wireless User Hardware programme. This does not include interoperability and network testing or MIMO testing. Aside from the direct costs, a six-month cycle introduces substantial time to market delay and reduced range availability, an indirect cost. This is an area that definitely demands collaborative attention from handset vendors and the operator and test community. 5.7.3 Conformance and Performance Test Standards and Opportunities Within the HSPA standards process, 3GPP and interested vendors have identified and promoted opportunities for realising throughput gains from enhanced levels of baseband processing. This has been captured in the 3GPP standards for advanced receivers. For LTE there is arguably a more com