Some recent events in the test and measurement instrument market seem to suggest that the industry has entered a new phase. The first thing to mention is Agilent Technologies, although the company once thought that PXI was not the future trend of test and measurement technology, but it launched two acquisitions (Acqiris and PXIT) for the technology solution provider at the end of 2006, and in 2007 The PXI Alliance was announced at the end of March.
Also worthy of note is Tektronix. With the assistance of National Instruments, this oscilloscope leader used the interactive measurement software provided by NI in its TDS1000B, TDS2000B, and DPO4000 series digital storage oscilloscopes to help engineers easily work on the PC. Connect and control the Tektronix instrument. In addition, test equipment supplier Keithley also complied with the trend, in December 2006 launched a line of products that meet the PXI standard.
The above examples show that software-centric and modular I/O hardware has gradually become a trend in the test and measurement instrument industry, and this is exactly the virtual instrument technology (VI) that NI has been promoting. “This shows the correctness of the path that NI has followed for 30 years.†Ms. Zhu Jun, NI China Marketing Manager, met with industry media in Shanghai and said, “When NI proposed the concept of 'virtual instrument technology', many people were We don't think it can be a mainstream technology, but what we see today is that VI has not only become the direction of development of the test and measurement industry, but also obviously, the test and measurement industry has entered the era of Instrumentation 2.0."
Instrumenation 2.0 borrows the notion of web 2.0, which has been very popular recently, and highlights the user's control of data and the strong demand for customization.
With software as the center, modular hardware has added as many new features to the product as possible in the shortest possible time, which seems to have become the biggest challenge facing electronic systems design engineers. The test system must closely follow the development of the product technology to be tested, but the increased complexity of the system under test and the requirement for test time make traditional test technologies increasingly incapable of satisfying “excessive†test requirements. With traditional measuring instrument technology, engineers have only two options: either develop a dedicated test solution for the product or use a universal test instrument. However, proprietary systems are expensive, and general-purpose instruments are difficult to meet test requirements.
"Compatible with the advantages of the above two solutions, software-centric systems have opened a new era. This approach provides design and test engineers with the fastest, most cost-effective way to create their own custom instrumentation systems." Zhu Jun said, "It is Instrument Technology 2.0."
In simple terms, Instrumentation 2.0 is relative to the 1.0 era in which hardware and software are used to implement test and measurement. In the latter approach, the hardware itself and its analysis capabilities are defined by the instrument supplier. Customization can only be a fantasy - even if the instrument is connected to a PC, the transmitted information is also a vendor-defined test result, and the user cannot obtain the measured raw data for custom analysis. The 2.0 approach is completely different. After obtaining real-time raw data, engineers can use the software to design their own user interface and customize measurement tasks to obtain the desired analysis results.
Software-centricity does not mean that hardware is insignificant. Only high-quality digitization and rapid transmission of data can truly enable accurate analysis on software platforms. The rapid development of modular I/O hardware technology provides a reliable guarantee for data acquisition. Engineers can use universal modular hardware to build test systems. "Instrument technology 2.0 gives them more autonomy and flexibility than traditional instrumentation technology - on a powerful application software platform, select the hardware that meets the needs, and you can achieve more scalable testing capabilities." Zhu Jun said.
Zhu Jun said that Instrument Technology 2.0 includes the following essential elements: custom testing, real-time data transmission, custom interface, modular hardware, and connectivity between the instrument and the PC.
"These factors are already very common." She pointed out that this is why the other vendors mentioned in the beginning of this article have started to get involved in technologies such as software and PXI.
Instrument Technology 1.0 and Instrument Technology 2.0 compare the components and necessary elements. The concept of virtual instrument technology has been widely recognized and adopted in the market, and the factors that drive its progress are still evolving.
Therefore, of course, virtual instrument technology will continue to gain new leaps: hardware, data converters (ADCs), data bus/bus architectures, and processor technology have contributed; In software, the LabVIEW graphical programming environment has become increasingly The most common application tool.
First look at the ADC. In the past, engineers needed to design their own dedicated ASICs or off-the-shelf high-performance ADCs. However, it is clear that the cost of ASIC solutions is relatively high for the relatively small number of test and measurement industries. As ADCs continue to enter more fields of application, semiconductor suppliers have made great advances in this technology. Today, ADCs not only provide sufficient performance, but also have low-cost advantages due to mass production.
Followed by bus technology. In fact, many bus technologies have "double high issues" - while providing high bandwidth, the delay time is also high. Unfortunately, delays that are often overlooked in most cases can have a direct effect on some test applications, affecting the speed of the instructions between bus nodes. In addition, various busses still have a wide variety of requirements. For example, Gigabit Ethernet has high transmission speeds, but each change requires rewriting software; GPIB does not have such trouble, but it needs to purchase a controller... and so on. "This makes the PCI/PXI bus with outstanding performance in both bandwidth and latency be able to win easily - the widespread adoption of the PC industry has already demonstrated the superiority of this technology." Zhu Jun said.
