NI Connect Technical Sessions

Characterizing Digital TRMs and ESA Systems

With the move towards electronically scanned array (ESA) technology, the number of electronic components, such as power amplifiers (PAs) and transmit receive modules (TRMs), in a radar system has increased exponentially. For these components, pulsed RF signals save power and provide better range detection.

To address the growing demand for pulsed RF measurements on an ESA system, we’re introducing the ESA Characterization Reference Architecture to provide a high-level starting point for characterization and test engineers. In this session, learn how our latest Pulsed RF Measurement Library works with PXI VSTs, SMUs, and other external components to provide pulse RF measurements of power-added efficiency, pulse profile and stability, and S-parameters on digital TRMs.

Validating Satellite Data Links with HIL and SLE

With the growing demand for global satellite communication in commercial business and defense applications, testing and validating satellite components, subsystems, and data links have become increasingly important. However, this process presents many challenges, including the need for accurate simulation and performance data, the complexity of operating scenarios, the dynamism of the satellite channel, and the high cost of testing solutions.

Testing satellite communication data links requires a hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) approach. This session will cover how a satellite link emulator (SLE) can address the challenges of data link validation.

Simulation Platform for eVTOL Integrated Test Labs

Archer Aviation specializes in the integration of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicles. The laboratory system integration testing of eVTOL vehicles has multiple critical requirements, such as model simulation, signal monitoring, fault injection, real/sim switching, and communication buses. Platform selection is crucial to meet these requirements, and important factors include lead times, cost, and familiarity. NI’s Switch Load and Signal Conditioning (SLSC) integration is critical for Archer’s chosen system design and offers routing and faulting, real/sim switching, VDT simulation, and digital output simulation. 

In this session, learn how Tech180 Breakout Panels provide physical interfaces to support SLSC integration and how the Distributed Simulation Architecture (DSA) enables a scalable and efficient distributed simulation system.

Rocket Testing: A Case Study in Distributed Control Architectures

Managing distributed, deterministic control systems is essential to many applications, but it’s critical for fire testing a rocket engine during a space launch vehicle. In this session, we’ll use rocket testing as a case study to explore the decisions a system architect must make to build a reliable distributed control and measurement system. We’ll discuss determinism in hardware and software, compare various technologies, and talk to engineers about how they meet these challenges when testing rocket engines.

Covering the Full Radar Test Spectrum: From Digital to Analog and Component to System 

Modern radar systems are employing digital technology far and wide to enable agile/dynamic modes of operation that bring new capabilities to operators. Meanwhile, designers seek to expand sensing capabilities to operate in increasingly congested and contested EM battlespaces. In this session, we’ll explore these and other defense radar industry trends and share how NI supports radar system designers across the radar test spectrum: from digital to analog and component to full system. This session includes a live demo of our Radar Target Generation system test capability built on NI’s PXI Vector Signal Transceiver.

Hensoldt's Data Aggregation and Information Mining (DAIM): Manage data and enable data driven decision making in complex maintenance and production environments

This session explores how data aggregation and information mining, or DAIM, can serve as a commercial solution for the data management of current and legacy test systems in aerospace and defense. In addition, learn how DAIM supports data analysis and security throughout the product lifecycle.

Transform Wireless System Design with MathWorks® MATLAB® and NI 

Wireless communication, radar systems, and software defined radio (SDR) are highly intricate technologies that require advanced mathematical and computational techniques for their design, simulation, and implementation. Engineers and researchers can use software and hardware tools from MathWorks and NI to facilitate these techniques to enable characterization, design, simulation, and testing and for prototyping real-world systems for over-the-air testing. These tools, based on flexible COTS systems, allow for the development and real-time testing of signals, including 5G and LTE communications, FMCW and pulse radar, multichannel beamforming and direction finding, narrow-band bursty waveforms like Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B), and even the characterization of power amplifiers used for digital predistortion (DPD). Integrating MathWorks’ mathematical modeling, simulation, code generation, and hardware connectivity capabilities with NI’s instrumentation and SDR expertise ensures engineers can test systems effectively in challenging real-world scenarios. 

