AUSTIN, USA: National Instruments announced the release of the NI Sound and Vibration Measurement Suite 2009, a comprehensive collection of analysis and signal processing tools for noise, vibration and harshness (NVH), machine condition monitoring and audio test applications.
The Sound and Vibration Measurement Suite 2009 features a new continuous frequency sweep virtual instrument (VI) that greatly reduces the time it takes for engineers and scientists to perform frequency response tests.
The software suite also includes a new AES17-compliant audio filter VI for the National Instruments LabVIEW graphical development environment and the NI Sound and Vibration Assistant that provides the correct frequency filters for testing audio devices that take advantage of digital-to-analog conversion technology.
The continuous frequency sweep VI can perform frequency response and total harmonic distortion tests in one-tenth of the time traditional swept-sine approaches take. This function makes it possible for engineers and scientists to easily shift between the time and frequency domains, providing the ability to move beyond using fast Fourier transform (FFT) in signal analysis. Along with increasing the speed of test, the continuous frequency sweep makes it possible for new signals, such as a device under test residue signal, to be analyzed to characterize the response without stimulus signal interference.
In addition to the new AES17-compliant audio filter and continuous frequency sweep VIs, the LabVIEW VIs in the Sound and Vibration Measurement Suite contain octave analysis, frequency analysis and order tracking for automotive, military and aerospace and mechanical and structural designs. The measurement suite also includes the NI Sound and Vibration Assistant 2009, a stand-alone application for quickly acquiring, analyzing and logging acoustic, noise and vibration data.
The latest version of the Sound and Vibration Assistant features enhancements to the user interface to provide easy tachometer setup and support for using eddy current probes for displacement measurements. Engineers and scientists quickly and efficiently can get their applications started with the configuration-based Sound and Vibration Assistant or with the more than 50 ready-to-run LabVIEW example code bases included in the Sound and Vibration Measurement Suite 2009.
Showing posts with label NI. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NI. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
NI unveils latest in data acquisition during NI Data Acquisition Conference 2009
NEW DELHI, INDIA: National Instruments (NI), the market leaders in PC-based Data Acquisition has launched their annual NI DAQ Conference 2009 to be held across 18 cities in India.
This year, National Instruments will showcase the latest X Series Multifunction Data Acquisition devices for PCI Express and PXI Express at the conference.
The latest X Series Multifunction DAQ devices integrates PCI express technology for precise measurement and control with the ability to perform advanced processing and analysis on today’s multicore systems.
In the last few years, several trends and technologies have emerged to significantly impact the evolution of data acquisition. As a global aata acquisition leader, National Instruments has been at the forefront of bringing cutting-edge technology and innovation to its customers.
NI DAQ products are used in a wide variety of test applications and serve a diverse set of industries, including automotive, aerospace, electronics, communications, academics and more.
Through these seminars, National Instruments will provide insights into the world of Data Acquisition and how it enables companies to build competitive advantage through increased performance and productivity levels. The conference will also witness astute discussions on the latest trends and best practices followed in this space.
“We are global leaders in PC based Data Acquisition and our innovative tools and technologies, strive to empower customers with better solutions for measuring and automating the world around them”, said Jayaram Pillai, Managing Director, National Instruments.
“Our strategy is to innovate, constantly improve, and deliver a steady stream of new products, by combining powerful software with Commercially Available off the Shelf (COTS) hardware that brings greater productivity and higher value to our customers. Continuing with our constant efforts to stay ahead of the technology curve by constantly innovating, this conference will host the launch of the latest NI Multifunction X Series DAQ.”
The series of seminars kick start in Bangalore and Ahmedabad on the 9th of September and conclude on the 3rd of November in Vizag.
This year, National Instruments will showcase the latest X Series Multifunction Data Acquisition devices for PCI Express and PXI Express at the conference.
The latest X Series Multifunction DAQ devices integrates PCI express technology for precise measurement and control with the ability to perform advanced processing and analysis on today’s multicore systems.
In the last few years, several trends and technologies have emerged to significantly impact the evolution of data acquisition. As a global aata acquisition leader, National Instruments has been at the forefront of bringing cutting-edge technology and innovation to its customers.
NI DAQ products are used in a wide variety of test applications and serve a diverse set of industries, including automotive, aerospace, electronics, communications, academics and more.
Through these seminars, National Instruments will provide insights into the world of Data Acquisition and how it enables companies to build competitive advantage through increased performance and productivity levels. The conference will also witness astute discussions on the latest trends and best practices followed in this space.
“We are global leaders in PC based Data Acquisition and our innovative tools and technologies, strive to empower customers with better solutions for measuring and automating the world around them”, said Jayaram Pillai, Managing Director, National Instruments.
“Our strategy is to innovate, constantly improve, and deliver a steady stream of new products, by combining powerful software with Commercially Available off the Shelf (COTS) hardware that brings greater productivity and higher value to our customers. Continuing with our constant efforts to stay ahead of the technology curve by constantly innovating, this conference will host the launch of the latest NI Multifunction X Series DAQ.”
The series of seminars kick start in Bangalore and Ahmedabad on the 9th of September and conclude on the 3rd of November in Vizag.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
NI intros 16 new X series data acquisition devices for PCI Express and PXI Express
BANGALORE, INDIA: National Instruments (NI) announced the X Series multifunction data acquisition (DAQ) devicesforPCI Express and PXI Express.
The 16 new X Series DAQ devices provide enhancements to analog I/O, digital I/O, onboard counters and multidevice synchronization. X Series devices integrate native PCI Express support for high-throughput data transfer, advanced timing and synchronization technology for precise measurement and control and the ability to perform advanced processing and analysis on today’s multicore systems.
X Series DAQ devices, which include up to 32 analog inputs (AI), four analog outputs (AO), 48 digital I/O lines and four counters, range from low-cost 250 kS/s multiplexed AI to 2 MS/s simultaneous sampling AI. Simultaneous X Series devices integrate up to 16 ADCs on a single device at 2 MS/s per channel, so engineers can sample all AI channels at a high rate and with minimal phase offset.
With high sampling on all channels, simultaneous X Series devices pass large quantities of data back to the host PC, delivering a total AI throughput of up to 64 MB/s. With the added throughput of AO, digital I/O and counter operations, total throughput can surpass 100 MB/s for a single device -– the practical maximum of the PCI bus. For this reason, X Series devices use the high-throughput PCI Express bus.
PCI Express offers several benefits to data acquisition applications, including dedicated bandwidth to each device of up to 250 MB/s in each direction. With this additional bandwidth, users can acquire larger quantities of analog, digital and counter data and, with the dedicated nature of the bus, engineers can easily expand their systems to include multiple data acquisition devices.
The new X Series devices integrate a native PCI Express interface, which is designed to provide the full 250 MB/s of PCI Express bandwidth, as opposed to a PCI-to-PCI Express bridge interface, which limits the device bandwidth to that of the PCI bus. These devices also are optimized for low-latency I/O, which improves performance in control and single-point applications.
Advanced timing and triggering functionality on multifunction DAQ devices traditionally required onboard counters, complex code or manual signal routing to achieve specialized hardware-timed performance.
New NI-STC3 technology provides X Series devices with independent timing engines for the onboard analog and digital I/O subsystems, so engineers can execute analog and digital I/O independently at different rates or together with synchronization.
The X Series devices include four enhanced 32-bit counters for frequency, pulse-width modulation (PWM) and encoder operations and a new 100 MHz timebase that can generate analog and digital sampling rates with five times better resolution than previous devices.
By using the multithreaded NI-DAQmx driver software and NI LabVIEW graphical programming, engineers can easily create applications that execute on multicore processors for higher performance and more advanced analysis and data visualization.
LabVIEW automatically generates threads for parallel sections of code that correspond to different streams of data, so engineers with little or no programming background can spend more time problem solving and less time programming the low-level implementation of their applications.
They can easily synchronize two or more X Series devices with new multidevice tasks and can rapidly log the acquired data to disk by adding a single new Configure Logging function to their NI-DAQmx code.
In addition, engineers can easily incorporate X Series devices into an existing data acquisition system because X Series devices use the same NI-DAQmx driver software and I/O connector as previous-generation devices.
The 16 new X Series DAQ devices provide enhancements to analog I/O, digital I/O, onboard counters and multidevice synchronization. X Series devices integrate native PCI Express support for high-throughput data transfer, advanced timing and synchronization technology for precise measurement and control and the ability to perform advanced processing and analysis on today’s multicore systems.
X Series DAQ devices, which include up to 32 analog inputs (AI), four analog outputs (AO), 48 digital I/O lines and four counters, range from low-cost 250 kS/s multiplexed AI to 2 MS/s simultaneous sampling AI. Simultaneous X Series devices integrate up to 16 ADCs on a single device at 2 MS/s per channel, so engineers can sample all AI channels at a high rate and with minimal phase offset.
With high sampling on all channels, simultaneous X Series devices pass large quantities of data back to the host PC, delivering a total AI throughput of up to 64 MB/s. With the added throughput of AO, digital I/O and counter operations, total throughput can surpass 100 MB/s for a single device -– the practical maximum of the PCI bus. For this reason, X Series devices use the high-throughput PCI Express bus.
PCI Express offers several benefits to data acquisition applications, including dedicated bandwidth to each device of up to 250 MB/s in each direction. With this additional bandwidth, users can acquire larger quantities of analog, digital and counter data and, with the dedicated nature of the bus, engineers can easily expand their systems to include multiple data acquisition devices.
The new X Series devices integrate a native PCI Express interface, which is designed to provide the full 250 MB/s of PCI Express bandwidth, as opposed to a PCI-to-PCI Express bridge interface, which limits the device bandwidth to that of the PCI bus. These devices also are optimized for low-latency I/O, which improves performance in control and single-point applications.
Advanced timing and triggering functionality on multifunction DAQ devices traditionally required onboard counters, complex code or manual signal routing to achieve specialized hardware-timed performance.
New NI-STC3 technology provides X Series devices with independent timing engines for the onboard analog and digital I/O subsystems, so engineers can execute analog and digital I/O independently at different rates or together with synchronization.
The X Series devices include four enhanced 32-bit counters for frequency, pulse-width modulation (PWM) and encoder operations and a new 100 MHz timebase that can generate analog and digital sampling rates with five times better resolution than previous devices.
By using the multithreaded NI-DAQmx driver software and NI LabVIEW graphical programming, engineers can easily create applications that execute on multicore processors for higher performance and more advanced analysis and data visualization.
LabVIEW automatically generates threads for parallel sections of code that correspond to different streams of data, so engineers with little or no programming background can spend more time problem solving and less time programming the low-level implementation of their applications.
They can easily synchronize two or more X Series devices with new multidevice tasks and can rapidly log the acquired data to disk by adding a single new Configure Logging function to their NI-DAQmx code.
In addition, engineers can easily incorporate X Series devices into an existing data acquisition system because X Series devices use the same NI-DAQmx driver software and I/O connector as previous-generation devices.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
NI's new tools for creating custom data management applications in LabVIEW
AUSTIN, USA: National Instruments announced the release of the NI LabVIEW DataFinder Toolkit, an extension of the LabVIEW graphical system design platform that helps engineers and scientists search and find valued data faster. Engineers and scientists worldwide have adopted LabVIEW because of the ease of use of graphical programming as well as the performance it delivers.
The toolkit further enhances LabVIEW by adding an Internet-like search functionality that indexes and stores the properties of time-based measurement files, making the process of finding data of interest more efficient than the traditional approach of loading all files into memory and manually scanning the results.
The toolkit can also be combined with NI DataFinder Server Edition to extend the same search technology to servers so large groups or departments can easily share or analyze their data.
