Dual-Core PXI Embedded Controller is Industry First

With two computing engines in one physical processor, the dual-core processor can simultaneously execute two computing tasks. This is a significant benefit in multitasking environments, such as Windows XP, that run multiple applications at one time. In addition, the dual-core processor can simultaneously execute two threads, or tasks, within multithreaded applications, such as National Instruments LabVIEW software. In NI LabVIEW, engineers can easily develop multithreaded applications by simply using parallel data flow, for example drawing a loop around each segment of the graphical code they wish to execute in a separate thread. The dual-core processor is also ideal for multi-channel, multi-rate data-logging applications using LabVIEW and National Instruments DIAdem software or Microsoft Excel because the data acquisition and data storage to the hard drive can run in parallel for optimal performance.

The National Instruments PXI-8105 dual-core embedded controller, which delivers the highest performance of any PXI embedded controller, uses the Mobile Intel 945GM Express chipset for maximum performance, flexibility and stability. The chipset also includes the PCI Express bus to give integrated peripherals on the controller, such as Gigabit Ethernet, the bandwidth required to operate at a full rate while communicating with and processing data from PXI modules using the PCI bus. Another of these peripherals is an ExpressCard/34 slot, which uses the PCI Express and Hi-Speed USB (2.0) serial interfaces to provide up to 2.5 Gb/s throughput in each direction. Other standard peripherals include four USB 2.0 ports, GPIB, serial and parallel. The new controller also features 512 MB of dual-channel 667 MHz DDR2 memory standard, analogue and digital DVI-I video and a 60 GB serial ATA hard drive. It offers hard drive-based recovery that engineers can use to restore their systems back to factory default if necessary.

The controller is ideal for a variety of applications, including mixed-signal test in consumer electronics, RF test in communications and octave analysis in sound and vibration. It works with all PXI modular instruments and data acquisition modules. The NI PXI-8105 controller comes with Windows XP Professional preinstalled, saving engineers valuable time in software installation and configuration. It integrates with all National Instruments software, including the NI LabVIEW graphical development environment, NI TestStand test management software, NI LabWindows/CVI for ANSI C development and NI SignalExpress interactive measurement software, in addition to other common development environments for automated test applications, such as C, C++, Visual Basic and Microsoft Visual Studio .NET.

PCI eXtensions for Instrumentation (PXI) is an open specification governed by the PXI Systems Alliance (www.pxisa.org) that defines a rugged, CompactPCI-based platform optimised for test, measurement and control. It is supported by more than 70 member companies and more than 1,200 products are available. PXI products are compatible with the CompactPCI and CompactPCI Express industrial computer standards and offer additional features such as environmental specifications, standardised software and built-in timing and synchronisation.