Learn how this combination of proficiency results in a comprehensive and efficient workflow for engineers and researchers across multiple domains, providing a streamlined design and implementation process without the need for extensive knowledge of the underlying hardware.

Optimizing Validation Processes: Building Complex Test Systems with Distributed I/O

In this session, learn to improve efficiency and reduce non-recurring engineering costs in validation labs by connecting multiple distributed line-replaceable unit (LRU) test systems. Also learn how to abstract LRUs and construct complex test systems faster and more efficiently using existing distributed I/O and edge computation technology.

Multichannel RF Data Recording and Analysis 

In systems integration labs (SILs), test chambers, and open-air range testing, multichannel RF recording and monitoring systems acquire, aggregate, and process data to validate electromagnetic systems, including radar, electronic warfare, and data links. Validation engineers and SIL managers must ensure tight synchronization across multiple channels and guarantee that data isn’t dropped.

In this session, we’ll introduce a new reference architecture from NI that provides wideband, multichannel RF recording, time synchronization, 100 GbE streaming to disk, and real-time and offline analysis. In addition, we’ll discuss various aspects of system-level RF calibration, including multichannel wideband phase calibration, LO power calibration, and amplitude calibration. We’ll also discuss technology and architecture enabling data movement and storage.

Why Is Your IT Security Team So Interested in Your Test System?

IT teams seem much more interested in test systems than they used to be. Why is that? In this session, we’ll discuss the trends in cybersecurity that are impacting your customers. We’ll also cover some of the requirements coming from government contracts and how they flow down to your company, even if you don’t sell directly to government contracts. Finally, we’ll explore tools and resources for meeting these requirements in a test system.

Continuous Integration with LabVIEW and TestStand

In this session, Thales will introduce the concept of continuous integration (CI) in software development and discuss our implementation, including benefits and lessons learned. We’ll also cover the software framework required to implement a CI pipeline and the NI toolset used to automatically conduct static analysis, build trials and execute LabVIEW and TestStand code, and update requirement status. This session includes a working demonstration of the CI pipeline in action and the results dashboard it creates.

The last couple of years have brought significant changes and new challenges for the automotive industry. Even before the global pandemic, OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers faced not one but two once-in-a-generation shifts in technology: the introduction of autonomous vehicles and the adoption of electronic drive trains. These shifts continue to accelerate.  

 
With short technology cycles for electronics and even shorter cycles for software, our customers are applying new approaches to design, validation, and test, using data and simulation, and investing in toolchains that will scale and adapt to new technology.   
 
In this session, we’ll look at the flexible architecture of the xMOVE platform, which customers can reconfigure to meet their needs and stay one step ahead as new exigencies arrive.

How to Modernize Embedded Software Design, Test, and Validation

Join us for this session to learn how SLB has taken a decisive turn in developing, testing, and validating  embedded software in its products thanks to a tripartite collaboration with MathWorks and NI.

Mastering Real-Time Intelligence

Many decisions can’t wait, especially in today’s manufacturing environments. That’s why business responsiveness and automation are critical. Learn how to fail fast to increase throughput, make real-time decisions on a per-unit basis to reduce scrap and rework, and eliminate the need for manual inspection through proven edge computing.

There’s Analytics, and Then There’s the Other 80% to Get There

Data preparation is a critical but often overlooked step in the data analysis and visualization process. Organizations have diverse and dispersed data sources that must be collected, cleaned, transformed, and stored in an accessible and usable format. Although it can be time-consuming and tedious, implementing a strategically designed data pipeline for intended analytics goals can significantly improve the quality and accuracy of those projects. In this session, you’ll learn about the key stages and dependencies that go into an informed data strategy and how early preparation can improve the overall usefulness of the insights gained from future analytics. 

What Is OptimalPlus?

