PXIe digital multimeter leads way to smarter test systems

27th April 2016

Mick Elliott

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A 7½-digit high-performance DMM and 1.8 MS/s isolated digitiser, the NI PXIe-4081, has been launched by NI. It is the first PXI Express DMM available, says the company. It offers engineers the flexibility, resolution and isolation needed to tackle challenging applications that require smarter test systems in industries ranging from consumer electronics to aerospace and defence.

The DMM offers 15 ppm accuracy for DC voltage measurements up to two years after calibration. It is capable of voltage measurements from nanovolts to one kilovolt and resistance measurements from microohms to gigaohms.

A solid-state current shunt configuration offers eight DC current ranges from 1 µA to 3 A and six AC rms current ranges from 100 µA to 3 A.

The DMM occupies a single 3U PXI slot and provides excellent channel density for high-channel-count systems, delivering 17 DMM channels in a single PXI chassis occupying 4U of rack space.

For high-throughput applications, the isolated digitiser mode can acquire DC-coupled waveforms in all voltage and current ranges with a 1.8 MS/s maximum sample rate.

By changing the digitiser sampling rate, engineers can vary the resolution of the digitiser from 10 to 23 bits for the perfect combination of speed and accuracy.

Engineers can use an interactive soft front panel for basic measurements and debugging automated applications, which delivers all the ease-of-use expected from a traditional instrument.

The driver software includes a best-in-class programming interface that works with a variety of development environments, such as C, Microsoft .NET and LabVIEW. The driver also features help files, documentation and 28 ready-to-run example programs to assist in test code development.

“Customers often choose the PXI platform to lower their cost of automated test based on the accuracy, channel density and speed of PXI instruments,” said Steve Warntjes, NI Vice President of R&D, Modular Instruments. “The NI PXIe-4081 builds on more than 20 successful years of NI PXI DMMs by providing a code-compatible migration option to PXI Express, extending the lifecycle of critical test and measurement functionality and doing it at the highest performance levels possible.”