Design
NI and Collaborators Deliver New IP to Simplify FPGA Development
National Instruments has announced a new suite of software and hardware intellectual property (IP) to make using field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) in measurement, control and signal processing applications easier. Collaborating with its worldwide network of customers, integrators and National Instruments Alliance Partners, NI is now making available the FPGA IPNet to provide an open forum for sharing LabVIEW FPGA IP and new hardware I/O modules for analogue and digital I/O, communication buses/protocols and motion control. The newly available resources make it easier for engineers and scientists without hardware design experience to integrate FPGA technology into their test and control applications.
Engi“FPGAs are a key hardware technology for empowering engineers and scientists to easily solve demanding test and control application challenges, but FPGAs are also difficult to program and integrate into existing hardware for engineers who are not design experts,” said Dr. James Truchard, NI President, CEO and co-founder. “We are excited to make IP widely available so domain experts can now save time and still take advantage of the benefits of FPGA technology without incurring new costs or requiring additional training.”
NI is working with NI Alliance Partners to create a family of C Series I/O modules to directly connect the FPGA within NI CompactRIO hardware to real-world sensors, actuators and communication protocols. NI recently hosted the first CompactRIO Plugfest event where CompactRIO module developers tested their modules for compatibility within the CompactRIO platform. There were more than 10 companies represented at the CompactRIO Plugfest, and there are now more than 25 third-party modules for CompactRIO and more than 60 C Series modules total for analogue and digital I/O, communication buses and protocols, motion control and more.