As more high-speed measurement devices, including RF instruments, digitizers and data acquisition, are integrated into test systems, engineers and scientists face larger amounts of data than ever before. When analyzing data, they traditionally must cull through millions of data points to find the results they need, which can be a timely and tedious process. The typical solution was to purchase high-cost data management packages or hire a database consultant to manage these mass amounts of data.
With the LabVIEW DataFinder Toolkit, engineers and scientists can create custom, deployable data management applications using NI DataFinder, an off-the-shelf data index that stores metadata and properties stored in test files. Engineers and scientists then can search NI DataFinder using NI DIAdem software for interactive, offline post-processing or with their own custom applications built using the LabVIEW DataFinder Toolkit.
The toolkit can be used to perform simple keyword searches or advanced parametric searches such as finding channel data that exceeds a limit on a particular day or using a particular sensor.
Using DataPlugin technology, the toolkit is compatible with any file format and works natively with Technical Data Management (TDM) and Technical Data Management Streaming (TDMS) files. With a low price and quick turnaround on results, the LabVIEW DataFinder Toolkit is a more cost-efficient alternative to other data management solutions.
"RF manufacturing applications are very data intensive, and we needed a fast and cost-efficient solution for analyzing and finding the results from within our Spartan Quality Management System," said Jim West, Senior Software Engineer at Summitek Instruments. "Using the NI LabVIEW Data Finder Toolkit, we were able to easily find the results we needed as well as uncover valuable statistical trends."
To provide data management functionality to large groups, the toolkit can be combined with NI DataFinder Server Edition software, which is loaded onto a server to index files for faster search. The ability to perform quick searches on data stored on servers makes the toolkit ideal for teams that are working on projects simultaneously or remotely.
The toolkit further enhances LabVIEW by adding an Internet-like search functionality that indexes and stores the properties of time-based measurement files, making the process of finding data of interest more efficient than the traditional approach of loading all files into memory and manually scanning the results.
The toolkit can also be combined with NI DataFinder Server Edition to extend the same search technology to servers so large groups or departments can easily share or analyze their data.
As more high-speed measurement devices, including RF instruments, digitizers and data acquisition, are integrated into test systems, engineers and scientists face larger amounts of data than ever before. When analyzing data, they traditionally must cull through millions of data points to find the results they need, which can be a timely and tedious process. The typical solution was to purchase high-cost data management packages or hire a database consultant to manage these mass amounts of data.
With the LabVIEW DataFinder Toolkit, engineers and scientists can create custom, deployable data management applications using NI DataFinder, an off-the-shelf data index that stores metadata and properties stored in test files. Engineers and scientists then can search NI DataFinder using NI DIAdem software for interactive, offline post-processing or with their own custom applications built using the LabVIEW DataFinder Toolkit.
The toolkit can be used to perform simple keyword searches or advanced parametric searches such as finding channel data that exceeds a limit on a particular day or using a particular sensor.
Using DataPlugin technology, the toolkit is compatible with any file format and works natively with Technical Data Management (TDM) and Technical Data Management Streaming (TDMS) files. With a low price and quick turnaround on results, the LabVIEW DataFinder Toolkit is a more cost-efficient alternative to other data management solutions.
"RF manufacturing applications are very data intensive, and we needed a fast and cost-efficient solution for analyzing and finding the results from within our Spartan Quality Management System," said Jim West, Senior Software Engineer at Summitek Instruments. "Using the NI LabVIEW Data Finder Toolkit, we were able to easily find the results we needed as well as uncover valuable statistical trends."
To provide data management functionality to large groups, the toolkit can be combined with NI DataFinder Server Edition software, which is loaded onto a server to index files for faster search. The ability to perform quick searches on data stored on servers makes the toolkit ideal for teams that are working on projects simultaneously or remotely.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
NI, SolidWorks ally on virtual prototyping solution
AUSTIN & CONCORD, USA: National Instruments and Dassault Systemes SolidWorks Corp., a leader in mechanical design software, announced their collaboration on a pioneer mechatronics tool that helps mechanical and control engineers work together to lower the cost and risk of motion system design.
Seamlessly connecting NI LabVIEW graphical system design software and SolidWorks((R)) 3D CAD software, the new virtual prototyping solution helps engineers and scientists design, optimize, validate and visualize the real-world performance of machines and motion systems before incurring the costs of physical prototypes.
Because LabVIEW is used for controlling the virtual prototype, engineers and scientists can deploy their graphical software to physical NI hardware with little to no change to the code.
"The increasing complexity of machine designs demands better collaboration between different engineering disciplines including mechanical, electrical and control," said Jeff Ray, CEO of DS SolidWorks. "SolidWorks and National Instruments have developed a prototyping solution that dramatically shortens the gap between idea and reality."
Mechatronics-oriented design tools improve machine development by simulating the interaction between mechanical and electrical subsystems throughout the design process. Historically, teams of engineers from different disciplines worked in silos and in sequential development.
Design decisions were made independently, resulting in longer development times and higher costs. Now, to streamline development in a mechatronics approach, the teams work in parallel and collaborate on design, prototyping and deployment.
The ability to create virtual prototypes is a critical aspect of the mechatronics approach because it helps engineers and scientists explore machines before they are built.
"We live in a multi-domain world, so designers should have access to best-of-class tools in each domain," said Dr. James Truchard, president, CEO and cofounder of National Instruments. "By combining two of the most powerful design tools, LabVIEW and SolidWorks, we are giving engineers and scientists a new way to collaborate more effectively and innovate more quickly."
The seamless integration of the LabVIEW 2009 NI SoftMotion Module and SolidWorks software delivers a design environment that is ideal for virtual prototyping. Existing SolidWorks CAD models can be easily connected to LabVIEW, which automatically links the motor actuators and position sensors defined in the model.
Using the high-level functions provided by the NI SoftMotion for SolidWorks, engineers and scientists can develop sophisticated motion control applications that include logic based on sensor feedback. Design teams, customers and sales engineers then can use the virtual prototype to visualize realistic machine operations and analyze cycle time performance.
By using LabVIEW and SolidWorks, the mechanical dynamics of a machine, including mass and friction effects, as well as motor and mechanical actuator torque requirements, can be simulated before parts are specified.
"The SolidWorks and LabVIEW connection gives our R&D teams the ability to develop a virtual prototype in advance of a physical build," said Dr. John White, chief engineer at NCR Corp.
"LabVIEW controls the motion trajectories while SolidWorks can be used to calculate the driving forces, power requirements and stresses. Together, these two development tools provide our engineers with the data needed for full design analysis and optimization."
The new virtual prototyping solution also makes it easy to deploy motion applications, validated using the SolidWorks 3D CAD environment, to NI embedded control platforms such as the NI CompactRIO programmable automation controller (PAC).
Since the application was developed in LabVIEW, the same code used to create the virtual prototype can be deployed to physical NI hardware with little to no programming changes. Additionally, engineers and scientists can use the new NI 951x C Series drive interfaces to achieve direct connectivity to hundreds of stepper and servo drives and motors from NI and third-party vendors.
Seamlessly connecting NI LabVIEW graphical system design software and SolidWorks((R)) 3D CAD software, the new virtual prototyping solution helps engineers and scientists design, optimize, validate and visualize the real-world performance of machines and motion systems before incurring the costs of physical prototypes.
Because LabVIEW is used for controlling the virtual prototype, engineers and scientists can deploy their graphical software to physical NI hardware with little to no change to the code.
"The increasing complexity of machine designs demands better collaboration between different engineering disciplines including mechanical, electrical and control," said Jeff Ray, CEO of DS SolidWorks. "SolidWorks and National Instruments have developed a prototyping solution that dramatically shortens the gap between idea and reality."
Mechatronics-oriented design tools improve machine development by simulating the interaction between mechanical and electrical subsystems throughout the design process. Historically, teams of engineers from different disciplines worked in silos and in sequential development.
Design decisions were made independently, resulting in longer development times and higher costs. Now, to streamline development in a mechatronics approach, the teams work in parallel and collaborate on design, prototyping and deployment.
The ability to create virtual prototypes is a critical aspect of the mechatronics approach because it helps engineers and scientists explore machines before they are built.
"We live in a multi-domain world, so designers should have access to best-of-class tools in each domain," said Dr. James Truchard, president, CEO and cofounder of National Instruments. "By combining two of the most powerful design tools, LabVIEW and SolidWorks, we are giving engineers and scientists a new way to collaborate more effectively and innovate more quickly."
The seamless integration of the LabVIEW 2009 NI SoftMotion Module and SolidWorks software delivers a design environment that is ideal for virtual prototyping. Existing SolidWorks CAD models can be easily connected to LabVIEW, which automatically links the motor actuators and position sensors defined in the model.
Using the high-level functions provided by the NI SoftMotion for SolidWorks, engineers and scientists can develop sophisticated motion control applications that include logic based on sensor feedback. Design teams, customers and sales engineers then can use the virtual prototype to visualize realistic machine operations and analyze cycle time performance.
By using LabVIEW and SolidWorks, the mechanical dynamics of a machine, including mass and friction effects, as well as motor and mechanical actuator torque requirements, can be simulated before parts are specified.
"The SolidWorks and LabVIEW connection gives our R&D teams the ability to develop a virtual prototype in advance of a physical build," said Dr. John White, chief engineer at NCR Corp.
"LabVIEW controls the motion trajectories while SolidWorks can be used to calculate the driving forces, power requirements and stresses. Together, these two development tools provide our engineers with the data needed for full design analysis and optimization."
The new virtual prototyping solution also makes it easy to deploy motion applications, validated using the SolidWorks 3D CAD environment, to NI embedded control platforms such as the NI CompactRIO programmable automation controller (PAC).
Since the application was developed in LabVIEW, the same code used to create the virtual prototype can be deployed to physical NI hardware with little to no programming changes. Additionally, engineers and scientists can use the new NI 951x C Series drive interfaces to achieve direct connectivity to hundreds of stepper and servo drives and motors from NI and third-party vendors.
Friday, August 7, 2009
NI, Tektronix develop industry's fastest PXI digitizer
AUSTIN, USA: National Instruments announced the joint development of a high-speed digitizer with Tektronix, a leading provider of test, measurement and monitoring instrumentation.
The PXI Express digitizer sets a new milestone for PXI modular instrumentation performance, with greater than 3 GHz bandwidth, sample rates beyond 10 GS/s, data throughput of more than 600 MB/s and multi-module synchronization capabilities.
Because of this collaborative development effort, engineers and scientists will experience a new level of measurement performance and test productivity in demanding high-speed applications such as those found in physics and experimental research, aerospace and defense, communications, semiconductor and consumer electronics industries.
"National Instruments is excited to work with Tektronix and bring their core signal acquisition technology to the PXI platform," said Dr. James Truchard, president, CEO and cofounder of National Instruments. "We have worked for many years to deliver productivity improvements to engineers in automated test through LabVIEW and PXI, and this new module represents the highest performance acquisition capability that we've delivered in this platform to date."
While National Instruments and Tektronix have collaborated on various projects for more than 20 years, the digitizer represents the first joint hardware development project between the two companies and takes advantage of the strengths of both companies to deliver advanced performance for demanding applications.
Proprietary Tektronix ASICs and design expertise provide the basis for high-speed signal acquisition with low noise and high linearity, delivering superior signal integrity.
The National Instruments leadership in graphical system design software, proprietary Synchronization and Memory Core (SMC) technology and expertise in PC-based instrumentation offer high data throughput for faster test execution and precision multi-module timing and synchronization capability for building high-channel-count and integrated test systems.
"Tektronix co-innovation with National Instruments on this performance-leading digitizer is yet another example of our continued technology leadership and commitment to innovation," said Amir Aghdaei, president of Tektronix. "As the industry leader, we remain focused on delivering solutions that address the critical test and measurement needs of our customers."
