According to the NI survey, 72% of test engineers hope to integrate into the design of test instruments. Among them, 25% need to provide programming APIs. Customizable hardware and support services, so they can develop their own test systems to meet their needs; 47% need test instrument manufacturers tailor-made test solutions. For 5G, autopilot, Internet of Things (IoT) and other emerging Applications not only drive innovation needs, but also bring increasingly complex functions, test time and cost compression, customization and other challenges to the test industry. Just as Luke Schreier, vice president of sales for NI automated test products, points out that the industry needs to be systematized in response to test challenges. , integrated, open test solution response, and PC-based measurement and automation platform PXI is the ideal choice for its standardization and innovative balance and huge ecosystem.
PXI is mainly composed of PXI chassis, PXI controller, PXI module and software. It is suitable for different stages of test and measurement applications by providing modular and other I/O with dedicated synchronization and main software functions.
There are more than 2,000 PXI modules on the market for emerging applications and challenges, and PXI is constantly 'revitalizing'. Luke Schreier said that NI develops new modules based on different needs and integrates to meet the needs of industry applications. The software is continuously upgraded and optimized based on application development environment such as LabVIEW, and special test management software such as TestStand. Through modular rapid iteration and continuous optimization of software, customers can customize and reconfigure the system to realize platform generalization and on-demand customization. Chemical.
Modularity can be described as a major advantage of PXI. Jia Qingchao, automotive market manager of NI Asia Pacific, believes that hardware is easy to implement by modularization because NI does not need to be swapped, but can be tested according to customers. Need to upgrade or replace boards according to changes in test items. NI is also constantly improving higher performance modules, such as integrating the latest multi-core processors for faster and more efficient parallel testing, through FPGA, data conversion And so on, constantly improve the signal processing algorithm capabilities and measurement range and performance.
The modular flexibility is also reflected in the plug-and-play of the chip. NI RF technology market engineer Tu Fangze said that in the 5G and automotive industry tests, NI found that the data requirements are very high, the amount of data is very large. NI through the change board The chip in the process, which enhances the performance required by the customer, can solve this problem, including the front-end data acquisition, etc., which can use the original architecture without requiring an overall change, thus greatly reducing the customer's testing cost.
At the recent PXI Technology and Application Forum, NI shared the latest research and application examples of PXI, including large aircraft C919 testing, automotive entertainment information system testing, semiconductor testing, etc. In particular, China's semiconductor industry is welcoming a new one. Round development opportunities, the whole industry is moving towards high performance, small size, low cost, which is a serious test for practitioners. In the forum, Tu Fangze shared how NI can reduce from the laboratory through the PXI platform. Mass production test costs, practice of improving test efficiency.
Software change
The French novelist Jean-Baptiste Karr once said, 'The more things change, the less the change.' NI has practiced this principle. In addition to hardware iterations, NI spares no effort in the field of test software development. Continuous investment, the emergence of test platforms and tools such as Systemlink, InstrumentStudio 2.0, and the results in the Chinese market. The latest automotive-oriented FlexLogger data logging software can capture, display and record data without support, support Intuitive workflow and integrated data management capabilities. 'Because some customers may be unfamiliar with programming, they need a software that can quickly perform data acquisition and related processing without programming, and display it in real time for relevant verification. For example In the car lift test, in the brake test, some customers used FlexLogger to make rapid extensions in the laboratory. 'Tu Fangze said.
InstrumentStudio is another representative product for industrial applications. It enables simple and intuitive error correction during test execution in a real-time, interactive multi-instrument environment. In addition, each workflow can work with Three-party software interoperability to reuse program code and IP as much as possible. Tu Fangze said that InstrumentStudio can display a variety of instruments on a single software interface, allowing all instruments to be operated. At the same time, it can export LabVIEW programs. For component auto-verification and aerospace, automotive and semiconductor production testing is a good configuration.
The software of the PXI platform has become 'everything'. Jia Qingchao said that NI software can be divided into three categories, the first is platform software, such as LabVIEW; the second is for industry-oriented applications, such as for the automotive industry. FlexLogge, and InstrumentStudio for specific industries and applications. The third category is enterprise-level software for device and data management, such as Systemlink.
The top priority of the above changes is that NI continues to integrate software flexibility with modular iterations, allowing the test's 'channels and techniques' to be connected to the low cost required by customers, speeding up the market, and high reliability test appeals. .
Car test battle
In the course of NI, the car is undoubtedly the main force of 'acceleration'. NI recently announced the company's auto market sales growth target for the first time: that is, between 2018 and 2020, NI will achieve 10%-12% increase in the automotive test market. .
For the ever-increasing autonomous driving, Jia Qingchao compares the car sensor and various radars to the eyes and ears, and compares the V2X to the mouth. It is believed that only these different technologies form a seamless integration, and the autopilot era will come.
Whether it is a technology company represented by Tesla, Google, Baidu, etc., or a traditional OEM, the test needs of these customers are still consistent. Jia Qingchao said that hardware synchronization is required for testing, that is, sharing clocks. Bus, etc., camera, millimeter wave radar, V2X test, software also requires synchronization, which must be based on the same standard test platform, and this is the advantage of NI. At the same time, although different manufacturers have different test requirements , NI's full process testing can make these customers do not have to worry.
In the future, the car architecture is becoming more and more complex. Hundreds of different protocols and modules of different standards have to be added to the 'queue'. Jia Qingchao believes that the development of automobiles will continuously introduce new technologies and standards, and bring expansion of test items. It is the same test item, and the test requirements may also change. With the platform of PXI, modular iteration can be realized on the one hand, and the software can be adapted continuously on the other hand, so as to cope with the increasingly complex application requirements.