I’m at the National Instruments users conference this week in Austin, Texas, better known as NI Week. One of the key announcements made here by NI is the introduction of an RF vector signal transceiver (VST). According to the company, it’s the first of its kind.
While announcing the new piece of equipment, Jeff Kodosky, NI’s co-founder and technology fellow, made some interesting statements. I’m sure some of you would take issue with what he had to say: “Instrumentation hasn’t changed much since the 1970s. It hasn’t followed Moore’s law, and frankly, it’s embarrassing.”
Kodosky claimed that the new VST provides a paradigm shift in instrumentation, and a step function in productivity.
Charles Schroeder, NI’s director of test marketing, said that the company is taking a completely new approach to instrumentation for wireless devices. The PXIe-5644R RF VST combines a vector signal generator and vector signal analyzer with a user-programmable FPGA into one PXI modular instrument. The device makes measurements more than 10 times faster than comparable solutions while consuming less than 60W.
Using a software-centric architecture, the VST supports all the latest wireless and cellular standards, such as 802.11ac and LTE. This approach lets engineers use NI’s LabVIEW to tailor open FPGA-based hardware for their specific needs.
Features of the PXI-5644R include up to 6.0GHz frequency coverage and 80MHz instantaneous RF bandwidth. It can expand to support multiple-input/multiple-output (MIMO) configurations or parallel testing. In addition, the tool is squeezed into a package that fit in Schroder’s hand during the announcement. Hence, up to five I/O channels can be housed in a chassis.
Get another take on the new instrument form National Instruments.
Rich, you mention the power consumption of the device. I find that interesting. Considering that power costs about $0.10 per kWhr, doubling that consumption is really just pocket change (or really a rounding error). I wonder how much effort they put into getting down to that consumption. Considering the cost of such devices, this is less than insignificant. This is not meant to be a criticism of you or the article, or NI. I just mean it as an observation on power consumption in general, and our facination with it where it really does not matter.
I see your point. But there are others tings that come into play (I think). For example, if you stack five of them together in a chassis, the heat reduction is somewhat significant, thereby reducing the need for fans constantly running, thereby lowing the noise.
I was anticipating what would come out of the aqusition of ettus research. NI has held up to what they said in the beginning, that they will stay out their business but release there own devices using the technology ettus developed. Looks good thus far. I am excited to see what will be coming down the pipe next, merging these minds together for the better.
The other issue with power usage, besides the $/KWH is the power source. If this is going into a factory where you are just grabbing the power from the utility line, that's one thing. However, if you are using wireless because the process you want to monitor is remote or mobile or a small independent installation, the power source itself becomes more important.
Since they are calling it open FPGA and one of the mission goals of open FPGA is "To define develop, and promote the use of open standards for communication between application programs and FPGA technologies," I wonder if programming with NI's VST is proprietary to Lab View or will it be able to utilize other software platforms...
As energy efficiency becomes more and more a concern for makers of electronics devices, researchers are coming up with new ways to harvest energy from sound vibration, footsteps, and even electromagnetic fields in the air.
The government wants to study your brain, and DARPA wants to use similar information to give robots true autonomy beyond any artificial intelligence developed to date. Sound like science fiction? It's not.
By refining topologies and using new fluid technology, Moog's new peak sine drive controller increases available power without increasing controller volume.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 3
Early in my career, I worked as a draftsman and remember the days of drawing on vellum with numbered pencils and Mylar with plastic lead. This was a fun experience in the sense that I ...
I've been using workstations for more than 10 years and love finding ways to get more performance from my system. With demanding professional applications that require more power each ...
A lasting memory from my first job as an engineer in an auto assembly plant is standing on hard concrete at six in the morning, vending-machine coffee clutched in hand, listening to ...
A quick look into the merger of two powerhouse 3D printing OEMs and the new leader in rapid prototyping solutions, Stratasys. The industrial revolution is now led by 3D printing and engineers are given the opportunity to fully maximize their design capabilities, reduce their time-to-market and functionally test prototypes cheaper, faster and easier. Bruce Bradshaw, Director of Marketing in North America, will explore the large product offering and variety of materials that will help CAD designers articulate their product design with actual, physical prototypes. This broadcast will dive deep into technical information including application specific stories from real world customers and their experiences with 3D printing. 3D Printing is
To save this item to your list of favorite Design News content so you can find it later in your Profile page, click the "Save It" button next to the item.
If you found this interesting or useful, please use the links to the services below to share it with other readers. You will need a free account with each service to share an item via that service.
Tweet This
8 
