Company Profile

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Committed to Engineers and Scientists

Since 1976, National Instruments has equipped engineers and scientists with tools that accelerate productivity, innovation, and discovery. NI's graphical system design approach provides an integrated software and hardware platform that simplifies development of any system that needs measurement and control. Engineers and scientists use this platform from design to production in multiple industries, advanced research, and academia. The company's long-term vision and focus on improving society through its technology has led to strong, consistent company growth and success of its customers, employees, suppliers, and shareholders.

Contact Information:


Phone: (800) 433-3488

Location:


National Instruments
11500 N Mopac Expwy.
Austin TX 78759
United States

MaxLinear and NI Collaborate to Simplify Validation of Wideband Power Amplifiers for 5G Networks

RF Design Validation Engineers Can Now Easily Test Cutting Edge Dual Band Linearization IP from Their RF Workbench

MaxLinear, Inc. and NI announced the integration of MaxLinear’s dual-band RF PA linearization algorithms into NI’s RFIC test software, empowering extensive validation of new wideband, cellular infrastructure PA designs leading to increased power efficiency and lower non-linear effects.

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National Instruments to Acquire OptimalPlus

National Instruments Corporation (NI) announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire OptimalPlus Ltd., expanding NI’s enterprise software capabilities to provide customers with business-critical insights through advanced product analytics across their product development flow and supply chain.

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NI Announces Sub THz Testbed for 6G Research

NI

To support 6G research, NI has developed a real-time sub THz software-defined radio (SDR) built on NI’s mmWave transceiver system (MTS) and Virginia Diodes’ (VDI) radio heads. Using the VDI radio heads, the frequency range of the MTS extends into the sub THz range.

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NI Releases New Infrastructure for Deployed Systems Management

NI has announced SystemLink, application software for distributed systems management. SystemLink helps improve operational efficiency and decrease maintenance costs through a centralized interface for automating tasks such as software deployment, remote device configuration and system health performance monitoring.

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Bristol and BT Collaborate on Massive MIMO Trials for 5G Wireless

The quest for highly efficient 5G wireless connectivity has been given a boost thanks to a collaboration between a team of 5G engineers from the Universities of Bristol and Lund, National Instruments (NI), and BT Labs, one of the world’s leading providers of communications services. The research team has undertaken field trials of a massive MIMO system at the BT Labs in Adastral Park, Suffolk. The trials were conducted in a large indoor hall mimicking a stadium environment and outdoors within the Adastral Park campus.

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NI AWR software showcased at multiple events during EuMW 2016 

NI AWR Design Environment will be showcased at multiple events during European Microwave Week 2016 (EuMW 2016), from October 4-6 in London. NI AWR software demonstrations on display in Booth #4 include the latest applications featuring load pull, radar systems, antenna design, AWR Connected™ third-party integration flows and the newest product in the NI AWR design software portfolio, AntSyn™ , a cloud-based software as a service (SaaS) for antenna synthesis and optimization solution. Booth visitors will also be treated to a special sneak peek of select new features in the upcoming V13 release.

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NI and Astronics introduce new PXI instruments for Aerospace and Defense

NI and Astronics Test Systems Inc., (ATS) a wholly-owned subsidiary of Astronics Corp. announced the Astronics PXIe-6943 Digital Test Instrument, Astronics PXIe-3352 Rubidium Clock Source and Astronics PXIe-1209 Pulse Pattern Generator. The three new test instruments accompany the previously released Astronics PXIe-2461 Frequency Time Interval Counter and are the latest products from NI and Astronics’ collaboration to provide PXI-based instruments with test program set-(TPS-) compatible software for existing VXI instruments.

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NI AWR software featured in RF/Microwave power amplifier forum at EuMW 2016

NI AWR Design Environment will be featured in the third annual NI-sponsored RF/Microwave Power Amplifier Forum being held during European Microwave Week (EuMW 2016), October 4-6 in London. Entitled Device Technologies, Characterization, Modeling and End-Use Applications, the forum takes place on Wednesday, October 5 from 9:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. in Room 6, Conference Area Level 3.

