PXI Express digitiser delivers higher performance

Dr James Truchard, President, CEO and co-founder of National Instruments, comments: "National Instruments is excited to work with Tektronix and bring their core signal acquisition technology to the PXI platform. 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 have delivered in this platform to date."

While National Instruments and Tektronix have collaborated on various projects for more than 20 years, the digitiser 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 Synchronisation 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 synchronisation capability for building high-channel-count and integrated test systems.

Amir Aghdaei, President of Tektronix, states: "Tektronix' co-innovation with National Instruments on this performance-leading digitiser is yet another example of our continued technology leadership and commitment to innovation. As the industry leader, we remain focused on delivering solutions that address the critical test and measurement needs of our customers."

High measurement throughput

As part of the NI PXI platform, the new digitiser 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 digitisers into test systems comprising any of the more than 1500 instruments available for the PXI platform, ranging from precision DC to RF. The new digitiser will integrate with other PXI instruments and NI LabVIEW software for instrument control and automation, NI LabWindowsTM/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 digitiser will be available from National Instruments in 2010, with lead user engagements continuing through the end of 2009. For more information on the National Instruments and Tektronix relationship, go to www.ni.com/tek or use the form on this page to request a callback or more information.