NI debuts 6-GHz PXI VNA plus DAQ systems

Vector network analyzer supports automated test; DAQ systems use Ethernet, USB

Rick Nelson, Chief Editor -- Test & Measurement World, 8/9/2010 12:14:27 PM

At NIWeek 2010, National Instruments complemented its release of LabView 2010 with the introduction of a VNA (vector network analyzer) as well as Ethernet and USB data-acquisition systems.

The new NI PXIe-5630 6-GHz 2-port VNA, in the PXI form factor, targets automated design validation and production test. Its 2-slot PXI footprint enables test engineers to incorporate vector network analysis into their test systems without the added cost and large footprint of traditional bench-top VNAs.

The NI PXIe-5630 is optimized for automated test with a feature set including automatic precision calibration, full vector analysis on both ports, reference-plane extensions, and a flexible LabView API that supports parallel test. The VNA features a frequency range of 10 MHz to 6 GHz, a dynamic range of greater than 110 dB, and sweep speeds of less than 400 µs/point over 3,201 points. In addition, because of its PXI configuration, engineers can combine up to eight NI PXIe-5630 modules in a single PXI chassis and perform multisite RF test.

Engineers can control the NI PXIe-5630 interactively using its full-featured soft front panel, or programmatically using APIs for NI LabVIEW software and NI LabWindows/CVI ANSI C development environments. Both APIs are optimized for multicore processing to facilitate parallel test of multiple RF components, which provides a significant throughput advantage over sequential, switched testing.

 "The 6 GHz VNA demonstrates our continued investment in delivering RF solutions that help engineers increase test accuracy and throughput while reducing setup cost, size and complexity," said Phil Hester, senior VP of research and development at National Instruments. "We are proud to add this VNA to our already strong and growing RF portfolio of PXI modular instruments."

The VNA will be available in October. Base price is from $25,999.

New data-acquisition systems

National Instruments also announced the new Ethernet-based NI CompactDAQ modular data-acquisition system. The new NI cDAQ-9188 chassis is designed to hold eight I/O modules for measuring up to 256 channels of electrical, physical, mechanical, or acoustic signals in a small (25 by 9 by 9 cm), rugged form factor. With more than 50 different I/O modules to choose from, engineers and scientists can build remote or distributed, high-speed measurement systems using standard Gigabit Ethernet infrastructure. In addition, NI CompactDAQ simplifies initial setup with zero configuration networking technology and a built-in, Web-based configuration and monitoring utility.

Randy Recob, senior test engineer at Sub-Zero, said, "We chose NI CompactDAQ because of the flexibility offered by a diverse set of I/O modules and the scalability of Ethernet infrastructure. The flexibility of Ethernet allows us to more easily standardize our test systems by eliminating many of the physical constraints required by more traditional PC interfaces."

NI CompactDAQ uses patented NI Signal Streaming technology, which provides the ability to maintain bidirectional analog and digital waveforms continuously over a TCP/IP connection. With NI-STC3 timing and synchronization technology, each chassis also can manage up to seven separate hardware-timed I/O tasks at different sample rates, including analog I/O, digital I/O, and counter/timer operations. The chassis operate in a temperature range of -20 to 55 degrees Celsius and can withstand up to 30 g shock and 3 g vibration. Base price is $1399.

The company also introduced its NI X Series multifunction data-acquisition devices for USB. USB X Series devices integrate high-performance analog measurement and control channels, digital I/O, and counter/timers onto a single plug-and-play device, which engineers and scientists can use for a wide variety of portable test, measurement, and data-logging applications. USB X Series DAQ devices include up to 32 analog inputs, four analog outputs, 48 digital I/O lines, and four counters. The eight new devices range from 500 ksample/s multiplexed analog inputs to 2 Msample/s/channel simultaneous sampling analog inputs. Base price is $1149.

See related article, "NI Extends LabView FPGA and C Series I/O chassis: Three new reconfigurable I/O (RIO) chassis deliver C Series to high-speed cabled and wireless buses."