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NI Announces CEO Transition Plan

NI, the provider of platform-based systems that enable engineers and scientists to solve the world's greatest engineering challenges, announced that its board of directors has elected Alex Davern, to serve as chief executive officer and president of National Instruments, effective January 1, 2017. Davern will succeed Dr. James Truchard, who has served as the chief executive officer of NI since the company's founding in 1976. Dr. Truchard will remain as chairman of the board.

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NI announces world’s first application framework for massive MIMO

NI, the provider of platform-based systems that enable engineers and scientists to solve the world’s greatest engineering challenges, announced the world’s first MIMO Application Framework. When paired with NI software defined radio hardware, this software reference design provides a well-documented, reconfigurable, parameterized physical layer written and delivered in LabVIEW source code that enables researchers to build both traditional MIMO and Massive MIMO prototypes.

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NI announces industry’s highest precision PXI source measure unit

NI announced the NI PXIe-4135 source measure unit (SMU) with a measurement sensitivity of 10 fA and voltage output up to 200 V. Engineers can use the NI PXIe-4135 SMU to measure low-current signals and take advantage of the high channel density, fast test throughput and flexibility of NI PXI SMUs for applications such as wafer-level parametric test, materials research and characterization of low-current sensors and ICs.

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AWR Connected for ANSYS expands to tie HFSS S-parameters into Microwave Office software

AWR Connected™ for ANSYS now offers an integrated two-way link between ANSYS® HFSS™ and NI AWR Design Environment™, specifically Microwave Office circuit design software, enabling RF/microwave designers to seamlessly tie HFSS extracted S-parameters back into NI AWR software. This integration unites two industry-standard design tools, HFSS full-wave electromagnetic (EM) field simulation and Microwave Office, to quickly and accurately simulate microwave circuits.

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NI introduces test solution for 802.11ax high-efficiency wireless

NI, the provider of platform-based systems that enable engineers and scientists to solve the world’s greatest engineering challenges, announced an early access version of the WLAN Measurement Suite with support for the IEEE 802.11ax (draft 0.1) high-efficiency wireless draft standard. The WLAN Measurement Suite, combined with NI’s RF vector signal transceiver (VST), empowers engineers to measure the performance of their 802.11ax designs confidently in the presence of significant new changes to the 802.11 physical layer specification.

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NI announces industry’s most accurate 7½-digit digital multimeter

NI, a provider of platform-based systems that enable engineers and scientists to solve the world’s greatest engineering challenges, announced the NI PXIe-4081 7½-digit high-performance DMM and 1.8 MS/s isolated digitizer. The NI PXIe-4081 is the first PXI Express DMM available. It offers engineers the flexibility, resolution and isolation needed to tackle challenging applications that require smarter test systems in industries ranging from consumer electronics to aerospace and defense.

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NI AWR Software showcased in slate of activities at IMS2016

NI AWR Design Environment™ will be showcased in a slate of activities at the International Microwave Symposium (IMS) 2016, taking place in San Francisco May 22-27. A number of NI AWR software demonstrations on load-pull and radar systems, as well as antenna design and third-party integration flows will be on display in Booth #1529. Also being showcased is AntSyn™, a new, cloud-based software as a service (SaaS) antenna synthesis and optimization solution that enables designers to input their antenna engineering requirements and produce antenna designs as outputs.

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NI announces world’s first mmWave software defined radio to help speed 5G research

NI, the provider of solutions that enable engineers and scientists to solve the world’s greatest engineering challenges, announcedtoday the world’s first software defined radio (SDR) for the millimeter wave (mmWave) spectrum. The new NI mmWave Transceiver System is a full transceiver that can transmit and/or receive wide-bandwidth signals at an unprecedented 2 GHz real-time bandwidth, covering the spectrum in the E-band, 71 to 76 GHz.

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Technion students design synthetic aperture radar simulator using NI AWR Design Environment

The students at Technion—Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, Israel have successfully designed a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) using NI AWR Design Environment™. The design challenge was to build an efficient, easy-to-use SAR simulator that would connect to MATLAB for signal processing and that could handle many targets on the surface and then use MATLAB to calculate the object shapes.

