Software integrates with PC-based data acquisition hardware and modular instruments to quickly and interactively perform tasks common in the design phase of the product development cycle
National Instruments has announced NI SignalExpress, an interactive software environment for acquiring, comparing, automating, testing and storing measurement signals.
With SignalExpress, engineers can now use virtual instrumentation on the benchtop to save valuable time by automating measurements for design, debugging, characterisation and validation labs. "For three decades, vendors have struggled to create easy-to-use measurement software that matches the interactivity of traditional instruments", said James Truchard, NI co-founder, president and CEO.
"With SignalExpress, we bring true productivity to the benchtop by empowering designers to quickly measure and compare signals with imported design data. "More importantly, SignalExpress is based on an extension of NI Labview Express technology, creating a new, interactive virtual instrumentation experience for benchtop measurements".
In the past, electronic design and test engineers spent hours acquiring and analysing electronic measurements manually with traditional benchtop instruments.
The advancing complexity of today's electronic devices requires more tests to verify and validate a design without additional time in the product development cycle for engineers.
National Instruments says it now delivers a simple and interactive solution through SignalExpress.
With this new software environment, engineers can easily combine design simulation data with measurements through an easy-to-use, drag-and-drop environment that does not require programming.
"Simulation tools such as National Semiconductor's Webench online design environment give engineers a preliminary look at how a circuit works.
"With SignalExpress an engineer can quickly do a reality check on designs using real-time measurement data", said Bob Pease, staff scientist at National Semiconductor. "I wouldn't build a production board based on Spice alone, but I will trust real-world bench measurements taken with NI hardware".
The new software integrates with PC-based NI data acquisition hardware and modular instruments to quickly and interactively perform tasks common in the design phase of the product development cycle such as device characterisation, automated sweep measurements, limit testing and measurement logging.
NI SignalExpress integrates with electronic design automation (EDA) tools to instantly acquire and compare real and simulated measurements in the time and frequency domains.
In one click, engineers also can save their SignalExpress measurements into Excel, Ascii and NI Labview measurement files.
SignalExpress continues to build on Express technology by integrating with the Labview graphical programming environment.
For reuse in highly automated test applications, engineers can instantly convert their SignalExpress projects to Labview block diagrams in applications such as automated system validation and manufacturing test.
Engineers can also use Labview to add functionality to SignalExpress by creating user-defined steps to perform tasks such as controlling GPIB instruments or calling a specialised analysis function.
SignalExpress is available for Windows 2000/NT/XP.
Engineers can combine the interactive measurement software with NI M series and NI E series multifunction Daq devices, NI signal generators and NI high-speed digitisers.