As part of the NI PXI platform, the new digitizer joins a family of products designed for high measurement throughput using high-bandwidth and low-latency PCI and PCI Express bus technologies.
Engineers and scientists can integrate NI digitizers into test systems comprising any of the more than 1,500 instruments available for the PXI platform, ranging from precision DC to RF.
The new digitizer will integrate with other PXI instruments and NI LabVIEW industry-standard software for instrument control and automation, NI LabWindows/CVI ANSI C software development environment and Microsoft Visual Studio .NET development tools to offer a range of programming options.
The official product release and first shipments of the new digitizer will be available from National Instruments in 2010, with lead user engagements continuing through the end of 2009.
The PXI Express digitizer sets a new milestone for PXI modular instrumentation performance, with greater than 3 GHz bandwidth, sample rates beyond 10 GS/s, data throughput of more than 600 MB/s and multi-module synchronization capabilities.
Because of this collaborative development effort, engineers and scientists will experience a new level of measurement performance and test productivity in demanding high-speed applications such as those found in physics and experimental research, aerospace and defense, communications, semiconductor and consumer electronics industries.
"National Instruments is excited to work with Tektronix and bring their core signal acquisition technology to the PXI platform," said Dr. James Truchard, president, CEO and cofounder of National Instruments. "We have worked for many years to deliver productivity improvements to engineers in automated test through LabVIEW and PXI, and this new module represents the highest performance acquisition capability that we've delivered in this platform to date."
While National Instruments and Tektronix have collaborated on various projects for more than 20 years, the digitizer represents the first joint hardware development project between the two companies and takes advantage of the strengths of both companies to deliver advanced performance for demanding applications.
Proprietary Tektronix ASICs and design expertise provide the basis for high-speed signal acquisition with low noise and high linearity, delivering superior signal integrity.
The National Instruments leadership in graphical system design software, proprietary Synchronization and Memory Core (SMC) technology and expertise in PC-based instrumentation offer high data throughput for faster test execution and precision multi-module timing and synchronization capability for building high-channel-count and integrated test systems.
"Tektronix co-innovation with National Instruments on this performance-leading digitizer is yet another example of our continued technology leadership and commitment to innovation," said Amir Aghdaei, president of Tektronix. "As the industry leader, we remain focused on delivering solutions that address the critical test and measurement needs of our customers."
As part of the NI PXI platform, the new digitizer joins a family of products designed for high measurement throughput using high-bandwidth and low-latency PCI and PCI Express bus technologies.
Engineers and scientists can integrate NI digitizers into test systems comprising any of the more than 1,500 instruments available for the PXI platform, ranging from precision DC to RF.
The new digitizer will integrate with other PXI instruments and NI LabVIEW industry-standard software for instrument control and automation, NI LabWindows/CVI ANSI C software development environment and Microsoft Visual Studio .NET development tools to offer a range of programming options.
The official product release and first shipments of the new digitizer will be available from National Instruments in 2010, with lead user engagements continuing through the end of 2009.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
NI intros X Series DAQ devices for PCI Express and PXI Express
USA: National Instruments announced X Series multifunction data acquisition (DAQ) devices for PCI Express and PXI Express. The 16 new X Series DAQ devices provide enhancements to analog I/O, digital I/O, onboard counters and multidevice synchronization.
X Series devices integrate native PCI Express support for high-throughput data transfer, advanced timing and synchronization technology for precise measurement and control and the ability to perform advanced processing and analysis on today’s multicore systems.
X Series DAQ devices, which include up to 32 analog inputs (AI), four analog outputs (AO), 48 digital I/O lines and four counters, range from low-cost 250 kS/s multiplexed AI to 2 MS/s simultaneous sampling AI. Simultaneous X Series devices integrate up to 16 ADCs on a single device at 2 MS/s per channel, so engineers can sample all AI channels at a high rate and with minimal phase offset.
With high sampling on all channels, simultaneous X Series devices pass large quantities of data back to the host PC, delivering a total AI throughput of up to 64 MB/s.
With the added throughput of AO, digital I/O and counter operations, total throughput can surpass 100 MB/s for a single device – the practical maximum of the PCI bus. For this reason, X Series devices use the high-throughput PCI Express bus.
PCI Express offers several benefits to data acquisition applications, including dedicated bandwidth to each device of up to 250 MB/s in each direction. With this additional bandwidth, users can acquire larger quantities of analog, digital and counter data and, with the dedicated nature of the bus, engineers can easily expand their systems to include multiple data acquisition devices.
The new X Series devices integrate a native PCI Express interface, which is designed to provide the full 250 MB/s of PCI Express bandwidth, as opposed to a PCI-to-PCI Express bridge interface, which limits the device bandwidth to that of the PCI bus. These devices also are optimized for low-latency I/O, which improves performance in control and single-point applications.
Advanced timing and triggering functionality on multifunction DAQ devices traditionally required onboard counters, complex code or manual signal routing to achieve specialized hardware-timed performance.
New NI-STC3 technology provides X Series devices with independent timing engines for the onboard analog and digital I/O subsystems, so engineers can execute analog and digital I/O independently at different rates or together with synchronization.
X Series devices include four enhanced 32-bit counters for frequency, pulse-width modulation (PWM) and encoder operations and a new 100 MHz timebase that can generate analog and digital sampling rates with five times better resolution than previous devices.
By using the multithreaded NI-DAQmx driver software and NI LabVIEW graphical programming, engineers can easily create applications that execute on multicore processors for higher performance and more advanced analysis and data visualization.
LabVIEW automatically generates threads for parallel sections of code that correspond to different streams of data, so engineers with little or no programming background can spend more time problem solving and less time programming the low-level implementation of their applications.
They can easily synchronize two or more X Series devices with new multidevice tasks and can rapidly log the acquired data to disk by adding a single new Configure Logging function to their NI-DAQmx code.
In addition, engineers can easily incorporate X Series devices into an existing data acquisition system because X Series devices use the same NI-DAQmx driver software and I/O connector as previous-generation devices.
X Series devices integrate native PCI Express support for high-throughput data transfer, advanced timing and synchronization technology for precise measurement and control and the ability to perform advanced processing and analysis on today’s multicore systems.
X Series DAQ devices, which include up to 32 analog inputs (AI), four analog outputs (AO), 48 digital I/O lines and four counters, range from low-cost 250 kS/s multiplexed AI to 2 MS/s simultaneous sampling AI. Simultaneous X Series devices integrate up to 16 ADCs on a single device at 2 MS/s per channel, so engineers can sample all AI channels at a high rate and with minimal phase offset.
With high sampling on all channels, simultaneous X Series devices pass large quantities of data back to the host PC, delivering a total AI throughput of up to 64 MB/s.
With the added throughput of AO, digital I/O and counter operations, total throughput can surpass 100 MB/s for a single device – the practical maximum of the PCI bus. For this reason, X Series devices use the high-throughput PCI Express bus.
PCI Express offers several benefits to data acquisition applications, including dedicated bandwidth to each device of up to 250 MB/s in each direction. With this additional bandwidth, users can acquire larger quantities of analog, digital and counter data and, with the dedicated nature of the bus, engineers can easily expand their systems to include multiple data acquisition devices.
The new X Series devices integrate a native PCI Express interface, which is designed to provide the full 250 MB/s of PCI Express bandwidth, as opposed to a PCI-to-PCI Express bridge interface, which limits the device bandwidth to that of the PCI bus. These devices also are optimized for low-latency I/O, which improves performance in control and single-point applications.
Advanced timing and triggering functionality on multifunction DAQ devices traditionally required onboard counters, complex code or manual signal routing to achieve specialized hardware-timed performance.
New NI-STC3 technology provides X Series devices with independent timing engines for the onboard analog and digital I/O subsystems, so engineers can execute analog and digital I/O independently at different rates or together with synchronization.
X Series devices include four enhanced 32-bit counters for frequency, pulse-width modulation (PWM) and encoder operations and a new 100 MHz timebase that can generate analog and digital sampling rates with five times better resolution than previous devices.
By using the multithreaded NI-DAQmx driver software and NI LabVIEW graphical programming, engineers can easily create applications that execute on multicore processors for higher performance and more advanced analysis and data visualization.
LabVIEW automatically generates threads for parallel sections of code that correspond to different streams of data, so engineers with little or no programming background can spend more time problem solving and less time programming the low-level implementation of their applications.
They can easily synchronize two or more X Series devices with new multidevice tasks and can rapidly log the acquired data to disk by adding a single new Configure Logging function to their NI-DAQmx code.
In addition, engineers can easily incorporate X Series devices into an existing data acquisition system because X Series devices use the same NI-DAQmx driver software and I/O connector as previous-generation devices.
NI intros wireless sensor network platform
USA: National Instruments today announced the NI wireless sensor network (WSN) platform, a complete remote monitoring solution that consists of NI LabVIEW graphical programming software and new reliable, low-power wireless measurement nodes.
The adoption of wireless technology for remote monitoring applications is growing, yet engineers and scientists struggle to find an integrated solution that can provide the required measurement quality, power management and reliable hardware for long-term, remote deployments.
The NI WSN platform takes advantage of more than 30 years of NI data acquisition system leadership to deliver an easy-to-use solution that provides high-quality measurement data, the flexibility to manage power consumption and the ability to customize wireless hardware for added functionality.
A key differentiator of the platform is LabVIEW software, which integrates seamlessly with the new battery-powered, industrial-rated NI WSN measurement nodes that can be deployed in rugged conditions for long periods of time.
Engineers and scientists worldwide are adopting wireless technology to meet distributed and portable measurement applications challenges, such as structural health and environmental monitoring, where wiring is difficult or cost-prohibitive.
With the flexibility of LabVIEW, the NI WSN platform simplifies and accelerates the development of these applications by delivering a drag-and-drop programming environment for configuring wireless systems, extracting measurements, performing analysis and presenting data. LabVIEW also offers native Web connectivity for remote interaction with wireless systems.
“The NI WSN platform provides the ease-of-use necessary to quickly configure and deploy wireless sensors in a wide range of applications,” said Dr. William Kaiser, director of the Actuated, Sensing, Coordinated and Embedded Networked Technologies lab at UCLA.
“The Center for Embedded Network Systems at UCLA is actively deploying NI WSN sensors in a parking garage at the Ronald Reagan Medical Center to help patients and family quickly identify open parking locations and to research options for proactive communication to commuters on parking availability across campus. The use of NI technology will allow us to improve the commuter experience, reduce additional traffic and emissions as commuters search for parking."
National Instruments is releasing its first two WSN nodes and plans to expand the measurement capabilities of the NI WSN platform. The wireless measurement nodes are powered by four AA batteries for up to three years, making them ideal for long-term deployments.
The NI WSN-3202 four-channel, ± 10 V analog input node and NI WSN-3212 four-channel, 24-bit thermocouple node have four digital I/O channels that can be configured for input, sinking output or sourcing output. The platform also includes the NI WSN-9791 Ethernet gateway, which is used to connect the measurement nodes to LabVIEW.
The wireless devices include NI-WSN software, which connects the NI wireless devices to LabVIEW software running on Microsoft Windows or a LabVIEW Real-Time host controller. NI-WSN software is based on IEEE 802.15.4 technology and gathers measurement data from the distributed measurement nodes.
The software also delivers capabilities for mesh routing and managing power usage across the network, making it possible to increase measurement distance while maintaining network reliability. Additionally, LabVIEW delivers seamless integration with wired measurement devices and a wide range of third-party wireless sensor network platforms.
While the measurement nodes are optimized for low-power, multiyear deployment with limited computing resources, LabVIEW provides the ability to customize the embedded software on each node using the LabVIEW Wireless Sensor Network Module Pioneer.
Programming customized logic on traditional wireless sensor network platforms often requires expertise in embedded operating systems and low-level, event-based programming. Using the intuitive graphical programming of LabVIEW, engineers and scientists easily can program the nodes to extend battery life, perform custom analysis and reduce response time with embedded decision making.