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NI Automated Test Outlook reinforces need for smarter test systems

NI announced the release of its Automated Test Outlook 2016. The annual test and measurement report delivers a comprehensive view of the key trends expected to impact automated test environments with the proliferation of connected devices, from preparing to test mmWave communication to effectively using manufacturing test data to propel business results.

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NI and Astronics collaborate to revitalize legacy aerospace and defense test systems

NI and Astronics Test Systems Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Astronics Corp. announced their collaborative efforts to deliver PXI-based products designed for the aerospace and defense community. The combination of Astronics’ strength in test system integration and NI’s leadership in PXI-based automated test systems is expected to produce a best-in-class portfolio for automated test equipment (ATE) applications.

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NI acquires Micropross, strengthens platform for wireless test

National Instruments, a leading provider of platform-based test systems that enable engineers and scientists to solve the world's greatest engineering challenges, announced its acquisition of Micropross, a company based near Lille, France, a technology innovator and leading supplier of test systems for Near Field Communications (NFC), smart cards and wireless charging test systems. Micropross will continue to operate as a wholly owned NI subsidiary under the leadership of the existing management team.

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AWR Connected for Antenna Magus supports NI AWR Design Environment V12

NI (formerly AWR Corp.) announces that AWR Connected™ for Antenna Magusnow supports the 64-bit V12 release of NI AWR Design Environment™. This interface between the respective firms' software products expedites antenna design from synthesis within Antenna Magus to full circuit/ electromagnetic (EM) simulation with Microwave Office circuit design software and AXIEM 3D planar EM simulation.

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NI drives down cost of wireless production test

NI, the provider of platform-based systems that enable engineers and scientists to solve the world’s greatest engineering challenges, released the Wireless Test System (WTS), a solution that dramatically lowers the cost of high-volume wireless manufacturing test. Although faced with the rising complexity of wireless test, companies can confidently reduce test costs and multiply throughput on the production floor with a system optimized for measurement speed and parallel test.

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NI AWR Design Environment software featured at NIWeek 2015

 NI (formerly AWR Corporation) announces that NI AWR Design Environment™ will be on display within the Academic Forum, 5G/RF Pavilion and two technical sessions - High-Efficiency PAs for High PAR Signals Using an NI-Based Platform and Improving the Semiconductor Design-to-Test Flow Panel - during NIWeek 2015, August 3-5 in Austin, Texas.  

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NI AWR Design Environment supports Design Workshop Technologies DRC and LVS tools

NI (formerly AWR Corp.) announces AWR Connected™ for DWT, a new NI AWR Design Environment™ flow that enables integration with Design Workshop Technologies’ (DWT) design-rule checking (DRC) and/or layout vs. schematic (LVS) tools for printed circuit board (PCB) and module design.  The new AWR Connected for DWT DRC and LVS flow can run in one of two ways: in the full view/DWT user-interface (UI) mode or transparently from within the Microwave Office UI. 

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NI AWR Design Environment V12 pre-release now available

NI (formerly AWR Corp.), announces that NI AWR Design Environment™ V12—the first major software release in 2015—is now available as a pre-release to select customers, partners and evaluators. Previewing for the first time at International Microwave Symposium 2015 (IMS2015) at NI Booth #2431, this latest release boasts new load-pull and antenna- and radar-specific features, as well as ease-of-use improvements, speed enhancements and third-party integration flows.

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NI Microwave Component's QuickSyn lite frequency synthesizers now extended to millimeter wave

 NI Microwave Component's popular QuickSyn Lite frequency synthesizers are now extended to millimeter wave. The new synthesizer modules employ the same revolutionary phase-refining technology that all QuickSyn products use to enable fast switching speed, low phase noise, compact size, and low cost. The modules are available in three popular bands—27 to 40 GHz, 50 to 67 GHz, and 76 to 82 GHz—and are designed to supply medium power output. These new products present a very cost-effective solution for applications requiring a stable and clean CW millimeter-wave source. 

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MACOM designs Ka-Band MMIC power amplifier with NI AWR Design Environment

MACOM designers used NI AWR Design Environment™ software inclusive of Microwave Office circuit design software, AXIEM 3D planar EM simulator, Analyst™ 3D FEM simulator, and APLAC harmonic balance (HB) simulator to successfully design and simulate a 4 W Ka-band PA using a 2 mil thick 0.15 um GaAs pseudomorphic high-electron mobility transistor (pHEMT) process.

