Eight-core processor boosts PXIe controller test performance

8th March 2015

NI-Emerson

Mick Elliott

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Datasheet

NI has unveiled the NI PXIe-8880 controller, which is based on the Intel Xeon processor, and the NI PXIe-1085 chassis, the industry’s first chassis that uses PCI Express Gen 3 technology. The combination of the eight-core, server-class Intel Xeon processor E5-2618L v3 and full system bandwidth of 24 GB/s delivers high performance for computationally intensive and highly parallel applications such as wireless test, semiconductor test and 5G prototyping.

NI claims users who use the flexibility of the PXI platform to replace previous generation controllers with the NI PXIe-8880 will see up to double the performance in their test and measurement applications.

“Over the past two decades, we have witnessed a gradual shift from traditional instrumentation in favour of the PXI platform for automated test,” said Jessy Cavazos, Industry Manager for Measurement and Instrumentation at Frost & Sullivan. “With the addition of Intel Xeon processor technology, we expect the adoption of PXI to only increase for high-performance applications.”

NI collaborated with Intel to deliver the server-class power of Intel Xeon processors to the test and measurement market. The embedded controller features eight cores, up to 24 GB of DDR4 memory and 24 lanes of PCI Express Gen 3 connectivity to the backplane. This provides engineers and scientists with up to twice the processing power and bandwidth compared to previous generation controllers. In addition, the new 18-slot chassis incorporates PCI Express Gen 3 technology with eight lanes per slot for a matched total system bandwidth of 24 GB/s, so any test and measurement system can scale well into the future.

“The use of the latest Intel Xeon processors is a new milestone for our collaboration with NI,” said Shahram Mehraban, Director of Market Development for Industrial IoT at Intel. “The Internet of Things requires the highest possible processing power to reduce time to market and lower the cost of test, and NI’s approach with PXI is critical toward that goal.”

When paired with LabVIEW system design software, this next-generation PXI controller and chassis combination empowers engineers and scientists to turn 24 GB/s of test and measurement data into readily usable insight.