NI FlexRIO Product Family Expands Capabilities of FPGA-Enabled Instruments for Real-Time Test Applications
New Third-Party and NI FlexRIO Adapter Modules Enhance Radio Prototyping, Signal Intelligence and Vision Inspection Systems
AUSTIN, Texas, July 27, 2009 / -- National Instruments (NASDAQ:NATI) today 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 field-programmable gate array (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.
Readers can learn more about NI FlexRIO adapter modules by visiting http://www.ni.com/flexrio.
About National Instruments
National Instruments (www.ni.com) is transforming the way engineers and scientists design, prototype and deploy systems for measurement, automation and embedded applications. NI empowers customers with off-the-shelf software such as NI LabVIEW and modular cost-effective hardware, and sells to a broad base of more than 30,000 different companies worldwide, with no one customer representing more than 3 percent of revenue and no one industry representing more than 15 percent of revenue. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, NI has more than 5,000 employees and direct operations in more than 40 countries. For the past 10 years, FORTUNE magazine has named NI one of the 100 best companies to work for in America. Readers can obtain investment information from the company's investor relations department by calling (512) 683-5090, e-mailing nati@ni.com or visiting http://www.ni.com/nati.
Pricing and Contact Information
NI 6581 high-speed digital adapter 11500 N Mopac Expwy, Austin, Texas
module 78759-3504
Priced* from $999; euro 929; Tel: (800) 258-7022,
147,000 yen Fax: (512) 683-9300
NI 6585 200 MHz LVDS digital E-mail: info@ni.com
adapter module
Priced* from $999; euro 929;
147,000 yen
NI PXI-795xR FPGA modules for NI
FlexRIO
Priced* from $2,999; euro 2,749;
441,000 yen
NI FlexRIO Adapter Module Development
Kit
Priced* from $4,999; euro 4,549;
735,000 yen
Web: http://www.ni.com/flexrio
*All prices are subject to change without notice.
LabVIEW, National Instruments, National Instruments Alliance Partner, NI, ni.com and NI FlexRIO are trademarks of National Instruments. Other product and company names listed are trademarks or trade names of their respective companies.
A National Instruments Alliance Partner is a business entity independent from National Instruments and has no agency, partnership or joint-venture relationship with National Instruments.
Reader Contact: Ernest Martinez, (800) 258-7022
Web Site: http://www.ni.com/