The adoption of wireless technology for remote monitoring applications is growing, yet engineers and scientists struggle to find an integrated solution that can provide the required measurement quality, power management and reliable hardware for long-term, remote deployments.
The NI WSN platform takes advantage of more than 30 years of NI data acquisition system leadership to deliver an easy-to-use solution that provides high-quality measurement data, the flexibility to manage power consumption and the ability to customize wireless hardware for added functionality.
A key differentiator of the platform is LabVIEW software, which integrates seamlessly with the new battery-powered, industrial-rated NI WSN measurement nodes that can be deployed in rugged conditions for long periods of time.
Engineers and scientists worldwide are adopting wireless technology to meet distributed and portable measurement applications challenges, such as structural health and environmental monitoring, where wiring is difficult or cost-prohibitive.
With the flexibility of LabVIEW, the NI WSN platform simplifies and accelerates the development of these applications by delivering a drag-and-drop programming environment for configuring wireless systems, extracting measurements, performing analysis and presenting data. LabVIEW also offers native Web connectivity for remote interaction with wireless systems.
“The NI WSN platform provides the ease-of-use necessary to quickly configure and deploy wireless sensors in a wide range of applications,” said Dr. William Kaiser, director of the Actuated, Sensing, Coordinated and Embedded Networked Technologies lab at UCLA.
“The Center for Embedded Network Systems at UCLA is actively deploying NI WSN sensors in a parking garage at the Ronald Reagan Medical Center to help patients and family quickly identify open parking locations and to research options for proactive communication to commuters on parking availability across campus. The use of NI technology will allow us to improve the commuter experience, reduce additional traffic and emissions as commuters search for parking."
National Instruments is releasing its first two WSN nodes and plans to expand the measurement capabilities of the NI WSN platform. The wireless measurement nodes are powered by four AA batteries for up to three years, making them ideal for long-term deployments.
The NI WSN-3202 four-channel, ± 10 V analog input node and NI WSN-3212 four-channel, 24-bit thermocouple node have four digital I/O channels that can be configured for input, sinking output or sourcing output. The platform also includes the NI WSN-9791 Ethernet gateway, which is used to connect the measurement nodes to LabVIEW.
The wireless devices include NI-WSN software, which connects the NI wireless devices to LabVIEW software running on Microsoft Windows or a LabVIEW Real-Time host controller. NI-WSN software is based on IEEE 802.15.4 technology and gathers measurement data from the distributed measurement nodes.
The software also delivers capabilities for mesh routing and managing power usage across the network, making it possible to increase measurement distance while maintaining network reliability. Additionally, LabVIEW delivers seamless integration with wired measurement devices and a wide range of third-party wireless sensor network platforms.
While the measurement nodes are optimized for low-power, multiyear deployment with limited computing resources, LabVIEW provides the ability to customize the embedded software on each node using the LabVIEW Wireless Sensor Network Module Pioneer.
Programming customized logic on traditional wireless sensor network platforms often requires expertise in embedded operating systems and low-level, event-based programming. Using the intuitive graphical programming of LabVIEW, engineers and scientists easily can program the nodes to extend battery life, perform custom analysis and reduce response time with embedded decision making.
NI LabVIEW 2009 targets emerging apps with new technologies
USA: National Instruments announced LabVIEW 2009, the latest version of the graphical system design software platform for control, test and embedded system development.
LabVIEW 2009 simplifies the development challenges of parallel hardware architectures with new virtualization technology that takes advantage of multicore systems as well as by offering new compiler improvements and IP that enhance FPGA design.
The latest version of LabVIEW makes it possible to deploy code to wireless sensor networks to help engineers and scientists build smarter industrial measurement and monitoring systems and features new solutions for testing multiple wireless standards such as WLAN, WiMAX, GPS and MIMO systems on a single hardware platform. In addition, LabVIEW 2009 simplifies real-time math by streamlining mathematical algorithm design and deployment to real-time hardware.
“In today’s challenging economic climate, engineers and scientists are being asked to complete their projects with fewer resources and in less time,” said Dr. James Truchard, president, CEO and cofounder of National Instruments.
“With new opportunities emerging from investments in infrastructure, environmental monitoring, medical research and device design and test, we focused our LabVIEW 2009 development to harness key technologies such as multicore, FPGA design, wireless platforms and real-time math to empower innovation in these areas.”
Improve Parallel System Design
Virtualization technology makes it possible to run multiple operating systems side by side on the same multicore processing hardware to build more efficient systems. New NI Real-Time Hypervisor software combines the power of the LabVIEW Real-Time Module with general-purpose OS capabilities to reduce overall system cost and size.
Using this software, engineers and scientists can run Windows XP and LabVIEW Real-Time side by side on the same controller, partitioning the processor cores among the two operating systems for more efficient use of system resources. The Real-Time Hypervisor works with dual- and quad-core NI PXI controllers as well as the NI Industrial Controller.
While virtualization provides a new way to design parallel systems, LabVIEW 2009 also delivers enhancements for existing parallel design technology including multicore programming and FPGA development. LabVIEW 2009 features a new parallel for-loop structure, which automatically divides iterations of loops across multiple processors to increase the execution speed of the process.
LabVIEW also further simplifies FPGA programming by offering early compile feedback and critical path highlighting to make early estimates on FPGA resource usage and better debug timing violations. Additionally, new streamlined FPGA IP delivers higher-throughput math and signal processing performance.
Create Smart Wireless Sensor Networks
Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) make it possible to deploy distributed measurements across vast physical hardware systems. With WSNs, engineers and scientists can analyze more effectively everything from rain forests and river deltas to the health and safety of buildings and bridges.
LabVIEW provides the ability to configure the new NI WSN platform with a drag-and-drop programming environment for performing analysis as well as extracting and presenting measurement data.
Using the new LabVIEW Wireless Sensor Network Module Pioneer, engineers and scientists can program the individual NI WSN measurement nodes to extend node battery life, increase acquisition performance and create custom sensor interfaces.
Test More Wireless Devices and Standards
With software-defined instrumentation using LabVIEW, engineers and scientists can implement the same measurement platform to acquire and analyze any modulation scheme or protocol standard rather than using dedicated box instruments for specific protocols.
The new NI WLAN Measurement Suite for LabVIEW guarantees compliance with IEEE 802.11 a/b/g standards and performs measurements more than five times faster than traditional box instruments. In addition to the WLAN Measurement Suite, the WiMAX, GPS and MIMO solutions for LabVIEW provide the ability to test more wireless standards with NI modular instruments.
Deploy Real-Time Math
LabVIEW features built-in math libraries that contain more than 1,000 functions ranging from low-level, point-by-point signal processing to high-level, configuration-based implementations, all of which easily can be deployed to real-time embedded devices.
With the LabVIEW MathScript RT Module, LabVIEW 2009 further expands access to real-time math, which is the implementation and deployment of mathematical algorithms to deterministic operating systems, for engineers and scientists using text-based math tools.
The module also provides engineers and scientists the ability to incorporate their own existing .m files using interactive user interfaces and real-world I/O and easily deploy them to real-time hardware for faster system prototyping.
By simplifying the process of deploying mathematical algorithms to real-time embedded hardware, LabVIEW 2009 can help medical device designers, machine builders and autonomous system designers shorten product time to market.
Additionally, NI is adopting an annual release cycle for LabVIEW, with version names based on the year of release. The annual release cycle solidifies the schedule, stability and feature scope of each new release to provide an easy upgrade process for customers.
Readers interested in learning more about LabVIEW 2009 and downloading the evaluation software can visit www.ni.com/labview/whatsnew. Members of the LabVIEW service maintenance and support program will receive LabVIEW 2009 automatically in the mail or can download the new version from the NI Services Resource Center at www.ni.com/src.
Readers whose software is part of a company-wide Volume License Agreement (VLA) should contact their VLA administrators for special installation instructions.
LabVIEW 2009 simplifies the development challenges of parallel hardware architectures with new virtualization technology that takes advantage of multicore systems as well as by offering new compiler improvements and IP that enhance FPGA design.
The latest version of LabVIEW makes it possible to deploy code to wireless sensor networks to help engineers and scientists build smarter industrial measurement and monitoring systems and features new solutions for testing multiple wireless standards such as WLAN, WiMAX, GPS and MIMO systems on a single hardware platform. In addition, LabVIEW 2009 simplifies real-time math by streamlining mathematical algorithm design and deployment to real-time hardware.
“In today’s challenging economic climate, engineers and scientists are being asked to complete their projects with fewer resources and in less time,” said Dr. James Truchard, president, CEO and cofounder of National Instruments.
“With new opportunities emerging from investments in infrastructure, environmental monitoring, medical research and device design and test, we focused our LabVIEW 2009 development to harness key technologies such as multicore, FPGA design, wireless platforms and real-time math to empower innovation in these areas.”
Improve Parallel System Design
Virtualization technology makes it possible to run multiple operating systems side by side on the same multicore processing hardware to build more efficient systems. New NI Real-Time Hypervisor software combines the power of the LabVIEW Real-Time Module with general-purpose OS capabilities to reduce overall system cost and size.
Using this software, engineers and scientists can run Windows XP and LabVIEW Real-Time side by side on the same controller, partitioning the processor cores among the two operating systems for more efficient use of system resources. The Real-Time Hypervisor works with dual- and quad-core NI PXI controllers as well as the NI Industrial Controller.
While virtualization provides a new way to design parallel systems, LabVIEW 2009 also delivers enhancements for existing parallel design technology including multicore programming and FPGA development. LabVIEW 2009 features a new parallel for-loop structure, which automatically divides iterations of loops across multiple processors to increase the execution speed of the process.
LabVIEW also further simplifies FPGA programming by offering early compile feedback and critical path highlighting to make early estimates on FPGA resource usage and better debug timing violations. Additionally, new streamlined FPGA IP delivers higher-throughput math and signal processing performance.
Create Smart Wireless Sensor Networks
Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) make it possible to deploy distributed measurements across vast physical hardware systems. With WSNs, engineers and scientists can analyze more effectively everything from rain forests and river deltas to the health and safety of buildings and bridges.
LabVIEW provides the ability to configure the new NI WSN platform with a drag-and-drop programming environment for performing analysis as well as extracting and presenting measurement data.
Using the new LabVIEW Wireless Sensor Network Module Pioneer, engineers and scientists can program the individual NI WSN measurement nodes to extend node battery life, increase acquisition performance and create custom sensor interfaces.
Test More Wireless Devices and Standards
With software-defined instrumentation using LabVIEW, engineers and scientists can implement the same measurement platform to acquire and analyze any modulation scheme or protocol standard rather than using dedicated box instruments for specific protocols.
The new NI WLAN Measurement Suite for LabVIEW guarantees compliance with IEEE 802.11 a/b/g standards and performs measurements more than five times faster than traditional box instruments. In addition to the WLAN Measurement Suite, the WiMAX, GPS and MIMO solutions for LabVIEW provide the ability to test more wireless standards with NI modular instruments.
Deploy Real-Time Math
LabVIEW features built-in math libraries that contain more than 1,000 functions ranging from low-level, point-by-point signal processing to high-level, configuration-based implementations, all of which easily can be deployed to real-time embedded devices.
With the LabVIEW MathScript RT Module, LabVIEW 2009 further expands access to real-time math, which is the implementation and deployment of mathematical algorithms to deterministic operating systems, for engineers and scientists using text-based math tools.
The module also provides engineers and scientists the ability to incorporate their own existing .m files using interactive user interfaces and real-world I/O and easily deploy them to real-time hardware for faster system prototyping.
By simplifying the process of deploying mathematical algorithms to real-time embedded hardware, LabVIEW 2009 can help medical device designers, machine builders and autonomous system designers shorten product time to market.
