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Moore’s Law and Modular Instrument Technology. Speaker/Author: Paul Packebush Senior Group Manager Corporate Metrology, R&D National Instruments 11500 N Mopac Expwy Austin, TX 78759. Moore’s Law: Alive and Well at Intel.
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Moore’s Law and Modular Instrument Technology Speaker/Author:Paul Packebush Senior Group Manager Corporate Metrology, R&D National Instruments 11500 N MopacExpwy Austin, TX 78759
Moore’s Law: Alive and Well at Intel • Moore’s Law: the number of transistors on a chip roughly doubles every two years
Impact of Moore’s Law • Inexpensive memory • Higher speed processing • Rise of programming languages
Moore’s Law for Instrumentation 1980 1990 2000 2010 cRIO PXIe VXI
PXI Measurement CapabilityMore than 1,500 Instruments from 60+ Vendors NI PXI-4071 7½-digit FlexDMM NI PXI-5922, 24-bit, 15 MS/s 28 • Agilent 6030A, 15-bit, 500MHz 26 24 22 20 Resolution (Bits) 18 16 14 • Phase Matrix 26.5 GHz Signal Analyzer 12 10 8 6 10 1K 10K 100K 1 100 1M 10M 100M 1G 10G 100G Frequency (Hz)
Instrumentation Platform Operating System (OS) Instrument Module and I/O Instrument Driver Software Application Software Communication Bus Processing and Memory LabVIEW, C#, VB, etc. DLL, .NET, etc. PXIe, PCI, USB, Ethernet, etc. CPU, FPGA, etc. Modular Instrument Architecture
Instrument Modules • Modular Instruments are available in an array of form factors: • PXI/PXIe, Ethernet, PCI, USB, cPCI, AXIe,...
Instrument Platforms • Platforms required to calibrate modules are typically made up of a module specific chassis and controller • Costs of chassis and controllers can range from $1k to $20k
Connectivity • Small form factors require high density connectors • Semi-ridged and custom Module to Module connectivity
Example Calibration Station PCI, PCIe, PC Card Ethernet USB, Firewire, etc. Hybrid PXI/PXIe Chassis connected via MXI Other Instruments and Platforms USB GPIB Calibration standards or other DUTs
Instrument Driver – Traditional Mfg A Instrument 1 Calibration Software GPIB Driver Mfg A Instrument 2 Mfg B Instrument 1 Mfg B Instrument 2
Instrument Driver – Modular Instruments MFG A PXI Driver 1 Mfg A Instrument 1 Calibration Software MFG A PXI Driver 2 Mfg A Instrument 2 Mfg B Instrument 1 MFG B PXI Driver Mfg B Instrument 2
Vendor Supplied Application Software Soft Front Panel Off-the-Shelf Application Software
Custom Calibration Software • Instrument supplier must provide: • Clearly written calibration procedure • Required platforms and connectivity • Required calibration standards • Supported software development ADEs • Driver and configuration software • Driver capable of measurement adjustment • Software development support • Laboratory must have: • Software development skills • Development and verification process • Time
Modular Instrument Repair • Typical repair is only at the module level • Identify and replace damaged instrument module e.g. entire PXIe module • Circuit repair is often reserved for manufacturer • Requires custom test fixtures, software and stations • Minor maintenance is sometimes possible • Replace fuses • Cleaning fans
Instrumentation Platform Operating System (OS) Instrument Module and I/O Instrument Driver Software Application Software Communication Bus Processing and Memory LabVIEW, C#, VB, etc. DLL, .NET, etc. PXIe, PCI, USB, Ethernet, etc. CPU, FPGA, etc. Modular Instrument Architecture