There was an invitation to join NI Week that was held a couple of weeks ago, but I chose to attend another conference. I can’t get to all the places I’m invited even though I’d love to be there. I am not NI’s target audience exactly, but many things it does fits here. I’ve included two products that look interesting.
Radar Target Generation System to Tackle Complexity and Cost
NI announced its newest PXI Vector Signal Transceiver (VTS) Radar Target Generation (RTG) system, which unlocks closed-loop, low-latency, real-time radar test capabilities. The new PXI VST allows engineers to identify and isolate issues before costly open-air range tests, increasing user confidence in radar system performance with accurately calibrated radio frequency (RF) test capability.
Today, radar test engineers must test realistic scenarios to fully evaluate system-level performance. However, modern radar and their operating environments make adequate test coverage through simulation a complex challenge. Additionally, the application-specific nature of radar systems means test requirements can vary widely from system to system. To meet these nuanced challenges, NI developed the VTS RTG system, which injects independent targets into radar systems during productions tests. This allows users to validate the system performance and provide a final functional check before open deployment. Built on standard, off-the-shelf RF test hardware, the VTS RTG system is an efficient single instrument tool for multiple test requirements.
The NI Radar Target Generation Driver is an alternative Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) configuration for specific PXIe Vector Signal Transceiver models. The VST configuration is a closed source and license-restricted FPGA build that allows the transceiver to operate as a closed-loop, real-time radar target generator or channel emulator. As a fully validated FPGA configuration, users can confidently add up to four independent targets to their radar or provide four multi-path delay channels for data link systems tests. Since the VST is a calibrated RF receiver and transmitter, its highly accurate response improves the reliability of test scenarios along with user’s confidence in test results.
DataStudio to Break Down Silos, From Design to Test
NI announced the launch of DataStudio. This new design-to-test analytics solution provides the foundation for modern, secure and scalable engineering data infrastructure and applications, accelerating the pace of wireless, semiconductor and electronics innovation.
Consistent with the need to fast-track product development, DataStudio bridges critical data across the semiconductor design and test workflow. DataStudio Specification Compliance Manager (SCM), the first application in the DataStudio family, manages device specifications, connects to measurement data sources and automatically generates compliance reports. DataStudio SCM provides a comprehensive view of the device’s conformance to target specifications, enabling better decision making and reporting, and leverages data often lost across design, validation and production test silos. By laying the groundwork with comprehensive data infrastructure, engineers gain clear and actionable insights to improve productivity and reduce the manual effort required during chip development.
In addition, NI is launching the DataStudio Bench Data Connector (BDC) validation bench test library. The BDC library provides a standardized way to store validation data that is automatically compatible with the DataStudio SCM, making it easy to import bench measurement data into the compliance reporting software.
DataStudio takes a modern, software-connected approach to design and test data with engineers’ needs at the center. Available in both on-premise and in-the-cloud deployment, this latest product from NI will help accelerate workflow modernization, from product definition to verification, validation and production test, coupling NI’s rich software heritage with new cloud and machine learning capabilities to support engineers who are rapidly creating what’s next.