Additionally, NI is adopting an annual release cycle for LabVIEW, with version names based on the year of release. The annual release cycle solidifies the schedule, stability and feature scope of each new release to provide an easy upgrade process for customers.
Readers interested in learning more about LabVIEW 2009 and downloading the evaluation software can visit www.ni.com/labview/whatsnew. Members of the LabVIEW service maintenance and support program will receive LabVIEW 2009 automatically in the mail or can download the new version from the NI Services Resource Center at www.ni.com/src.
Readers whose software is part of a company-wide Volume License Agreement (VLA) should contact their VLA administrators for special installation instructions.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
NI extends platforms to digital embedded sensors
AUSTIN, USA: National Instruments announced the availability of free communications intellectual property (IP) blocks for the NI LabVIEW FPGA Module that make it possible to add serial peripheral interface (SPI) and inter-integrated circuit (I2C) devices to embedded systems developed on NI reconfigurable I/O (RIO) hardware platforms.
National Instruments also has been working with component suppliers such as Analog Devices to develop drivers for common components such as microelectromechanical system (MEMS) sensors so that engineers and scientists quickly can integrate accelerometers, gyroscopes, temperature and other sensors into their embedded systems.
“With the new embedded sensor drivers for Analog Devices MEMS sensors, we are giving LabVIEW users an easy way to integrate ADI’s state-of-the-art sensors into their embedded devices,” said Bob Scannell, business development manager at Analog Devices.
Digital embedded sensors, which are used in applications ranging from automobiles to medical devices and consumer electronics, provide measurement feedback that is important to overall system performance.
Examples include sensors for monitoring environmental conditions such as temperature, humidity and pressure; ultrasonic detectors for medical devices or sensors such as light detection and ranging (LIDAR); and inertial measurement unit (IMU) devices for mobile robotics.
Using new LabVIEW FPGA IP, engineers and scientists easily can incorporate devices based on SPI and I2C, two of the most widely used types of embedded digital communication protocols, with NI RIO hardware including the CompactRIO programmable automation controller (PAC), NI Single-Board RIO embedded devices and R Series multifunction RIO devices.
NI RIO hardware platforms, which share an architecture composed of a real-time processor, a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) and I/O modules, are ideal for applications that need the reliability of validated, off-the-shelf hardware and the flexibility of custom hardware and high-performance I/O capabilities.
Engineers and scientists with limited or no hardware design experience easily can program the FPGA on NI RIO platforms using the LabVIEW FPGA Module, which provides a graphical programming tool that abstracts the VHDL code used to configure the FPGA. LabVIEW also makes it easy to build and modify custom communication IP and inline digital processing in addition to integrating a wide array of analog and digital signals and sensors for future devices.
Readers can visit www.ni.com/ipnet to download the free LabVIEW FPGA IP for SPI and I2C sensors as well as the sensor drivers for Analog Devices MEMS sensors.
Readers can visit NI Developer Zone on www.ni.com to download a resource kit with more information on how to add digital embedded sensors to NI RIO-based systems.
National Instruments also has been working with component suppliers such as Analog Devices to develop drivers for common components such as microelectromechanical system (MEMS) sensors so that engineers and scientists quickly can integrate accelerometers, gyroscopes, temperature and other sensors into their embedded systems.
“With the new embedded sensor drivers for Analog Devices MEMS sensors, we are giving LabVIEW users an easy way to integrate ADI’s state-of-the-art sensors into their embedded devices,” said Bob Scannell, business development manager at Analog Devices.
Digital embedded sensors, which are used in applications ranging from automobiles to medical devices and consumer electronics, provide measurement feedback that is important to overall system performance.
Examples include sensors for monitoring environmental conditions such as temperature, humidity and pressure; ultrasonic detectors for medical devices or sensors such as light detection and ranging (LIDAR); and inertial measurement unit (IMU) devices for mobile robotics.
Using new LabVIEW FPGA IP, engineers and scientists easily can incorporate devices based on SPI and I2C, two of the most widely used types of embedded digital communication protocols, with NI RIO hardware including the CompactRIO programmable automation controller (PAC), NI Single-Board RIO embedded devices and R Series multifunction RIO devices.
NI RIO hardware platforms, which share an architecture composed of a real-time processor, a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) and I/O modules, are ideal for applications that need the reliability of validated, off-the-shelf hardware and the flexibility of custom hardware and high-performance I/O capabilities.
Engineers and scientists with limited or no hardware design experience easily can program the FPGA on NI RIO platforms using the LabVIEW FPGA Module, which provides a graphical programming tool that abstracts the VHDL code used to configure the FPGA. LabVIEW also makes it easy to build and modify custom communication IP and inline digital processing in addition to integrating a wide array of analog and digital signals and sensors for future devices.
Readers can visit www.ni.com/ipnet to download the free LabVIEW FPGA IP for SPI and I2C sensors as well as the sensor drivers for Analog Devices MEMS sensors.
Readers can visit NI Developer Zone on www.ni.com to download a resource kit with more information on how to add digital embedded sensors to NI RIO-based systems.
NI's FlexRIO expands capabilities of FPGA-enabled instruments
AUSTIN, USA: National Instruments announced the expansion of its NI FlexRIO product line with multiple forthcoming adapter modules, which provide engineers with application-specific I/O for RF, digital, time-domain and vision inspection systems.
The NI FlexRIO family is the industry’s first commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) solution to provide engineers the flexibility of NI LabVIEW FPGA technology combined with high-speed, instrument-class, reconfigurable and user-defined I/O on the PXI platform.
All NI FlexRIO solutions require two distinct hardware pieces –- an I/O-specific adapter module and a PXI-based NI FlexRIO FPGA module, which features a Xilinx Virtex-5 FPGA. With a variety of NI FlexRIO adapter modules, engineers can directly interface FPGAs to new types of I/O for measurements across automated test applications that require real-time performance.
The software-defined, reconfigurable I/O capabilities of NI FlexRIO make it possible for engineers to employ techniques such as in-line signal processing, hardware-in-the-loop control and protocol-aware test for designing and testing many complex electronic devices.
National Instruments has already released two NI FlexRIO adapter modules, the NI 6581 100 MHz digital I/O (DIO) adapter module and the NI 6585 200 MHz low-voltage differential signaling (LVDS) DIO module.
In addition to these products, NI soon will release several new specialized adapter modules including a dual-channel, 100 MS/s, 14-bit input, 16-bit output baseband transceiver for radio prototyping and stimulus-response applications; a 3 GS/s, eight-bit digitizer for time-domain measurements and ultra-wideband spectral analysis; a four-channel, 250 MS/s, 14-bit digitizer for signal intelligence and other applications requiring high speed and resolution; and a full-configuration Camera Link interface for high-speed image processing and low-latency control.
As part of the open nature of the NI FlexRIO platform, NI also has been collaborating with several National Instruments Alliance Partner companies on third-party adapter modules, including the already-released NexFrontier NF1208 100 MHz vector rate pin electronics digital I/O adapter module and Averna IEEE 1394b adapter module.
Other companies, including SET, Prevas AB, Cosylab and Adsys Controls, are finalizing additional NI FlexRIO adapter module designs for future release.
For applications requiring highly customized I/O, engineers with PCB design and HDL experience can create their own adapter modules using the NI FlexRIO Adapter Module Development Kit (MDK).
The MDK features full documentation on electrical, firmware, software and mechanical design details, including CAD files and example HDL, as well as various metal adapter module enclosures.
The NI FlexRIO family is the industry’s first commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) solution to provide engineers the flexibility of NI LabVIEW FPGA technology combined with high-speed, instrument-class, reconfigurable and user-defined I/O on the PXI platform.
All NI FlexRIO solutions require two distinct hardware pieces –- an I/O-specific adapter module and a PXI-based NI FlexRIO FPGA module, which features a Xilinx Virtex-5 FPGA. With a variety of NI FlexRIO adapter modules, engineers can directly interface FPGAs to new types of I/O for measurements across automated test applications that require real-time performance.
The software-defined, reconfigurable I/O capabilities of NI FlexRIO make it possible for engineers to employ techniques such as in-line signal processing, hardware-in-the-loop control and protocol-aware test for designing and testing many complex electronic devices.
National Instruments has already released two NI FlexRIO adapter modules, the NI 6581 100 MHz digital I/O (DIO) adapter module and the NI 6585 200 MHz low-voltage differential signaling (LVDS) DIO module.
In addition to these products, NI soon will release several new specialized adapter modules including a dual-channel, 100 MS/s, 14-bit input, 16-bit output baseband transceiver for radio prototyping and stimulus-response applications; a 3 GS/s, eight-bit digitizer for time-domain measurements and ultra-wideband spectral analysis; a four-channel, 250 MS/s, 14-bit digitizer for signal intelligence and other applications requiring high speed and resolution; and a full-configuration Camera Link interface for high-speed image processing and low-latency control.
As part of the open nature of the NI FlexRIO platform, NI also has been collaborating with several National Instruments Alliance Partner companies on third-party adapter modules, including the already-released NexFrontier NF1208 100 MHz vector rate pin electronics digital I/O adapter module and Averna IEEE 1394b adapter module.
Other companies, including SET, Prevas AB, Cosylab and Adsys Controls, are finalizing additional NI FlexRIO adapter module designs for future release.
For applications requiring highly customized I/O, engineers with PCB design and HDL experience can create their own adapter modules using the NI FlexRIO Adapter Module Development Kit (MDK).
The MDK features full documentation on electrical, firmware, software and mechanical design details, including CAD files and example HDL, as well as various metal adapter module enclosures.
Monday, July 20, 2009
NI, TSSI to support WGL and STIL semiconductor vector formats
USA: National Instruments announced its collaboration with Test System Strategies, Inc. (TSSI), inventor of the Waveform Generation Language (WGL), on a new software tool that is compatible with NI LabVIEW graphical system design software.
This software tool makes it possible for semiconductor test engineers to import WGL and IEEE 1450 Standard Test Interface Language (STIL) simulation vectors into NI PXI digital test systems, a task which previously required custom software development.
Evaluation versions of the new TSSI TD-Scan for National Instruments software will be available by request from National Instruments while the full version can be purchased from TSSI.
“Our collaboration with National Instruments unites our semiconductor design-to-test solutions with NI automated test controller technology and helps us both meet the needs of semiconductor test engineers,” said Dave Karpenske, senior vice president for sales and marketing at TSSI.
“We believe our expertise in test vector translation and validation software is a natural fit with NI and its innovative contributions to the semiconductor industry through modular, cost-effective platforms like PXI.”
The WGL and STIL vector formats commonly are used by engineers to run tests on semiconductor devices during the characterization, design validation and production test phases of product development.
These vectors are generated by electronic design automation (EDA) tools and used to stimulate a fabricated device to verify that its physical implementation matches the results achieved in simulation. The vectors are applied using digital test equipment with capabilities similar to the NI PXI-6552 100 MHz digital waveform generator/analyzer with features such as per-cycle tri-stating, onboard vector comparison and clock data delay.
The new TSSI TD-Scan for National Instruments software eliminates the custom programming previously required to make these vectors work on NI instrumentation by automatically converting the WGL and STIL vectors to native file formats for NI digital test equipment.
“Working with TSSI helps National Instruments expand our delivery of more innovative products to the semiconductor characterization and test market,” said Scott Savage, semiconductor market development manager at NI. “We are excited to work with TSSI, a global leader in design-to-test solutions, and we anticipate being able to provide our customers enhanced design-to-test integration because of this new time-saving product.”
By making it possible for engineers to use the vector outputs from EDA software in validation and production tests on NI digital test equipment, the TSSI TD-Scan for National Instruments software significantly increases the efficiency and flexibility of this test process.
