On June 2, 2009, I attended National Instruments' RF and Communications Technology Forum held in Schaumberg, IL.
It was a very interesting, quick moving 4 hours.
Highlights
- Watching a demo of using voice to text with LabVIEW quick drop to program using voice commands (Look, Mom, no hands!). For more info see this LAVA posting.
- Comparing the PXI platform to the iPhone and LabVIEW RF modules to the AppStore. For more info, see the presentation on "Defining an Open RF Platform".
- Viewing a demonstration of the high speed streaming to a RAID array, and play back of very long, complex RF signal. (An actual GPS signal recording of an hour long trip around Austin, TX. Including a stop at Taco Bell, which was only to examine the effects of an 'urban canyon', not to buy a burrito.) Find out more about NI GPS testing tools. See demos of NI's RF record and playback capabilities.
- Seeing just how far the PXI platform has come over the last few years with modules for RF testing. (6.6 GHz analyzers and generators with performance rivaling rack and stack instruments.)
My hope is that soon the PXI platform modules will be available with bandwidths up to 10-12 GHz, which would make functional testing of 10G/12G electro-optical components a target for PXI systems, displacing discrete rack instruments used in DMC projects like this one.
Below are links to several of the presentations given at the forum:
Keynote: Trends in Wireless and Innovators Dilemma
Defining an Open RF Platform
Developing Test Systems for High-Volume Multi-Protocol Devices
Using New Technologies to Design and Test Wireless Receivers
Case Study - Adding RF Test Capabilities for New Wireless Devices
Case Study - Modernizing a Legacy Military Test System