NI’s acquisition of OptimalPlus highlighted our intent to help customers get more value from their test and measurement data. The O+ platform is rich in data, analytics, and automation capabilities and has served the semiconductor market for over a decade. In this session, we’ll discuss what makes this platform so unique, how semiconductor companies have benefited from using it, and how other industries can, too, from battery analytics to electronics manufacturing.

Choosing the Right Analytics Approach: Aligning IT Investments with Business Outcomes

Many analytics approaches in the market offer capabilities to manage data, perform analysis, and create insights for various users and business functions. Even at NI, several offerings and approaches exist within this space. In this session, we’ll review NI’s complete lifecycle analytics solution portfolio, which maps our analytics framework to three workstreams: engineering analysis, test operations, and intelligent production. This framework focuses on the benefits you hope to achieve, the problems you’d like to solve, and the data you want to use to identify the right approach. Learn about the various solutions tailored for each workstream and the underlying platform architectures that make those solutions possible. 

7 Ways SystemLink™ Software Can Improve Your Test Operations

It can be tough to manage and monitor your fleet of test systems to ensure they’re operating at their peak potential. Learn how SystemLink Enterprise can immediately help improve your test operations at scale. SystemLink can help organizations monitor and manage test systems and track key performance indicators in validation and production environments. In addition, it can quickly diagnose issues to help improve quality and yield and maximize your throughput with our new dashboards and analytics pipeline.

Data, Analytics, and Specification Management with DataStudio

Engineers must analyze large volumes of raw data produced during validation to determine if a product meets specifications. This data may derive from various sources in many different formats and structures. In this session, we’ll share our solution for managing and analyzing validation data through a common data platform. We’ll discuss methods and best practices for data capture and standard logging methodologies. We’ll also explore how raw data can be extracted and stored in a set of standard data models for reusable analytics. Other topics include best practices for integrating analytics with your data, how specifications can be vital to organizing and analyzing your data, and architectural decisions that deliver high performance at enormous data scales. 

Everything a Software Engineer Needs to Know That Has Nothing to Do with Software Engineering

An engineer’s challenge has two facets: the technical side and the political side. As engineers, we often underestimate the importance of the latter. In this session, we’ll discuss navigating the political front to avoid frustrations and pitfalls.

The LabVIEW UI of Your Dreams

Often, the LabVIEW front panels we use day after day are far from a “dream UI,” and we’ve all seen some nightmare UIs. In this session, we’ll use a high-minded design philosophy combined with practical developer checklists that you can apply to make your interfaces more functional, consistent, professional, and dreamy. 

Get the Most Out of NI’s Package Management Capabilities

Learn to maximize NI’s software package management capabilities to modularize, version, and distribute your NI-based software projects and applications.

Putting a Bow on Your Reusable LabVIEW Libraries with VIPM

Trying to turn a handful of LabVIEW libraries into distributable packages can seem like a twisty maze of cross-linking issues and error messages that are mostly alike. We’ll walk through the process of turning a handful of libraries into separate VIPM packages and discuss some of the tripping points. 

Why Data Flow Works: The Potato and Candy Bar Explanation

“LabVIEW is a dataflow programming language.” What does that mean? Why does data flow work as a useful model of computation? Can potatoes defy gravity? How many ways can you eat a candy bar? In this session, we’ll look at the philosophy that underpins LabVIEW to make you more aware of when you’re working with the tool versus working against it. 

HAL-chemy: Turning Devices into Gold

Did you know you can reduce cost and improve engineering efficiency with a properly architected hardware abstraction layer (HAL)? A HAL supports parallel development, combats obsolescence, and increases reuse code. HAL creation should begin with a well-architected design, but problems often arise during a HAL’s lifecycle. For example, what do you do when your hardware goes obsolete? What if different models have different features? How do you manage connections to devices? How should logging, debugging, and error handling be implemented? In this session, we’ll offer solutions to help address these common problems so your HAL and test system can succeed.