Engineers now can read and manipulate WGL and STIL vectors in LabVIEW and the NI Digital Waveform Editor, both of which provide control for all NI digital test hardware.
This software tool makes it possible for semiconductor test engineers to import WGL and IEEE 1450 Standard Test Interface Language (STIL) simulation vectors into NI PXI digital test systems, a task which previously required custom software development.
Evaluation versions of the new TSSI TD-Scan for National Instruments software will be available by request from National Instruments while the full version can be purchased from TSSI.
“Our collaboration with National Instruments unites our semiconductor design-to-test solutions with NI automated test controller technology and helps us both meet the needs of semiconductor test engineers,” said Dave Karpenske, senior vice president for sales and marketing at TSSI.
“We believe our expertise in test vector translation and validation software is a natural fit with NI and its innovative contributions to the semiconductor industry through modular, cost-effective platforms like PXI.”
The WGL and STIL vector formats commonly are used by engineers to run tests on semiconductor devices during the characterization, design validation and production test phases of product development.
These vectors are generated by electronic design automation (EDA) tools and used to stimulate a fabricated device to verify that its physical implementation matches the results achieved in simulation. The vectors are applied using digital test equipment with capabilities similar to the NI PXI-6552 100 MHz digital waveform generator/analyzer with features such as per-cycle tri-stating, onboard vector comparison and clock data delay.
The new TSSI TD-Scan for National Instruments software eliminates the custom programming previously required to make these vectors work on NI instrumentation by automatically converting the WGL and STIL vectors to native file formats for NI digital test equipment.
“Working with TSSI helps National Instruments expand our delivery of more innovative products to the semiconductor characterization and test market,” said Scott Savage, semiconductor market development manager at NI. “We are excited to work with TSSI, a global leader in design-to-test solutions, and we anticipate being able to provide our customers enhanced design-to-test integration because of this new time-saving product.”
By making it possible for engineers to use the vector outputs from EDA software in validation and production tests on NI digital test equipment, the TSSI TD-Scan for National Instruments software significantly increases the efficiency and flexibility of this test process.
Engineers now can read and manipulate WGL and STIL vectors in LabVIEW and the NI Digital Waveform Editor, both of which provide control for all NI digital test hardware.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
NI delivers advanced data management capabilities with new DIAdem version
USA: National Instruments has announced the NI DIAdem 11.1, a new version of the interactive software for managing, analyzing, visualizing and reporting test data that includes new features and filtering capabilities for advanced development and automated analysis.
DIAdem is designed to help engineers make informed decisions and meet the demands of today’s testing environments, which require quick access to large volumes of scattered data, consistent reporting and data visualization.
With DIAdem, engineers easily can manage, mine, analyze and report on data collected during data acquisition or generated during simulations and provide consistent reporting and data visualization for applications in industries such as research, automotive, aerospace, environmental monitoring and structural test.
For advanced data analysis, DIAdem 11.1 adds the new Calculation Manager and filtering capabilities, which are useful for large group development and automated analysis. For applications with a high-channel count such as in the automotive and aerospace industries, engineers now can filter within the data portal in DIAdem to easily find and access the different channels in memory.
With the new Calculation Manager, engineers can create custom algorithms and share them within their departments and groups to increase productivity and reduce errors.
For advanced data management, engineers can use DIAdem to mine, inspect and analyze measurement data to correlate tests and uncover results in the data. DIAdem 11.1 features a new tool for converting CAN log files into the technical data management (TDM) data format for compatibility across applications.
Also, engineers now can customize the interface for DIAdem to match their applications and take advantage of new 3-D contouring to better display data.
In addition, NI DataFinder Server Edition 2.1, a valuable tool that extends test data management to large groups or departments and helps reduce errors and increase productivity across teams, introduces new performance enhancements. In the new version of NI DataFinder Server Edition, engineers can index and query their test data up to 20 times faster than in previous versions.
DIAdem is designed to help engineers make informed decisions and meet the demands of today’s testing environments, which require quick access to large volumes of scattered data, consistent reporting and data visualization.
With DIAdem, engineers easily can manage, mine, analyze and report on data collected during data acquisition or generated during simulations and provide consistent reporting and data visualization for applications in industries such as research, automotive, aerospace, environmental monitoring and structural test.
For advanced data analysis, DIAdem 11.1 adds the new Calculation Manager and filtering capabilities, which are useful for large group development and automated analysis. For applications with a high-channel count such as in the automotive and aerospace industries, engineers now can filter within the data portal in DIAdem to easily find and access the different channels in memory.
With the new Calculation Manager, engineers can create custom algorithms and share them within their departments and groups to increase productivity and reduce errors.
For advanced data management, engineers can use DIAdem to mine, inspect and analyze measurement data to correlate tests and uncover results in the data. DIAdem 11.1 features a new tool for converting CAN log files into the technical data management (TDM) data format for compatibility across applications.
Also, engineers now can customize the interface for DIAdem to match their applications and take advantage of new 3-D contouring to better display data.
In addition, NI DataFinder Server Edition 2.1, a valuable tool that extends test data management to large groups or departments and helps reduce errors and increase productivity across teams, introduces new performance enhancements. In the new version of NI DataFinder Server Edition, engineers can index and query their test data up to 20 times faster than in previous versions.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
NI's USB device and sensor suite for sound, vibration apps
AUSTIN, USA: National Instruments has announced a new portable bus-powered dynamic signal acquisition (DSA) module and a suite of vibration sensors that are ideal for making high-accuracy vibration measurements required for noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) and machine condition monitoring applications.
The NI USB-4431 DSA module acquires data at rates from 1 to 102.4 kS/s, which makes it possible to obtain a wide measurement bandwidth. The combination of the USB-4431 and the new vibration sensors, which include three accelerometers, a triaxial accelerometer and an impact hammer, gives engineers and scientists a complete stimulus response system from a single vendor for seamless product integration.
The USB-4431 is a five-channel DSA module for making high-accuracy measurements from integrated electronics piezoelectric (IEPE) sensors. The module consists of four 24-bit simultaneously sampled analog input channels and one 24-bit analog output channel, which are ideal for stimulus response test systems.
The USB-4431 also works well for a wide variety of field test applications such as frequency response audio tests and suspension shaker tests due to its portability. Additionally, the module delivers 100 dB of dynamic range and incorporates software-selectable IEPE signal conditioning for accelerometers and microphones.
The new sensor suite includes three high-accuracy accelerometers and a triaxial accelerometer that are compatible with all NI DSA devices. The accelerometers have low-impedance output signals that allow for accurate signal transmission over long cables, and their small form factor makes them easy to include in a wide variety of monitoring and test systems.
The triaxial accelerometer characterizes the acceleration of an object or device being measured in all three dimensions with a single sensor to minimize cabling at the source.
Also included in the sensor suite is a modal analysis impact hammer, a device that delivers effective measurements of stimulus signals. With this highly flexible impact hammer, engineers and scientists can measure the stimulus force for a wide range of frequencies and magnitudes required for proper object characterization.
The impact hammer, triaxial accelerometer and USB-4431 combine to form a precise
structural monitoring stimulus response test system.
Engineers and scientists can get their applications up and running quickly and efficiently with the configuration-based NI Sound and Vibration Assistant software or with more than 50 ready-to-run NI LabVIEW software example code bases provided in the NI Sound and Vibration Measurement Suite.
The software suite includes a pre-built Sound and Vibration Assistant project for impact hammer response to help engineers and scientists rapidly set up a structural test application.
The Sound and Vibration Measurement Suite also features pre-built virtual instruments (VIs) for NVH and rotating machinery vibration analysis applications so engineers and scientists can quickly set up almost any sound and vibration application.
The NI USB-4431 DSA module acquires data at rates from 1 to 102.4 kS/s, which makes it possible to obtain a wide measurement bandwidth. The combination of the USB-4431 and the new vibration sensors, which include three accelerometers, a triaxial accelerometer and an impact hammer, gives engineers and scientists a complete stimulus response system from a single vendor for seamless product integration.
The USB-4431 is a five-channel DSA module for making high-accuracy measurements from integrated electronics piezoelectric (IEPE) sensors. The module consists of four 24-bit simultaneously sampled analog input channels and one 24-bit analog output channel, which are ideal for stimulus response test systems.
The USB-4431 also works well for a wide variety of field test applications such as frequency response audio tests and suspension shaker tests due to its portability. Additionally, the module delivers 100 dB of dynamic range and incorporates software-selectable IEPE signal conditioning for accelerometers and microphones.
The new sensor suite includes three high-accuracy accelerometers and a triaxial accelerometer that are compatible with all NI DSA devices. The accelerometers have low-impedance output signals that allow for accurate signal transmission over long cables, and their small form factor makes them easy to include in a wide variety of monitoring and test systems.
The triaxial accelerometer characterizes the acceleration of an object or device being measured in all three dimensions with a single sensor to minimize cabling at the source.
Also included in the sensor suite is a modal analysis impact hammer, a device that delivers effective measurements of stimulus signals. With this highly flexible impact hammer, engineers and scientists can measure the stimulus force for a wide range of frequencies and magnitudes required for proper object characterization.
The impact hammer, triaxial accelerometer and USB-4431 combine to form a precise
structural monitoring stimulus response test system.
Engineers and scientists can get their applications up and running quickly and efficiently with the configuration-based NI Sound and Vibration Assistant software or with more than 50 ready-to-run NI LabVIEW software example code bases provided in the NI Sound and Vibration Measurement Suite.
The software suite includes a pre-built Sound and Vibration Assistant project for impact hammer response to help engineers and scientists rapidly set up a structural test application.
The Sound and Vibration Measurement Suite also features pre-built virtual instruments (VIs) for NVH and rotating machinery vibration analysis applications so engineers and scientists can quickly set up almost any sound and vibration application.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
NI intros PXI Express 2.53 GHz dual-core controller
AUSTIN, USA: National Instruments has introduced the NI PXIe-8108 high-performance embedded controller, which features an Intel Core 2 Duo T9400 processor and is designed to significantly reduce test times for PXI Express -- and CompactPCI Express-based automated test systems.
Engineers can use this 3U embedded controller in any PXI Express chassis to create a compact, high-performance PC-based platform for many test, measurement and control applications. With its 2.53GHz dual-core processor, 800MHz DDR2 memory and 1GB/s total system bandwidth, the NI PXIe-8108 is ideal for advanced RF and wireless test applications, high-throughput data acquisition systems and other applications that require intensive analysis, signal or image processing.
The NI PXIe-8108 optimizes RF and wireless test applications because measurement speed is related to the computational performance of the test system's controller. The advanced operation of the NI PXIe-8108 controller helps engineers maximize their controller investments by delivering up to a 25 percent performance improvement over similar systems based on previous-generation NI embedded controllers.
This results in significantly reduced RF and wireless test times including wireless local area network (WLAN) tests. For example, an NI WLAN Test System that incorporates the NI PXIe-8108 can deliver measurement times up to 10X faster than traditional WLAN instruments in WLAN protocol testing. Using the NI PXIe-8108, NI also has achieved similar test time reductions with other RF and wireless protocols including WiMAX, GPS, ZigBee and RFID.
NI LabVIEW graphical system design software, a development environment that inherently supports multithreaded applications, can maximize the use of the Intel Core2 Duo T9400 processor's dual cores in the NI PXIe-8108 to separate tasks into individual threads and simultaneously execute those threads. This function helps engineers take advantage of the processor's computational ability to optimize processing load and reduce test times.
Building on standard PXI industry specifications, a PXI Express system incorporating an NI PXIe-8108 embedded controller provides additional timing and synchronization features including a 100 MHz differential system clock, differential signaling and differential star triggers.
