National Instruments (NATI), based in Austin, Texas, creates software that transforms the way engineers and scientists design, prototype and deploy systems for measurement, automation and embedded applications. With off-the-shelf software such as NI LabVIEW and modular cost-effective hardware, the company sells to a broad base of more than 25,000 different companies worldwide. National has more than 4,800 employees and direct operations in nearly 40 countries.
National Instruments, along with BAE Systems and Phase Matrix Inc., announced recently the availability of a next-generation, 26.5 GHz synthetic instrument based on the PXI platform for military and commercial RF and microwave applications. Synthetic instrumentation is a subset of virtual instrumentation that combines modular hardware with a software platform to create user-defined test and measurement systems. The new synthetic instrument developed by the companies is based on five new 3U PXI express-compatible RF/microwave downconverter modules that can operate over a frequency range of 100 kHz to 26.5 GHz.
The instrument also uses National Instruments PXI Express classis, controllers and intermediate frequency (IF) digitizer modules, as well as NI LabVIEW graphical development software.
“By working with National Instruments and Phase Matrix, we have developed a high-performance, next-generation RF synthetic instrument that supports frequencies exceeding 26 GHz.,” stated Robert Wade Lowdermilk, engineering fellow at BAE Systems. “PXI Express provides the data throughput and control signals required to support the increased bandwidth necessary for RF and microwave applications. By using NI FPGA-based hardware and LabVIEW, we have been able to quickly develop multiple high-performance measurement modes for several applications.”
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