Introduction to DQMH

DQMH is the world’s most popular third-party framework for LabVIEW and was designed to facilitate the robust implementation of complex LabVIEW applications while still being accessible to CLAD/CLD-level LabVIEW programmers. In this session, you’ll learn how to use DQMH from an expert. 

DQMH and TestStand: From the Validation Bench to the Production Hall

In this session, we’ll explore how DQMH can be combined with TestStand and a few recommended tools and add-ons from the LabVIEW and TestStand ecosystem to create a toolchain facilitating all facets of product test, from design validation to volume test in a concurrent engineering environment. In addition, we’ll explore instrumentation, measurement, and UUT abstraction and the use of DQMH APIs as TestStand custom step types to streamline the developer experience.

Architecting the Best Test Engineering Team

The signs are all there: fire-fighting mode, lots of overtime, code that requires heavy maintenance or support, overrunning budget, missed deadlines, lack of documentation, and much more. How would you like to take a vacation and not worry about getting calls from operators trying desperately to get a product out the door? That can happen with the right team structure. Setting up the best team requires appropriately skilled engineers, disciplined processes, and shared standards. In this session, we’ll show you how to assess your team, identify a charter, and achieve the goal of becoming all-stars. If nothing else, come and dream. 

DFD—Design for Reality

Debugging wastes time and gives rise to unrealistic expectations. What if you could create practical systems and software more efficiently instead of demanding perfection from yourself and others? Join us for this session to learn how debugging can be incorporated more effectively during system/software design. We'll explain how this approach compliments TDD, CI, and other techniques and offer practical suggestions you can apply immediately.

G Anywhere: Enhancing LabVIEW Development with a Cross-Platform Embedded Device Library

Discover a groundbreaking new LabVIEW add-on you can use to create applications for diverse embedded platforms. In this session, you’ll learn how this library streamlines program development and leverages a pure-G compiler to target numerous devices from LabVIEW, such as the Raspberry Pi Pico and other embedded microcontrollers. Explore the future of LabVIEW and how this powerful new add-on will unlock innovation and attract new users.

5 Best Practices for Maximizing DC Measurement Performance

Whatever your DUT is, taking quality DC measurements is a cornerstone of electronics test. In this session, you’ll learn five techniques to achieve greater accuracy in applications requiring DC measurements.

3 Ways to Optimize Signal Analysis with NI Oscilloscopes

PXI Oscilloscopes are vital instruments that are versatile for both time‐ and frequency‐domain measurements. NI offers a wide range of modular oscilloscopes, which allows you to customize your test station for cost, channel density, measurement resolution, or sampling rate. 
 
In this session, we’ll take a deeper dive into NI oscilloscopes. You’ll learn to optimize the signal analysis with your system’s oscilloscope using NI-TClk synchronization so that multiple instruments can align sample clocks and respond to triggers. You’ll also learn how to avoid testing downtime by verifying the cable integrity of your oscilloscope with CableSense™ technology and how to choose the proper probe to maximize your oscilloscope’s functionality.

4 Best Practices to Prolong Relay Life in NI Switches

Switches are critical components of automated test. They not only route signals to a variety of instruments and devices under test, but they can also be used as a low-cost way to increase the channel count of expensive instrumentation while increasing the flexibility and repeatability of your measurements. In this session, explore the common mistakes engineers make when operating switches and what you can do instead to prevent damage and prolong relay life.

High-Speed Synchronization with NI-TClk

A key advantage of a PXI system is the integrated timing and synchronization capabilities. Through shared timing and synchronization, you can vastly improve the accuracy of measurements, apply advanced triggering schemes, or synchronize multiple devices to act as one for extremely high-channel-count applications. NI has developed a patented method for synchronization whereby another signal-clock domain is used to enable alignment of sample clocks and the distribution and reception of triggers, called NI-TClk. In this session, learn the best practices for using NI-TClk to synchronize high-speed signal acquisition and generation between devices in one or more chassis.