Multi-core processor technology is also a booster for the development of instrument technology. As a computing carrier for application software, the processor has become the core device of the next-generation instrument technology. The competition between AMD and Intel's two major processor vendors has made processor performance continue to move steadily along Moore's Law. Intel also announced plans to launch an 80-core processor in 2011, which will provide trillions of octets of computing performance. Obviously, the future of processors is multi-core.
Zhu Jun pointed out that compared with the 1.0 method, the instrument technology 2.0 method has very high requirements for software. In order to fully integrate the above hardware technologies, a powerful application software must meet the following requirements: provide powerful analysis capabilities - including development connectivity between the built-in analysis library core and third-party software tools; allowing users to freely choose the most suitable for the needs The bus - to support a variety of bus technologies; In order to take full advantage of the advantages of multi-core processors - to support engineers to efficiently program multi-core processors, the need to develop a new compiler to solve the development challenges of parallel architecture.
LabVIEW already has these capabilities. Different from PLC configuration software and C text language, this is a graphical programming software platform. Since its introduction in 1986, LabVIEW continues to add out-of-the-box analysis functions and now includes more than 500 built-in math, signal processing, and analysis functions, as well as requirements for order analysis, modulation, spectrum analysis, advanced signal processing, and more. Additional tool kits. In addition, with MathScript's m-file text syntax feature, engineers can choose more efficient syntax. The software not only supports all bus technologies and various operating systems, but also supports the Vista operating system (LabVIEW can be configured on the bottom layer) in the 8.2.1 version released in April this year. In addition, on the NIDays last year, NI also demonstrated the parallel deployment of two programs to dual-core processors.
Zhu Jun pointed out that almost all programming software is a serial architecture, and LabVIEW was originally a parallel architecture programming software. "If there are multiple parallel loops in the program, LabVIEW automatically allocates tasks across multiple cores," she said. "Upgrading from single-core to multi-core allows users to enjoy the benefits of multi-core technology without having to change the code."
“Although different industries have different development roads, the common point is that user requirements for customization are becoming more common.†Zhu Jun concluded, “Instrument technology 2.0 has become an imperative trend in the test and measurement industry, with software. The core, combined modular hardware solution will give engineers the customization and optimization they need."
Also worthy of note is Tektronix. With the assistance of National Instruments, this oscilloscope leader used the interactive measurement software provided by NI in its TDS1000B, TDS2000B, and DPO4000 series digital storage oscilloscopes to help engineers easily work on the PC. Connect and control the Tektronix instrument. In addition, test equipment supplier Keithley also complied with the trend, in December 2006 launched a line of products that meet the PXI standard.
The above examples show that software-centric and modular I/O hardware has gradually become a trend in the test and measurement instrument industry, and this is exactly the virtual instrument technology (VI) that NI has been promoting. “This shows the correctness of the path that NI has followed for 30 years.†Ms. Zhu Jun, NI China Marketing Manager, met with industry media in Shanghai and said, “When NI proposed the concept of 'virtual instrument technology', many people were We don't think it can be a mainstream technology, but what we see today is that VI has not only become the direction of development of the test and measurement industry, but also obviously, the test and measurement industry has entered the era of Instrumentation 2.0."
Instrumenation 2.0 borrows the notion of web 2.0, which has been very popular recently, and highlights the user's control of data and the strong demand for customization.
With software as the center, modular hardware has added as many new features to the product as possible in the shortest possible time, which seems to have become the biggest challenge facing electronic systems design engineers. The test system must closely follow the development of the product technology to be tested, but the increased complexity of the system under test and the requirement for test time make traditional test technologies increasingly incapable of satisfying “excessive†test requirements. With traditional measuring instrument technology, engineers have only two options: either develop a dedicated test solution for the product or use a universal test instrument. However, proprietary systems are expensive, and general-purpose instruments are difficult to meet test requirements.
"Compatible with the advantages of the above two solutions, software-centric systems have opened a new era. This approach provides design and test engineers with the fastest, most cost-effective way to create their own custom instrumentation systems." Zhu Jun said, "It is Instrument Technology 2.0."
In simple terms, Instrumentation 2.0 is relative to the 1.0 era in which hardware and software are used to implement test and measurement. In the latter approach, the hardware itself and its analysis capabilities are defined by the instrument supplier. Customization can only be a fantasy - even if the instrument is connected to a PC, the transmitted information is also a vendor-defined test result, and the user cannot obtain the measured raw data for custom analysis. The 2.0 approach is completely different. After obtaining real-time raw data, engineers can use the software to design their own user interface and customize measurement tasks to obtain the desired analysis results.
