Rigol Selects ADI's Blackfin Processors To Build Functionality Into Award-Winning Test And Measurement Equipment

Our instruments are distinguished by their robust capabilities and cost-effective designs, giving us a competitive edge that has enabled us to grow our presence in the test and measurement equipment market at a fast rate, said Arthur Chen Ph.D, Vice President, Research and Development, Rigol. Blackfin gives us the performance and peripheral connectivity we need to enable sophisticated functions, and the unified signal processing and microcontroller platform to help us reduce system complexity and get to market quickly.



Designed to enable waveform observation via full-colour TFT liquid-crystal displays, Rigol's DS Series oscilloscopes equip designers, programmers and technicians with all of the capabilities they need to effectively test and debug electronic devices. Rigol DS 1000 series digital oscilloscopes scale bandwidth as high as 300 MHz with up to 2G Sa/s real time sample rates for high performance signal acquisition enabled by ADI analogue-to-digital converters (ADCs). Supporting powerful, easy-to-use triggering functions for event isolation and offering up to 2000 waveforms per second update rates, Rigol DS1000 series digital oscilloscopes feature capabilities that frequently match those of more expensive DSO's.



Rigol's DS1000E digital oscilloscope was honoured with a 2008 Product of the Year Award from Electronic Products magazine on the strength of its performance, Blackfin-enabled digital filtering capabilities, and overall value in the entry-level oscilloscope market. Underpinning the DS1000E is a Blackfin processor architecture that enables flexible peripheral connectivity, with a parallel peripheral interface (PPI) port, serial ports (SPORTs) and a serial peripheral interface (SPI) allocated for the oscilloscope's LCD, ADI ADC, and keyboard, respectively.



Having achieved great success with its digital oscilloscope designs, Rigol again turned to Blackfin for the signal processing and microcontroller platform within its new family of digital spectrum analyzers. Rigol's new entry-level (9 kHz to 3 GHz) DSA1030A spectrum analyser is optimised for RF spectrum analysis applications requiring bench-calibre performance and intuitive controls in a portable, low cost design.



Within the DSA1030A, Blackfin provides the signal processing engine for advanced digital filtering, and system controller capabilities that manage the system's user interface, remote control and Ethernet functions. Blackfin's convergent architecture reduces system power consumption by minimising off-chip component communication, and its low-power features further enabled Rigol's system designers to maximise the DSA1030A's battery life.



Blackfin is renowned among test and measurement equipment vendors for its price-to-performance, low-power and connectivity attributes, all of which are critical elements for product designs that enable rich functionality in compact form factors, said Anders Frederiksen, global industrial marketing manager, GPDSP division, Analog Devices. Innovative companies like Rigol count on Blackfin's convergent architecture to simplify the product development process and realise significant design efficiencies, which ultimately enables them to provide greater value to their customers.



A Convergent Future Demands Blackfin-Class Processing

Analog Devices' Blackfin 16/32-bit embedded processors enable engineers to advance the intelligence, functionality and connectivity of any application that benefits from a convergence of digital signal processing and control processing in a unified architecture. Delivering exceptional price/performance and energy efficiency, and complemented by a rich ecosystem of development tools, applications and third-party support, Blackfin is the processor of choice for a wide range of innovative applications including industrial, medical, automotive, security, digital home entertainment and portable devices. Blackfin can be found on Twitter: @Blackfin or the LinkedIn Group: Analog Devices Blackfin