How to Build a MeasurementLink™ Plug-In

A key challenge for engineering organizations is how to create and maintain test frameworks over time that meet the evolving needs of their company while delivering efficient workflows for test professionals. Test environments get more complicated, software languages evolve, new instrumentation is created, and the maintenance cost of test solutions increases.

 
MeasurementLink is a solution that establishes a connected workflow for test professionals that spans interactive and automated measurements. It allows test developers to create reusable measurements written in multiple software languages, using instruments from multiple vendors, and focus more on the measurement logic than the infrastructural components of a test framework. The MeasurementLink design is service-based and interface-centric, which allows existing test infrastructure to take advantage of new measurement capabilities and allows measurements written today to become increasingly capable over time. 
 

In this session, learn how to build a MeasurementLink plug-in from scratch, create a language-agnostic UI using the MeasurementLink UI Editor, and safely access both NI and non-NI hardware across multiple processes.

Using Python and TestStand to Boost Your Test Development

Discover the latest in the TestStand Python Adapter: seamless debugging and module reloading, support for namespaces, and advanced access to inner classes and methods using Python’s Jedi package.

How to Get the Most Out of PXI VSTs

PXI VSTs are highly versatile, technically capable instruments that enable multiple RF test applications. They’re unique in RF test (different from box instrumentation) and are most beneficial if you leverage their strengths. The PXIe-5842 VST includes new features for better measurement performance and new capabilities that weren’t possible with a VST until now.

This session will focus on maximizing your PXI VST and taking common measurements like EVM, ACP, harmonics, and noise figure. In addition, we’ll suggest best practices for leveraging a common platform and taking advantage of the strengths of software-defined RF test.

5 Tips for Optimizing NI SMUs for High-Throughput Test

Source measure units (SMUs) are used frequently in production test for low-noise, high-accuracy measurements. However, many of these measurements are unnecessarily throttled because of software overhead, long settling times, or inefficient use of the instrument’s measurement engine. NI SMUs combine the power and measurement performance of traditional box SMUs with NI technology that makes them smaller, faster, and more flexible. In this session, discover how to optimize SMUs for test throughput while maintaining an acceptable level of precision through techniques such as optimizing aperture time, making the best use of programming API features, and using NI SourceAdapt technology.

USRP X440—Game-Changing Bandwidth and Channel Density in SDR 

The new NI Ettus USRP X440 is the first USRP to use a direct sampling architecture, with wide bandwidths, more channels, and phase coherence across multiple channels. It’s ideal for research, prototyping, and deployment in satellite communications, radar, beamforming, and direction-finding applications. This session will discuss how the X440 differs from other USRP devices and provide information on maximizing its use, including Nyquist zone considerations, selecting accompanying front ends and converter rates, and software/hardware options for connectivity and data transfer. The session will also explore using the USRP X440 for phase-coherent, multichannel applications and for capturing wideband signals. 

What Happens When You Build Test Systems on Desktop Linux?

Many NI customers and partners are weighing the pros and cons of migrating to Linux and trying to understand if it’s ready for their development workflows or deployed systems. Answering these questions can be complex. In this session, hear from several NI customers about their deployed or prototyped systems built on desktop Linux distributions (such as RHEL, Ubuntu, and OpenSUSE), the benefits that pushed them to a Linux solution, and the obstacles that they overcame to enable their migration or new system designs on Linux.

Software Hands-On: Test Drive SystemLink to Learn to Maximize Your Test Operations

In this hands-on session, walk through a SystemLink workflow and learn how to connect test systems, view collected data, set up a dashboard, and more. 

Software Hands-On: Leverage Interoperability between NI’s Software to Drive Standardization across Workflows

In this hands-on session, you’ll learn how to extend InstrumentStudio, LabVIEW, TestStand, and other NI software. We’ll cover topics such as measurement bring-up, debugging scripts with InstrumentStudio, automation in TestStand, incorporating Python into your workflow, and more. Join us to learn more about connecting NI’s software to drive standardization and reuse across your workflows.