National Instruments has introduced two new 32-channel PXI Express-based digital instruments and a new eight-slot high-bandwidth PXI Express 3U chassis for automated test applications.
The company said that its new PXIe-6544/45 selectable-voltage digital waveform generator/analysers optimise test applications by supporting clock rates of up to 100 and 200MHz, respectively. Also, its PXIe-6545 provides streaming rates of 660MB/s.
According to the company, the new digital instruments allow test engineers to conduct analysis of high-speed semiconductor devices and high-definition (HD) multimedia components that require rapid transfers of large amounts of data to and from host memory.
Its new PXIe-1082 chassis, with seven PXI Express peripheral slots, is expected to complement the generator/analysers with up to 1GB/s per-slot bandwidth and up to 4GB/s of total system bandwidth. This chassis reportedly offers an operating temperature range of 0 to 50 degrees Celsius and provides system monitoring features, including power management, fan health and temperature monitoring, for the entire chassis.
Eric Starkloff, vice president of test marketing for National Instruments, said: These new instruments expand National Instruments PXI digital test capabilities to provide the performance and flexibility needed to test faster semiconductor chips and multimedia devices requiring high data transfer rates. These PXI Express products will further advance the shift toward more cost-effective test solutions based on the open, off-the-shelf PXI instrumentation standard instead of traditional proprietary solutions.
With the new PXIe-6545 generator/analyser and the new chassis, engineers can perform characterisation and production tests using compact, software-defined modular instrumentation. In addition, the data throughput capabilities of the new offerings are suited for testing various multimedia devices as well, including HDTV signals up to 1080p at 60Hz, LCD screens, RF baseband devices and HD radio.
Additionally, the company stated that its PXIe-6544/45 modules include enhanced timing and synchronisation features, such as, an onboard direct digital synthesis (DDS) clock that provides subhertz resolution ranging from DC to 200 MHz. This is expected to help engineers’ clock data generation and acquisition with higher resolution without using an external clock, eliminating the need for an additional high-resolution clocking device and external timing cables.