Software-centricity does not mean that hardware is insignificant. Only high-quality digitization and rapid transmission of data can truly enable accurate analysis on software platforms. The rapid development of modular I/O hardware technology provides a reliable guarantee for data acquisition. Engineers can use universal modular hardware to build test systems. "Instrument technology 2.0 gives them more autonomy and flexibility than traditional instrumentation technology - on a powerful application software platform, select the hardware that meets the needs, and you can achieve more scalable testing capabilities." Zhu Jun said.
Zhu Jun said that Instrument Technology 2.0 includes the following essential elements: custom testing, real-time data transmission, custom interface, modular hardware, and connectivity between the instrument and the PC.
"These factors are already very common." She pointed out that this is why the other vendors mentioned in the beginning of this article have started to get involved in technologies such as software and PXI.
Instrument Technology 1.0 and Instrument Technology 2.0 compare the components and necessary elements. The concept of virtual instrument technology has been widely recognized and adopted in the market, and the factors that drive its progress are still evolving.
Therefore, of course, virtual instrument technology will continue to gain new leaps: hardware, data converters (ADCs), data bus/bus architectures, and processor technology have contributed; In software, the LabVIEW graphical programming environment has become increasingly The most common application tool.
First look at the ADC. In the past, engineers needed to design their own dedicated ASICs or off-the-shelf high-performance ADCs. However, it is clear that the cost of ASIC solutions is relatively high for the relatively small number of test and measurement industries. As ADCs continue to enter more fields of application, semiconductor suppliers have made great advances in this technology. Today, ADCs not only provide sufficient performance, but also have low-cost advantages due to mass production.
Followed by bus technology. In fact, many bus technologies have "double high issues" - while providing high bandwidth, the delay time is also high. Unfortunately, delays that are often overlooked in most cases can have a direct effect on some test applications, affecting the speed of the instructions between bus nodes. In addition, various busses still have a wide variety of requirements. For example, Gigabit Ethernet has high transmission speeds, but each change requires rewriting software; GPIB does not have such trouble, but it needs to purchase a controller... and so on. "This makes the PCI/PXI bus with outstanding performance in both bandwidth and latency be able to win easily - the widespread adoption of the PC industry has already demonstrated the superiority of this technology." Zhu Jun said.
Multi-core processor technology is also a booster for the development of instrument technology. As a computing carrier for application software, the processor has become the core device of the next-generation instrument technology. The competition between AMD and Intel's two major processor vendors has made processor performance continue to move steadily along Moore's Law. Intel also announced plans to launch an 80-core processor in 2011, which will provide trillions of octets of computing performance. Obviously, the future of processors is multi-core.
Zhu Jun pointed out that compared with the 1.0 method, the instrument technology 2.0 method has very high requirements for software. In order to fully integrate the above hardware technologies, a powerful application software must meet the following requirements: provide powerful analysis capabilities - including development connectivity between the built-in analysis library core and third-party software tools; allowing users to freely choose the most suitable for the needs The bus - to support a variety of bus technologies; In order to take full advantage of the advantages of multi-core processors - to support engineers to efficiently program multi-core processors, the need to develop a new compiler to solve the development challenges of parallel architecture.
LabVIEW already has these capabilities. Different from PLC configuration software and C text language, this is a graphical programming software platform. Since its introduction in 1986, LabVIEW continues to add out-of-the-box analysis functions and now includes more than 500 built-in math, signal processing, and analysis functions, as well as requirements for order analysis, modulation, spectrum analysis, advanced signal processing, and more. Additional tool kits. In addition, with MathScript's m-file text syntax feature, engineers can choose more efficient syntax. The software not only supports all bus technologies and various operating systems, but also supports the Vista operating system (LabVIEW can be configured on the bottom layer) in the 8.2.1 version released in April this year. In addition, on the NIDays last year, NI also demonstrated the parallel deployment of two programs to dual-core processors.
Zhu Jun pointed out that almost all programming software is a serial architecture, and LabVIEW was originally a parallel architecture programming software. "If there are multiple parallel loops in the program, LabVIEW automatically allocates tasks across multiple cores," she said. "Upgrading from single-core to multi-core allows users to enjoy the benefits of multi-core technology without having to change the code."
“Although different industries have different development roads, the common point is that user requirements for customization are becoming more common.†Zhu Jun concluded, “Instrument technology 2.0 has become an imperative trend in the test and measurement industry, with software. The core, combined modular hardware solution will give engineers the customization and optimization they need."
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