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National Instruments to showcase NI AWR software during IMS2015

NI (formerly AWR Corp.), will showcase NI AWR software throughout the International Microwave Symposium 2015 (IMS2015) in a number of ways. A preview of V12 NI AWR Design Environment™ software, including new load-pull and antenna features, as well as ease of use, speed enhancements and third-party integration flows, will be on display inside NI booth #2431. IMS2015 runs from May 17-22 in Phoenix.

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Cobham Wireless and NI partner for cellular and connectivity applications

Cobham Wireless, formerly the Wireless Test Business of Aeroflex, and NI, the provider of platform-based systems that enable engineers and scientists to solve the world’s greatest engineering challenges, announced a worldwide partnership to service applications in cellular and connectivity with solutions based on PXI technology.

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National Instruments reports record revenue and net income for 2014

National Instruments (NI) announced Q4 revenue of $333 million, up 11 percent year-over-year. The company's total orders were up 13 percent for the quarter with orders under $20,000 up 5 percent year-over-year; orders between $20,000 and $100,000 up 13 percent year-over-year; and orders above $100,000 up 36 percent year-over-year. In Q4 2014, NI recognized $7 million in revenue from its largest customer, compared with $4 million recognized in Q4 2013.

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NI AWR to feature software demos, MicroApps, PA Forum & more at EuMW

 Welcome to NI AWR Booth #103. At the booth, we will be showcasing a wide variety of software demonstrations of our recently released V11 NI AWR Design Environment™, which includes Microwave Office, Analog Office, Visual System Simulator™ (VSS), AXIEM, and Analyst™ for the design of MMICs, RF PCBs, microwave modules, RFICs, communication systems, radar systems, antennas and more. 

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National Instruments introduces USRP RIO next-generation wireless prototyping platform

National Instruments announced an integrated software defined radio solution for rapidly prototyping high-performance, multichannel wireless communication systems. The NI USRP RIO platform is built on the NI LabVIEW RIO architecture and combines a high-performance 2 x 2 multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) RF transceiver capable of transmitting and receiving signals from 50 MHz to 6 GHz with an open LabVIEW programmable FPGA architecture.

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National Instruments lead user program paving the way for 5G wireless

National Instruments, a leader in test and measurement, data acquisition and computer automation, is collaborating with several top researchers focused on RF and wireless communications research—specifically fifth generation (5G) wireless communications. The proliferation of smart devices has led to a wireless spectrum shortage, which means researchers are seeking new ways to alleviate the bandwidth crunch and increase network data capacity. Market analysts predict that spectrum demand in the U.S. will outstrip capacity by 2017.

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Phase Matrix achieves 100 GHz diplexed broadband downconversion

Phase Matrix Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of National Instruments, participated in the demonstration of the world's first 100 GHz real-time oscilloscope. The integrated microwave assembly designed by Phase Matrix for the demonstration is a broadband downconverter, which allows the successful acquisitioning and displaying of live signals at 100 GHz bandwidth.

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MILCOM 2012 Sacked by Sandy

The MILCOM management and sponsors made a wise decision to cancel the event this year as most of the east coast was pretty much closed down from hurricane Sandy.  Everyone I know in New England down to the Mid-Atlantic found out over the weekend that their flights were cancelled.  It was a good move and addressed any safety concerns of people trying to get there.  MILCOM even analyzed their attendee list and determined that approximately 40% of them would be affected by the storm so decided to cancel.  I applaud them for taking this action and promoting it quickly to the attendees.  Even though the show was cancelled, there was still a lot of company news and products that I received for the event so here is a summary of the show that did not happen from an RF/microwave perspective.

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EDI CON 2013 announces new participants

EDI CON 2013 (March 12-14, Beijing, China), the industry-driven event for RF, microwave and high speed digital electronic design announces the recent addition of several leading RFIC, component and material manufacturers, semiconductor foundries, EDA software and test equipment/solution providers as participants in the technical program and exhibition. As solution providers in high frequency electronic design and system integration, experts from these companies will offer attendees the latest information on the technology used in today’s communications and aerospace industries.

