May 17, 2005 – National Instruments today introduced four new serial interfaces for industrial applications that offer 2,000 V digital, port-to-port isolation. The new boards – NI PCI-8432 (RS232) two- and four-port versions and NI PCI-8433 (RS485) two- and four-port versions – offer all the benefits of the 843x PCI family of serial interfaces, including superior CPU utilization, high-speed communication up to 2 Mb/s and configurable nonstandard baud rates.These products are especially well-suited for industrial environments, where long RS485 cables are particularly vulnerable to electrical surges.
An electrical surge on a nonisolated communication line can result in damage or destruction of all connected equipment, but incorporating isolation into an application can ensure the safety of test systems and workers.The four new isolated boards expand the 843x family of serial interfaces, which, unlike traditional desktop serial ports, significantly decreases CPU usage through direct memory access (DMA) to the PCI bus.
In addition, 843x interfaces offer advanced features such as flexible baud rates up to 2 Mb/s to within 1 percent accuracy, as well as universal PCI, hyperthreading and multiprocessor compatibility.For more information on the NI PCI-843x family, readers may visit digital.ni.com/express.nsf/bycode/exhacf .
About National Instruments
National Instruments is a technology pioneer and leader in virtual instrumentation – a revolutionary concept that has changed the way engineers and scientists in industry, government and academia approach measurement and automation. Leveraging the PC and its related technologies, virtual instrumentation increases productivity and lowers costs through easy-to-integrate software, such as the NI LabVIEW graphical development environment, and modular hardware, such as PXI modules for data acquisition, instrument control and machine vision. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, NI has more than 3,500 employees and direct operations in approximately 40 countries. In 2004, the company sold products to more than 25,000 companies in 90 countries.
For the past six years, FORTUNE magazine named NI one of the 100 best companies to work for in America.
For more information
, Contact National Instruments or visit their web site at www.ni.com/serial .
