The Automated Test Blog

One the biggest signs of success factors of PXI has been the increased adoption by major test and measurement vendors. Even though at times they have been hesitant to wholeheartedly support the PXI standard, Agilent, has several product lines in PXI:

•  A line of PXI-based high performance signal generators (N6030A)
• PXI digitizer modules, from their acquisition of Acqiris
• PXI Optical test instruments, form their acquisition of PXIT

Last week, Agilent released new PXI modules in their optical test product line. Their press release notes that the modules offer their customers “a smaller, faster, more cost-effective solution” – precisely the primary benefits of the PXI platform.

I came across this blog today, from a Lockheed Martin engineer that attended NI Week last week. As usual, I can’t say it any better that our users! Enjoy.

Last week was National Instrument’s annual user conference, NI Week. It has become more of a whirlwind every year, and this year set a new bar: over 2500 customers, plus members of the trade press, investors, university professors, partners, and NI employees. I’m still digesting all the feedback and takeaways, but here was my overriding impression: over the past few years, the sophistication of applications that our users have accomplished with NI tools has grown remarkably. I recall judging our application paper contest just a few years ago in the communication category and all the applications submitted were fairly straightforward GPIB-controlled test applications. Today, NI hardware and software are being used in research labs to prototype the latest communication standards, in RF chip validation testers, and in high volume production test of wireless devices. During the NI Week keynotes, we showed leading edge applications of virtual instrumentation, including a ‘mind controlled wheelchair’, a Boeing 787 audio flyover test system, multichannel video streaming, and a cryogenic medical device – all applications of LabVIEW. It really is amazing what our users our accomplishing with our tools.