NI Announces High-Speed, High-Resolution, High-Voltage Oscilloscope

NI (Nasdaq: NATI), the provider of platform-based systems that enable engineers and scientists to solve the world’s greatest engineering challenges, today announced the PXIe-5164 oscilloscope. The PXIe-5164 is built on the open, modular PXI architecture, and includes a user-programmable FPGA to help aerospace/defense, semiconductor and research/physics applications that require high-voltage measurements and high levels of amplitude accuracy.

“PXI oscilloscopes from NI reduce test time, increase channel density, and now, deliver even better measurement flexibility with the combination of high bandwidth, resolution and input voltage,” said Steve Warntjes, vice president of R&D at NI. “Our new PXIe-5164 oscilloscope can make some measurements that box instruments today just can’t handle. If you want to measure a high-voltage signal of up to 100 Vpp at up to 1 GS/s, you can now use the same instrument to see small signal details that would normally be hidden by the noise of the instrument thanks to the 14-bit ADC.”

The PXIe-5164 features:

• Two 14-bit channels sampled at 1 GS/s with 400 MHz bandwidth
• Two Category II-rated channels with voltage input range to 100 Vpp with programmable offsets allowing measurements up to ± 250 V
• Up to 34 channels to build parallel, high-channel-count systems in a compact form factor in a single PXI chassis
• A 3.2 GB/s streaming data rate enabled by 8 lanes of PCI Express Gen 2 bus communication

• A Xilinx Kintex-7 410 FPGA to create custom IP, including filtering or triggering, programmed through LabVIEW

PXI oscilloscopes deliver the ease of use expected from a box oscilloscope. Engineers can use the interactive soft front panels in NI-SCOPE software to make basic measurements, debug automated applications or view the scope data while the test program runs. The driver includes help files, documentation and ready-to-run example programs to assist in test code development, and includes a programming interface that works with a variety of development environments such as C, Microsoft .NET and LabVIEW system design software. Engineers can also use PXI oscilloscopes with TestStand test management software, which simplifies the creation and deployment of test systems in the lab or on the production floor.

PXI oscilloscopes are an important part of the NI platform and ecosystem that engineers can use to build smarter test systems. These test systems benefit from more than 600 PXI products ranging from DC to mmWave and feature high-throughput data movement using PCI Express bus interfaces and sub-nanosecond synchronization with integrated timing and triggering. Supported by a vibrant ecosystem of partners, add-on IP and applications engineers, the NI platform helps to dramatically lower the cost of test, reduce time to market and future-proof testers for tomorrow’s challenging requirements.

Read this white paper to explore ways to reduce cost of test and build a smarter test system with PXI oscilloscopes.