Newbury, Berkshire: Leveraging an Intel CoreTM2 Duo T9400 processor, National Instruments’ PXIe- 8108 high-performance embedded controller cuts test times for PXI Express and CompactPCI Expressbased automated test systems.
Engineers can use this 3U embedded controller in any PXI Express chassis to create a compact, highperformance PC-based platform for many test, measurement, and control applications. With its 2.53GHz dual-core processor, 800MHz DDR2 memory and 1GB/s total system bandwidth, the NI PXIe-8108 is suited for advanced RF and wireless test applications, high-throughput dataacquisition systems, and other applications that require intensive analysis, signal, or image processing.
The controller optimises RF and wireless test applications because measurement speed is related to the computational performance of the test system’s controller. Advanced operation of the NI PXIe-8108 controller helps engineers maximise their controller investments by boosting performance 25% over similar systems based on previous-generation NI embedded controllers. This results in reduced RF and wireless test times, including wireless localarea- network (WLAN) tests.
For example, an NI WLAN Test System that incorporates the NI PXIe-8108 can deliver measurement times up to 10X faster than traditional WLAN instruments in WLAN protocol testing. Using the NI PXIe- 8108, NI also achieved similar test time reductions with other RF and wireless protocols, including WiMAX, GPS, ZigBee, and RFID.
NI’s LabVIEW graphical system design software can maximise use of the T9400 dual cores in the NI PXIe-8108 to separate tasks into individual threads and simultaneously execute those threads. This functionality leads to better optimised processing load and reduced test times.