National Instruments Integrates Analog Devices' ADIsimADC Converter Models in SignalExpress for Component Simulation and Evaluation
Engineers Now Can Simulate and Physically Evaluate ADI's Analog-to-Digital Converters with NI SignalExpress
NEWS RELEASE - NIWeek - Aug. 15, 2005 - National Instruments today announced that it now integrates Analog Devices' ADIsimADC analog-to-digital converter (ADC) modeling software with NI SignalExpress to provide engineers with a virtual benchtop for device simulation and evaluation. With these tools, engineers can take advantage of a seamless transition between simulating and physically evaluating a component signal chain to verify real-world performance against simulation results.
In the past, engineers seeking new components spent one or more weeks reviewing data sheets and converter samples to select the correct chips for their designs. With ADIsimADC and SignalExpress, mixed-signal design engineers can reach their design milestones more quickly by accurately simulating and verifying converter performance to select the most effective converters for their designs. These tools help engineers reduce time spent selecting and evaluating converters from a scale of weeks to days.
"Analog Devices and National Instruments have worked together to deliver a solution for comprehensively assessing ADI converter performance quickly through NI SignalExpress software," said Brad Brannon, systems applications engineer in the High Speed Converter group at Analog Devices. "With SignalExpress, engineers can define complex signal inputs for our ADC models. This is particularly useful for simulating the performance of ADCs in cellular CDMA and OFDM wireless data transfer applications."
NI SignalExpress is an interactive software environment that provides a virtual benchtop for acquiring, comparing, automating and storing measurements from stand-alone and PC-based instruments. With SignalExpress, engineers can quickly and easily take mixed-signal measurements to characterize and validate their prototypes without programming. By integrating ADIsimADC with SignalExpress, engineers can apply custom inputs to the models and perform interactive signal chain analysis on a large selection of ADI's ADCs.
"Reviewing data sheets and setting up evaluation boards in the lab occupies priceless time in the design cycle," said Richard McDonell, senior product manager at National Instruments. "In fact, design teams often avoid updating their existing designs with higher-performance and more cost-effective components because of the time required for evaluating and selecting new converters. The ADIsimADC converter modeling capabilities in NI SignalExpress give engineers the ability to more accurately and fully characterize components for their new and updated designs."
With the virtual evaluation board and virtual benchtop capabilities of SignalExpress and ADIsimADC, engineers can go from simulation to prototyping with minimal or no time spent characterizing physical evaluation boards. This helps engineers eliminate a step in the product development process, resulting in a shorter time to market with minimal risk.
Engineers can access the free ADIsimADC plug-in for SignalExpress by visiting www.ni.com/signalexpress. To obtain more information about ADIsimADC, designers can visit www.analog.com/ADIsimADC.
About National Instruments
National Instruments (www.ni.com) is a technology pioneer and leader in virtual instrumentation - a revolutionary concept that has changed the way engineers and scientists in industry, government and academia approach measurement and automation. Leveraging PCs and commercial technologies, virtual instrumentation increases productivity and lowers costs for test, control and design applications through easy-to-integrate software, such as NI LabVIEW, and modular measurement and control hardware for PXI, PCI, USB and Ethernet. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, NI has more than 3,600 employees and direct operations in nearly 40 countries. In 2004, the company sold products to more than 25,000 companies in 90 countries. For the past six years, FORTUNE magazine has named NI one of the 100 best companies to work for in America.