By using differential clocking and synchronization, PXI Express systems benefit from increased noise immunity for instrumentation clocks and the ability to transmit at higher frequency rates. With these features, PXI embedded controllers from National Instruments deliver advanced performance, longevity, reliability and fast system recovery.
Engineers already using PXI-based test systems easily can upgrade their embedded controllers to take advantage of the higher-performance NI PXIe-8108. Engineers using non-PXI systems can experience greater performance improvements by transitioning to a PXI solution based on the NI PXIe-8108 embedded controller.
Engineers can use this 3U embedded controller in any PXI Express chassis to create a compact, high-performance PC-based platform for many test, measurement and control applications. With its 2.53GHz dual-core processor, 800MHz DDR2 memory and 1GB/s total system bandwidth, the NI PXIe-8108 is ideal for advanced RF and wireless test applications, high-throughput data acquisition systems and other applications that require intensive analysis, signal or image processing.
The NI PXIe-8108 optimizes RF and wireless test applications because measurement speed is related to the computational performance of the test system's controller. The advanced operation of the NI PXIe-8108 controller helps engineers maximize their controller investments by delivering up to a 25 percent performance improvement over similar systems based on previous-generation NI embedded controllers.
This results in significantly reduced RF and wireless test times including wireless local area network (WLAN) tests. For example, an NI WLAN Test System that incorporates the NI PXIe-8108 can deliver measurement times up to 10X faster than traditional WLAN instruments in WLAN protocol testing. Using the NI PXIe-8108, NI also has achieved similar test time reductions with other RF and wireless protocols including WiMAX, GPS, ZigBee and RFID.
NI LabVIEW graphical system design software, a development environment that inherently supports multithreaded applications, can maximize the use of the Intel Core2 Duo T9400 processor's dual cores in the NI PXIe-8108 to separate tasks into individual threads and simultaneously execute those threads. This function helps engineers take advantage of the processor's computational ability to optimize processing load and reduce test times.
Building on standard PXI industry specifications, a PXI Express system incorporating an NI PXIe-8108 embedded controller provides additional timing and synchronization features including a 100 MHz differential system clock, differential signaling and differential star triggers.
By using differential clocking and synchronization, PXI Express systems benefit from increased noise immunity for instrumentation clocks and the ability to transmit at higher frequency rates. With these features, PXI embedded controllers from National Instruments deliver advanced performance, longevity, reliability and fast system recovery.
Engineers already using PXI-based test systems easily can upgrade their embedded controllers to take advantage of the higher-performance NI PXIe-8108. Engineers using non-PXI systems can experience greater performance improvements by transitioning to a PXI solution based on the NI PXIe-8108 embedded controller.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
PLX Gen 2 switches in NI's PXI Express high-performance chassis
SUNNYVALE, USA: PLX Technology Inc., the leading supplier of PCI Express (PCIe) switches and bridges, today announced that National Instruments, a leader of test, control, and embedded design solutions, is using PLX PCIe Gen 2 switches (three total) in its newly released NI PXIe-1082 high-performance chassis.
The NI PXIe-1082 features a high-bandwidth backplane with PXI Express lanes routed to every slot to meet a wide variety of test, measurement and control application needs.
The NI PXIe-1082 is an eight-slot chassis for PXI and PXI Express modules and the first to market using next-generation PLX PCIe switches conforming to the PCI-SIG’s PCI Express Base Specification, rev 2.0. This design represents the growing penetration of PCIe in the embedded space.
The NI PXIe-1082 is ideal for high-speed measurements, data streaming, and high-channel-density measurement solutions. The chassis also features four hybrid slots, which provide added compatibility with standard PXI and CompactPCI modules.
Additionally, the NI PXIe-1082 offers four x4 PCIe links (1 GB/s single direction per link), with one x4 link connected directly to slot 2, while the other three x4 links are connected to three the PLX switches, providing an x4 PCIe link to the six remaining peripheral slots.
The four hybrid slots on the NI PXIe-1082 are enabled by two PLX ExpressLane PEX 8612 (12 lanes, three ports) PCIe switches and one PEX 8616 (16 lanes, four ports) PCIe switch. These feature-rich switches offer the industry's lowest latency at 150ns and highest performance via its non-blocking architecture, and are capable of supporting host-centric as well as true peer-to-peer traffic.
The PLX switches also feature an on-chip non-transparent (NT) port for dual-host and failover applications, along with two on-chip Hot-Plug controllers, thus allowing designers to implement a lower-cost, simplified layout using single-chip solutions.
“National Instruments developed the next-generation NI PXIe-1082 PXI Express chassis for demanding test, measurement, and control applications,” said Patrick Webb, PXI chassis product marketing manager at National Instruments. “The PLX Gen 2 switch devices and proactive technical support team provided unique features and invaluable assistance in our efforts to design the NI PXIe-1082 chassis to our exact requirements.”
The NI PXIe-1082 features a high-bandwidth backplane with PXI Express lanes routed to every slot to meet a wide variety of test, measurement and control application needs.
The NI PXIe-1082 is an eight-slot chassis for PXI and PXI Express modules and the first to market using next-generation PLX PCIe switches conforming to the PCI-SIG’s PCI Express Base Specification, rev 2.0. This design represents the growing penetration of PCIe in the embedded space.
The NI PXIe-1082 is ideal for high-speed measurements, data streaming, and high-channel-density measurement solutions. The chassis also features four hybrid slots, which provide added compatibility with standard PXI and CompactPCI modules.
Additionally, the NI PXIe-1082 offers four x4 PCIe links (1 GB/s single direction per link), with one x4 link connected directly to slot 2, while the other three x4 links are connected to three the PLX switches, providing an x4 PCIe link to the six remaining peripheral slots.
The four hybrid slots on the NI PXIe-1082 are enabled by two PLX ExpressLane PEX 8612 (12 lanes, three ports) PCIe switches and one PEX 8616 (16 lanes, four ports) PCIe switch. These feature-rich switches offer the industry's lowest latency at 150ns and highest performance via its non-blocking architecture, and are capable of supporting host-centric as well as true peer-to-peer traffic.
The PLX switches also feature an on-chip non-transparent (NT) port for dual-host and failover applications, along with two on-chip Hot-Plug controllers, thus allowing designers to implement a lower-cost, simplified layout using single-chip solutions.
“National Instruments developed the next-generation NI PXIe-1082 PXI Express chassis for demanding test, measurement, and control applications,” said Patrick Webb, PXI chassis product marketing manager at National Instruments. “The PLX Gen 2 switch devices and proactive technical support team provided unique features and invaluable assistance in our efforts to design the NI PXIe-1082 chassis to our exact requirements.”
Friday, June 19, 2009
NI's GPS Simulation Toolkit 1.5 for LabVIEW
AUSTIN, USA: National Instruments has announced the NI GPS Simulation Toolkit 1.5 for LabVIEW, an extension of the graphical system design environment that expands the NI RF PXI platform to provide engineers a cost-efficient, high-performance solution for GPS receiver testing that exceeds the capabilities of traditional box instruments.
The latest version of the GPS Simulation Toolkit gives engineers new satellite simulation features including extended time duration of non-repeating GPS satellite signals and the ability to customize motion profiles for mobile receiver tests.
The GPS Simulation Toolkit 1.5 for LabVIEW offers engineers an easy-to-use graphical API for validating and testing GPS receivers. Using the toolkit, engineers can simulate C/A codes for up to 12 satellites in the L1 band.
The toolkit also features waveform creation tools to specify both the receiver location and velocity, and the ability to create waveforms with up to 24 hours of non-repeating GPS satellite signals, giving engineers a longer period of non-repeating simulation data than other GPS test solutions. This makes it possible for engineers to achieve extended reliability testing and superior control over signal impairments introduced during design verification testing.
The latest version of the toolkit also adds new capabilities for generating custom motion trajectories, so engineers can simulate the signals that GPS receivers capture on specific routes.
The ability to simulate these signals using software-defined instrumentation helps engineers conduct customized and repeatable tests featuring route-specific signals without performing expensive drive tests. Additionally, with the GPS Simulation Toolkit, engineers can adjust individual satellite signal powers during signal generation for dynamic range and scenario-specific tests.
The NI RF PXI platform for GPS simulation and test includes the GPS Simulation Toolkit 1.5 for LabVIEW, NI PXIe-5672/73 vector signal generator, NI 8260 in-chassis RAID hard drive, NI PXIe-8106 dual-core controller and NI PXIe-1062Q eight-slot chassis.
Engineers can store up to 45 hours of simulated GPS signals on the 1 TB NI 8260 in-chassis RAID hard drive and stream the GPS waveforms from disk using the NI PXIe-5672/73 vector signal generators for customized and repeatable GPS receiver testing.
The latest version of the GPS Simulation Toolkit gives engineers new satellite simulation features including extended time duration of non-repeating GPS satellite signals and the ability to customize motion profiles for mobile receiver tests.
The GPS Simulation Toolkit 1.5 for LabVIEW offers engineers an easy-to-use graphical API for validating and testing GPS receivers. Using the toolkit, engineers can simulate C/A codes for up to 12 satellites in the L1 band.
The toolkit also features waveform creation tools to specify both the receiver location and velocity, and the ability to create waveforms with up to 24 hours of non-repeating GPS satellite signals, giving engineers a longer period of non-repeating simulation data than other GPS test solutions. This makes it possible for engineers to achieve extended reliability testing and superior control over signal impairments introduced during design verification testing.
The latest version of the toolkit also adds new capabilities for generating custom motion trajectories, so engineers can simulate the signals that GPS receivers capture on specific routes.
The ability to simulate these signals using software-defined instrumentation helps engineers conduct customized and repeatable tests featuring route-specific signals without performing expensive drive tests. Additionally, with the GPS Simulation Toolkit, engineers can adjust individual satellite signal powers during signal generation for dynamic range and scenario-specific tests.
The NI RF PXI platform for GPS simulation and test includes the GPS Simulation Toolkit 1.5 for LabVIEW, NI PXIe-5672/73 vector signal generator, NI 8260 in-chassis RAID hard drive, NI PXIe-8106 dual-core controller and NI PXIe-1062Q eight-slot chassis.
Engineers can store up to 45 hours of simulated GPS signals on the 1 TB NI 8260 in-chassis RAID hard drive and stream the GPS waveforms from disk using the NI PXIe-5672/73 vector signal generators for customized and repeatable GPS receiver testing.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
NI's software-defined system for testing WiMAX devices
AUSTIN, USA: National Instruments has introduced the NI Measurement Suite for Fixed WiMAX (IEEE 802.16-2004), a software suite that can be used to configure software-defined PXI RF measurement systems.
With this suite, engineers can test WiMAX base stations and mobile subscriber stations as well as components such as transceivers, power amplifiers and other RFICs. Engineers can purchase the suite software alone or with preconfigured hardware bundles. Because the system builds on the NI PXI instrumentation platform, engineers who have PXI RF instruments can quickly add WiMAX capabilities to their test systems.
Additionally, by selecting specific tools from the Measurement Suite for Fixed WiMAX, engineers can work with the same equipment they use for testing WiMAX devices to test hardware that complies with other standards such as WLAN, GPS, GSM/EDGE/WCDMA and many others.
The suite's software includes the NI Signal Analysis Toolkit for Fixed WiMAX, which works with RF vector signal analyzers (VSAs), and the NI Signal Generation Toolkit for Fixed WiMAX, which works with RF vector signal generators (VSGs).
Combined with high-performance multicore processors, PXI Express-based measurement systems for WiMAX which are built on this software package can help engineers complete error vector magnitude (EVM) and spectral mask measurements two to three times faster than leading traditional box instruments.
For automated test applications, the suite offers programming APIs for signal generation and analysis in programming environments such as the NI LabVIEW graphical system design platform and LabWindows(TM)/CVI ANSI C development environment as well as ANSI C. While signal generation and measurements are compliant with IEEE 802.16-2004 (also referred to as IEEE 802.16d) specifications, engineers can use the software-based approach to customize measurements.
