Accelerate wireless device test with multicore, FPGA

BANGALORE, INDIA: National Instruments India announced LabVIEW 8.6, the latest version of the graphical system design platform for test, control and embedded system development. Building on the inherent parallel nature of graphical programming, LabVIEW 8.6 delivers new tools to help engineers and scientists take advantage of the benefits of multicore processors and field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs).

By using the latest version of LabVIEW, engineers can further reduce development time and increase throughput in complex applications such as wireless device test using new multicore-optimized analysis functions and FPGA features that reduce compilation time and provide quick integration of existing intellectual property (IP) cores.

“To meet the performance and flexibility demands of cutting-edge applications, from validating semiconductor chips to testing consumer electronic devices, engineers must adopt the latest technologies such as multicore processors and FPGAs,” said Dr. James Truchard, president, CEO and cofounder of National Instruments. “Through parallel programming with LabVIEW graphical system design software, engineers can apply these new technologies quickly and easily to improve test performance and capability."

This version of the 22-year old, award winning graphical platform for test and embedded system design will be launched in India at the India LabVIEW Conference 2008 in 22 cities across India.

Accelerate RF Test With Multicore-Optimized Algorithms

To meet the widespread demand for wireless devices, test engineers face increasing pressure to design faster test systems. LabVIEW 8.6 and the NI PXI platform take advantage of the latest commercial multicore processors to deliver the ideal software-defined test architecture and accelerate RF device test.

Currently, engineers who want to increase performance using multicore processors must apply sequential, text-based software tools to meet the parallel needs of their applications. The inherent multithreading technology in LabVIEW simplifies parallel programming, and the latest version of the software delivers improved performance with more than 1,200 new, optimized analysis functions that perform faster math and signal processing on multicore systems.

The new NI GPS Toolkit for LabVIEW and the latest release of the NI Modulation Toolkit for LabVIEW also feature improvements to help engineers build faster RF test systems. The NI GPS Toolkit expands the NI RF PXI platform to include multi-satellite GPS signal simulation, while the NI Modulation Toolkit 4.1 provides an additional 100 multicore-optimized analysis functions. These include fractional resampling and QAM demodulation measurements that perform up to 200 percent faster than the previous version of the toolkit.

With the NI Modulation Toolkit, test results for many individual WCDMA measurements are more than 20 times faster than traditional instruments, and, for an entire suite of WCDMA measurements, test results are up to five times faster. Enhanced multicore support for LabVIEW 8.6 can be realized across all of the LabVIEW RF test toolkits for WiMAX, GPS, WCDMA, GSM, EDGE, broadcast video, 802.11, Bluetooth, OFDM and MIMO with little to no change to existing software applications.

Increase Test Coverage With FPGA-Based Instruments

The LabVIEW FPGA Module offers engineers an intuitive dataflow paradigm for programming FPGAs with determinism and fast execution. As a result, engineers are using LabVIEW within automated test systems to embed custom algorithms into NI FPGA-based instruments to perform inline processing or emulate part of the system.

The strategy of testing a complex device, such as engine control units and RF integrated circuits (RFICs), by emulating actual real-world signals often provides a better method of functional test and superior use-case coverage. This emulation-based ATE, also known as protocol-aware ATE, combines FPGA-based hardware with the standard pin electronics found in traditional ATE to offer real-time, intelligent responses to the device under test.

The LabVIEW FPGA Module 8.6 accelerates the development of emulation-based ATE with new signal processing IP cores such as a function to minimize spectral leakage that can be combined with a fast Fourier transform (FFT) function for spectral analysis. The new Component-Level IP (CLIP) Node makes it possible for engineers to easily import existing or third-party IP into LabVIEW FPGA, opening FPGA-based instrumentation to additional custom inline analysis and co-processing applications.

Also, new simulation features in LabVIEW reduce the number of time-consuming compilations a developer must perform by validating an FPGA application on the desktop development machine. The LabVIEW FPGA Module 8.6 also adds expanded support for fixed-point data for developing more complex math algorithms on the FPGA-enabled instrument.

Readers interested in learning more about LabVIEW 8.6 and downloading the evaluation software can visit www.ni.com/labview86. The LabVIEW platform now comes on DVD for easier installation and includes an evaluation mode for the entire LabVIEW platform.

Members of the LabVIEW service maintenance and support program will automatically receive LabVIEW 8.6 in the mail or can download the new version at the Services Resource Center at www.ni.com/src. Readers whose software is part of a company-wide Volume License Agreement (VLA) should contact their VLA administrators for installation instructions.