Award-Winning PC-Based Oscilloscope Delivers Universal Instrument Capability for PCI and PXI
NEWS RELEASE – April 11, 2006 – Design and test engineers can use the new PCI version of the National Instruments PXI-5922 flexible-resolution digitizer, also known as a PC-based oscilloscope, to make a wide range of dynamic measurements. The NI PXI-5922 digitizer provides the highest dynamic range of any digitizer on the market. This universal instrument with unprecedented dynamic performance and flexibility is now available in a PCI form factor for applications in a variety of industries including communications, semiconductor, biomedical and ultrasonic nondestructive test (NDT).
Unlike traditional oscilloscopes and other PC-based digitizers with fixed resolution for all sample rates, the NI 5922 digitizers use the NI Flex II ADC, which has flexible, user-defined resolution and can sample anywhere from 24 bits at 500 kS/s to 16 bits at 15 MS/s. The NI Flex II ADC is an enhanced multibit delta-sigma converter that incorporates patented techniques to greatly reduce harmonics caused by nonlinearity that is inherent to multibit converters. This results in an unprecedented dynamic range at even high sample rates, which design and test engineers can use to directly digitize low-level signals without the need for external signal conditioning, such as filters and low-noise amplifiers.
Reduced signal conditioning improves measurement accuracy and reliability while also saving test system development time and cost. Because of these patented techniques, the PXI-5922 flexible-resolution digitizer has won several awards including the 2006 Test Product of the Year by Test & Measurement World magazine and Hot 100 Products of 2005 by EDN magazine.Engineers using the NI PXI-5922 digitizer are already solving demanding applications such as high-end audio and ultrasound testing, characterization of high-resolution digital-to-analog converters and baseband I/Q analysis. For example, Analog Devices uses the NI PXI-5922 digitizer to characterize settling time of one of its high resolution digital-to-analog converters (DACs).
“We chose the NI PXI-5922 digitizer because of its unprecedented dynamic range, which we use to measure settling time accurately by filtering out the noise,” said Eoin English, design evaluation engineer for Analog Devices. “This is the only product on the market with high input impedance and wide dynamic range that we can easily configure and control with NI LabVIEW, which helps us reduce our product development time.”As with other NI digitizers, engineers can use the new flexible-resolution digitizers with arbitrary waveform generators and digital waveform generator/analyzers to build mixed-signal applications at any stage in a product’s development – from design and validation to manufacturing test.
Design and test engineers can use NI digitizers, such as the NI 5124 200 MS/s 12-bit digitizers, the NI 5122 100 MS/s 14-bit digitizers and the NI PXI-5114 250 MS/s 8-bit value digitizer, to rapidly develop a measurement system with the more than 50 measurements that are built in to the NI-SCOPE driver software. All NI digitizers come with this driver, which works with the National Instruments LabVIEW graphical development environment, NI SignalExpress interactive measurement software, NI Measurement Studio for Microsoft Visual Studio .NET and the NI LabWindows/CVI ANSI C development environment.
About NI Modular Instruments
NI offers essential technologies for test, which combine high-performance hardware, flexible software and innovative timing and synchronization technology for test and design applications. NI modular instruments offer accurate, high-throughput measurements from DC to 2.7 GHz. The product family includes:
- Digitizers/PC-based oscilloscopes (up to 24 bits, up to 250 MS/s)
- Signal generators (up to 16 bits, 200 MS/s)
- Digital waveform generator/analyzers (up to 400 Mb/s)
- RF signal generators and analyzers (up to 6.6 GHz)
- Digital multimeters (up to 7½ digits, LCR)
- Programmable power supplies (up to 20 W, 16-bit)
- Dynamic signal analyzers (up to 24 bits, 500 kS/s)
- Switching (multiplexers, matrices, general purpose and RF)About National InstrumentsFor 30 years, National Instruments has been 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 PCs and commercial technologies, virtual instrumentation increases productivity and lowers costs for test, control and design applications through easy-to-integrate software, such as NI LabVIEW, and modular measurement and control hardware for PXI, PCI, PCI Express, USB and Ethernet.
Headquartered in Austin, Texas, NI has more than 3,800 employees and direct operations in nearly 40 countries.
For the past seven years, FORTUNE magazine has named NI one of the 100 best companies to work for in America.