Wireless PXI?

Richard A. Quinnell, Technical Editor -- Test & Measurement World, 9/1/2007 2:00:00 AM

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With just about everything going wireless, I've started wondering when PXI will join the parade. A wireless link to an instrument module certainly seems to hold promise. Eliminating wires can help prevent ground loops, inductively coupled EMI, and common-mode noise while providing high-voltage isolation and eliminating the need for connector accessibility. The move would also stimulate development of unforeseen applications.

But PXI is more than just a data bus. The synchronization and trigger buses, or at least their functional equivalent, would also have to be made wireless. And timing is much harder to control in a wireless connection.

Wireless connections have many undesirable attributes as cable replacements. One concern is the variability of signal-propagation time. Cables and backplane traces have fixed and predictable lengths, but wireless links can be any size up to the radio's range limit. Be-cause the speed of light is around a nanosecond per foot, even movements of a few inches can have a significant impact on system timing. Any wireless PXI proposal will need to provide a means for calibrating or constraining timing signal-propagation times or find a way to eliminate the effects of variable signal paths.

Other challenges exist with wireless links, including providing data security, handling interference and signal loss, and dealing with multiple, simultaneous signals. But challenge is what engineers thrive on. Is wireless PXI worth the effort?

Update: Eric Starkloff and Richard McDonell of National Instruments have a response, posted in Eric's blog: www.automatedtestblog.com.

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Wireless PXI would be great, we spend alot of money and time on wired test cables.

allen - 2007-27-9 14:23:00 EDT
This is a very interesting topic. I responded to this topic on my blog, located at:

www.automatedtestblog.com

Eric Starkloff - 2007-25-9 08:49:00 EDT

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