National Instruments and SeaSolve Software Deliver Complete ZigBee, Wi-Fi Test and Analysis Solutions
National Instruments advances the development of emerging wireless communications standards by collaborating with leading software providers to deliver complete RF/communications test and analysis solutions based on modular hardware and software.
To test compliance of IEEE 802.15.4 WPAN (ZigBee) and IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi) applications, engineers now can use SeaSolve Software Inc. tools that integrate with NI PXI-based RF hardware and the LabVIEW graphical development environment for a flexible and cost-effective solution.Built on PXI – the most widely used standard for modular instruments – the platform provides a foundation to develop a complete test system.
Using National Instruments LabVIEW and the Modulation Toolkit for LabVIEW, engineers can develop customized measurement systems to address a wide variety of RF standards. Companies have worked with NI to build standards-based test systems on this platform for testing WPAN, Wi-Fi and GSM, and other standards-based systems are currently under development. “National Instruments RF technology includes hardware and software for accelerating the development and testing of emerging wireless standards while increasing ease of use and flexibility for the engineer,” said Joseph E. Kovacs, NI RF product marketing manager.
“With the addition of SeaSolve’s software solutions based on NI LabVIEW, engineers can perform RF physical layer compliance tests while taking advantage of the flexibility and speed that the NI PXI-based RF hardware offers.”SeaSolve recently developed a compliance test software solution for the ZigBee and Wi-Fi standards that integrates with the NI PXI-5660 vector signal analyzer, the NI PXI-5670 and PXI-5671 vector signal generators as well as the NI Modulation Toolkit for LabVIEW. With this software, engineers can perform the physical-layer RF tests specified by the standard on their devices with pass/fail results. These tests range from transmit center frequency tolerance and receiver sensitivity to symbol rate and maximum input power.
Because this solution is based on modular hardware, engineers save significant time and costs developing their test systems and reusing the same instruments for testing various standards. In addition, SeaSolve engineers are currently exploring IEEE 802.16 WMAN (WiMAX) compliance testing solutions with LabVIEW and NI RF hardware and software. “SeaSolve chose to develop this solution on the proven National Instruments LabVIEW and PXI-based RF platform because of the PXI platform’s inherent speed advantage as well as the short time to market that the solution offers as a whole,” said Nadeem Sayed, SeaSolve business development manager.
“As new standards are continually introduced to wireless communications, engineers can take advantage of the PXI platform’s flexibility to scale these new standards. With this modular hardware approach, engineers can easily modify their test systems with minimal cost and effort.”Engineers can learn more about emerging wireless standards and other related technologies by attending the NIWeek customer and technology conference and participating in this year’s RF and Wireless Communications Summit. The RF and Wireless Communications Summit offers the latest in industry advances including communications algorithm development, RFID, wireless sensors and telemetry, MIMO and software-defined radio (SDR).
Leading RF experts, researchers and NI developers, including representatives from National Semiconductor, the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Texas, present technical sessions and technology demonstrations while providing training opportunities to attendees. To register for the RF and Wireless Communications Summit at NIWeek, readers can visit www.ni.com/niweek
For more information
, Contact National Instruments or visit their web site at www.ni.com/modularinstruments .
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 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, USB and Ethernet. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, NI has more than 3,500 employees and direct operations in nearly 40 countries. In 2004, the company sold products to more than 25,000 companies in 90 countries.
For the past six years, FORTUNE magazine has named NI one of the 100 best companies to work for in America.