Since the Signal Analysis Toolkit for Fixed WiMAX provides access to both the raw I/Q data and the measurement result, engineers also can use it with RF VSAs, high-speed digitizers and digital waveform analyzers.
Besides its software toolkits, the Measurement Suite for Fixed WiMAX offers multiple software-defined hardware options to meet different application needs. A standard NI test bundle for WiMAX includes an NI PXIe-5663 6.6 GHz VSA, PXIe-5673 6.6 GHz VSG, PXIe-1075 18-slot high-bandwidth chassis and PXIe-8106 dual-core controller.
With this system, engineers can perform accurate RF characterization with residual Fixed WiMAX EVM results of -45 dB at 3.5 GHz in loopback mode. The award-winning 6.6 GHz RF instrumentation suite, including the NI PXIe-5663 and PXIe-5673, can perform a variety of RF measurements significantly faster than traditional box instruments.
For example, WLAN EVM and spectral mask measurements can be performed up to 10 times faster than traditional box instruments. Additionally, the same system can achieve WCDMA EVM and ACLR measurements five to 10 times faster than traditional boxes.
With this suite, engineers can test WiMAX base stations and mobile subscriber stations as well as components such as transceivers, power amplifiers and other RFICs. Engineers can purchase the suite software alone or with preconfigured hardware bundles. Because the system builds on the NI PXI instrumentation platform, engineers who have PXI RF instruments can quickly add WiMAX capabilities to their test systems.
Additionally, by selecting specific tools from the Measurement Suite for Fixed WiMAX, engineers can work with the same equipment they use for testing WiMAX devices to test hardware that complies with other standards such as WLAN, GPS, GSM/EDGE/WCDMA and many others.
The suite's software includes the NI Signal Analysis Toolkit for Fixed WiMAX, which works with RF vector signal analyzers (VSAs), and the NI Signal Generation Toolkit for Fixed WiMAX, which works with RF vector signal generators (VSGs).
Combined with high-performance multicore processors, PXI Express-based measurement systems for WiMAX which are built on this software package can help engineers complete error vector magnitude (EVM) and spectral mask measurements two to three times faster than leading traditional box instruments.
For automated test applications, the suite offers programming APIs for signal generation and analysis in programming environments such as the NI LabVIEW graphical system design platform and LabWindows(TM)/CVI ANSI C development environment as well as ANSI C. While signal generation and measurements are compliant with IEEE 802.16-2004 (also referred to as IEEE 802.16d) specifications, engineers can use the software-based approach to customize measurements.
Since the Signal Analysis Toolkit for Fixed WiMAX provides access to both the raw I/Q data and the measurement result, engineers also can use it with RF VSAs, high-speed digitizers and digital waveform analyzers.
Besides its software toolkits, the Measurement Suite for Fixed WiMAX offers multiple software-defined hardware options to meet different application needs. A standard NI test bundle for WiMAX includes an NI PXIe-5663 6.6 GHz VSA, PXIe-5673 6.6 GHz VSG, PXIe-1075 18-slot high-bandwidth chassis and PXIe-8106 dual-core controller.
With this system, engineers can perform accurate RF characterization with residual Fixed WiMAX EVM results of -45 dB at 3.5 GHz in loopback mode. The award-winning 6.6 GHz RF instrumentation suite, including the NI PXIe-5663 and PXIe-5673, can perform a variety of RF measurements significantly faster than traditional box instruments.
For example, WLAN EVM and spectral mask measurements can be performed up to 10 times faster than traditional box instruments. Additionally, the same system can achieve WCDMA EVM and ACLR measurements five to 10 times faster than traditional boxes.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
NI LabVIEW provides off-the-shelf EPICS integration
AUSTIN, USA: National Instruments (NI) announced that the NI LabVIEW graphical system design platform now integrates with the Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System (EPICS) input/output controller (IOC), which is used in the control systems of particle accelerators, tokamak fusion devices and other big physics applications.
With LabVIEW EPICS IOC integration, engineers and scientists can use LabVIEW as a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) solution for integrating industrial control and data acquisition hardware, a task that previously required custom driver development.
Since the EPICS set of open-source control system applications has become a de facto standard for particle physics experimentation systems throughout the United States and other countries, National Instruments has been collaborating with experts in the field to improve hardware integration for these applications.
NI engineers worked with Slovenia-based Cosylab, a National Instruments Alliance Partner and provider of turnkey particle accelerator control systems, to implement an interface between LabVIEW and the EPICS IOC on embedded hardware for the linear accelerator project at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE) in New Mexico.
The solution, based on the Wind River VxWorks real-time operating system, incorporated the NI CompactRIO programmable automation controller and demonstrated that, with LabVIEW EPICS IOC integration, EPICS can run simultaneously with the LabVIEW Real-Time Module to interface with I/O that is based on field-programmable gate array (FPGA) technology for high-speed data acquisition and control.
"With LabVIEW integration for EPICS, scientists and engineers can use the latest COTS hardware, such as NI CompactRIO and PXI instrumentation, for the variety of advanced control and data acquisition needs associated with experimental physics applications," said Dr. James Truchard, president, CEO and cofounder of National Instruments and former physicist at Applied Research Laboratories of The University of Texas at Austin. "We are continuing to expand the ways we integrate LabVIEW with EPICS, with the end goal being high-performance flexibility that simplifies sophisticated tasks. With the advanced features available through commercial hardware and software, we can help physicists and engineers focus on performing their experiments rather than spending time developing custom hardware and drivers."
CompactRIO offers an embedded hardware platform that features FPGA-based I/O. With FPGA technology, systems become inherently parallel, efficient and reliable, which makes FPGA-based hardware valuable for critical systems, such as those in particle accelerators. Additionally, scientists can program FPGAs using LabVIEW for enhanced system flexibility.
The results that LabVIEW EPICS IOC integration delivers can be used for a variety of advanced applications that require a simplified means by which physicists can integrate all hardware instruments within their accelerators and other devices. The LabVIEW EPICS solution is ideal for streamlining the control of tokamaks and accelerators because it reduces the need for time-intensive hardware development and custom driver implementation.
With LabVIEW EPICS IOC integration, engineers and scientists can use LabVIEW as a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) solution for integrating industrial control and data acquisition hardware, a task that previously required custom driver development.
Since the EPICS set of open-source control system applications has become a de facto standard for particle physics experimentation systems throughout the United States and other countries, National Instruments has been collaborating with experts in the field to improve hardware integration for these applications.
NI engineers worked with Slovenia-based Cosylab, a National Instruments Alliance Partner and provider of turnkey particle accelerator control systems, to implement an interface between LabVIEW and the EPICS IOC on embedded hardware for the linear accelerator project at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE) in New Mexico.
The solution, based on the Wind River VxWorks real-time operating system, incorporated the NI CompactRIO programmable automation controller and demonstrated that, with LabVIEW EPICS IOC integration, EPICS can run simultaneously with the LabVIEW Real-Time Module to interface with I/O that is based on field-programmable gate array (FPGA) technology for high-speed data acquisition and control.
"With LabVIEW integration for EPICS, scientists and engineers can use the latest COTS hardware, such as NI CompactRIO and PXI instrumentation, for the variety of advanced control and data acquisition needs associated with experimental physics applications," said Dr. James Truchard, president, CEO and cofounder of National Instruments and former physicist at Applied Research Laboratories of The University of Texas at Austin. "We are continuing to expand the ways we integrate LabVIEW with EPICS, with the end goal being high-performance flexibility that simplifies sophisticated tasks. With the advanced features available through commercial hardware and software, we can help physicists and engineers focus on performing their experiments rather than spending time developing custom hardware and drivers."
CompactRIO offers an embedded hardware platform that features FPGA-based I/O. With FPGA technology, systems become inherently parallel, efficient and reliable, which makes FPGA-based hardware valuable for critical systems, such as those in particle accelerators. Additionally, scientists can program FPGAs using LabVIEW for enhanced system flexibility.
The results that LabVIEW EPICS IOC integration delivers can be used for a variety of advanced applications that require a simplified means by which physicists can integrate all hardware instruments within their accelerators and other devices. The LabVIEW EPICS solution is ideal for streamlining the control of tokamaks and accelerators because it reduces the need for time-intensive hardware development and custom driver implementation.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
NI intros PXI Express reconfigurable IF transceiver
AUSTIN, USA: National Instruments announced the NI PXIe-5641R RIO IF transceiver, the company's most recent device for RF test.
The NI PXIe-5641R is a dual-input, dual-output module that combines an intermediate frequency (IF) transceiver with reconfigurable I/O (RIO) capability using a Xilinx Virtex-5 SX95T field-programmable gate array (FPGA) and PXI Express technology.
With this new module, engineers can take advantage of the flexibility of the NI LabVIEW FPGA Module and the performance of PXI Express for applications such as RF test, software-defined radio, signal intelligence and communication system design.
With the NI PXIe-5641R IF transceiver, engineers have the ability to incorporate customized, real-time RF stimulus and response into their test, measurement and communication systems through user-programmable FPGAs on RIO hardware. The test hardware then becomes protocol-aware, dynamically changing measurements and stimuli based on the response of the device under test.
Protocol-aware or real-time test is beneficial in applications such as RFID tag testing, cellular base station emulation or any hardware-in-the-loop RF testing. For communications applications such as software-defined radio and signal intelligence, engineers can use FPGAs to prototype and implement new communication standards and perform real-time signal analysis and event detection.
The NI PXIe-5641R has two 14-bit, 100 MS/s analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) with built-in 20 MHz bandwidth digital downconverters (DDCs), and two 14-bit, 200 MS/s digital-to-analog converters (DACs) with built-in 20 MHz bandwidth digital upconverters (DUCs).
Because of these NI RF upconverters and downconverters, the NI PXIe-5641R can support RF frequencies up to 2.7 GHz, making the module ideal for spectral monitoring and signal intelligence as well as real-time RF test. Engineers can take full advantage of the NI PXIe-5641R by using the LabVIEW FPGA Module, which extends the LabVIEW graphical development environment to target NI RIO hardware.
The NI PXIe-5641R is a dual-input, dual-output module that combines an intermediate frequency (IF) transceiver with reconfigurable I/O (RIO) capability using a Xilinx Virtex-5 SX95T field-programmable gate array (FPGA) and PXI Express technology.
With this new module, engineers can take advantage of the flexibility of the NI LabVIEW FPGA Module and the performance of PXI Express for applications such as RF test, software-defined radio, signal intelligence and communication system design.
With the NI PXIe-5641R IF transceiver, engineers have the ability to incorporate customized, real-time RF stimulus and response into their test, measurement and communication systems through user-programmable FPGAs on RIO hardware. The test hardware then becomes protocol-aware, dynamically changing measurements and stimuli based on the response of the device under test.
Protocol-aware or real-time test is beneficial in applications such as RFID tag testing, cellular base station emulation or any hardware-in-the-loop RF testing. For communications applications such as software-defined radio and signal intelligence, engineers can use FPGAs to prototype and implement new communication standards and perform real-time signal analysis and event detection.
The NI PXIe-5641R has two 14-bit, 100 MS/s analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) with built-in 20 MHz bandwidth digital downconverters (DDCs), and two 14-bit, 200 MS/s digital-to-analog converters (DACs) with built-in 20 MHz bandwidth digital upconverters (DUCs).
Because of these NI RF upconverters and downconverters, the NI PXIe-5641R can support RF frequencies up to 2.7 GHz, making the module ideal for spectral monitoring and signal intelligence as well as real-time RF test. Engineers can take full advantage of the NI PXIe-5641R by using the LabVIEW FPGA Module, which extends the LabVIEW graphical development environment to target NI RIO hardware.
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