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Strategy for RFID Validation and Verification Using Software-defined Instrumentation

The global market for radio frequency identification (RFID) continues to expand as the technology repeatedly demonstrates real benefits across multiple application areas at lower cost. To take full advantage of this growing market, companies continue to investigate ways to differentiate themselves through time to market, better performance and research...Read more
STS Software 2019

STS Software 2019

NI announced STS software enhancements that deliver significant improvements to the programming and debugging experience, test execution speed, parallel test efficiency and overall equipment efficiency.

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NI Releases Test Software for the Latest IEEE 802.11ax Draft Standard

NI announced the WLAN Test Toolkit 17.0 with support for Draft 1.1 of the IEEE 802.11ax standard. Combined with NI’s second-generation Vector Signal Transceiver (VST), the WLAN Test Toolkit 17.0 supports 802.11ax waveform generation and analysis for characterization, validation and production test of products, such as RF front end components, wireless modules and user devices, that implement Draft 1.1 of the IEEE 802.11ax standard.

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TPS Compatible Software for PXI-Based Instruments

NI-and-Astronics-Test-SystemsNI and Astronics Test Systems Inc. announced the Astronics PXIe-6943 Digital Test Instrument, Astronics PXIe-3352 Rubidium Clock Source and Astronics PXIe-1209 Pulse Pattern Generator. The three test instruments accompany the previously released Astronics PXIe-2461 Frequency Time Interval Counter and are the latest products from NI and Astronics’ collaboration to provide PXI-based instruments with test program set-(TPS-) compatible software for existing VXI instruments.

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7½-Digit DMM: NI PXIe-4081

Flash-page-0NI announced the NI PXIe-4081 7½-digit high-performance DMM and 1.8 MS/s isolated digitizer. The NI PXIe-4081 is the first PXI Express DMM available. It offers engineers the flexibility, resolution and isolation needed to tackle challenging applications that require smarter test systems. The NI PXIe-4081 is the industry’s most accurate 7½-digit DMM, with an industry-leading 15 ppm accuracy for DC V measurements up to two years after calibration.

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Vector Signal Analyzer: NI PXIe-5668R

NI PXIe-5668RThe NI PXIe-5668R vector signal analyzer (VSA) offers 765 MHz of bandwidth with best-in-class measurement performance and speed. This high-performance microwave signal analyzer meets the challenging requirements of applications such as wireless communications, radio frequency integrated circuit characterization, RADAR test, and spectrum monitoring and signal intelligence.
 

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CompactDAQ

CompactDAQGain the flexibility you need to build a measurement system that meets your application-specific requirements. The CompactDAQ controllers integrate a processor and removable SD storage with high-quality signal conditioned measurements and digital, counter, and communication bus I/O in a small, rugged enclosure. You can reduce system cost and complexity while increasing accuracy.

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NI USRP™ RIO Software

â??NI USRP RIOThe NI USRP™ RIO software-defined radio (SDR) platform provides the optimum balance between price, performance and form factor. Built on the NI LabVIEW reconfigurable I/O (RIO) architecture, NI USRP RIO delivers an integrated hardware and software solution for rapidly prototyping high-performance and high-channel-count wireless communication systems.

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Visual System Simulator

VSS-SquareVisual System Simulator™ (VSS) is a complete software suite for today’s complex communication systems that enables engineers to design the right system architecture and formulate suitable specifications for each of the underlying components. VSS is built upon Unified Data Model™ architecture (as is Microwave Office®) and therefore provides for seamless system and circuit level co-simulation.

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FPGA Module: NI PXIe-7975R

21684The NI PXIe-7975R FPGA module features a digital signal processing (DSP)-focused Xilinx Kintex-7 FPGA and 2 GB/s of onboard DDR3 DRAM. This FPGA incorporates 1,540 DSP slices, which you can use to implement digital filters, custom signal processing, and Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) logic, all of which are commonly found on analog FPGA-based instruments.

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Digitizer: PXIe-5186

PXIe-5186The NI PXIe-5186 digitizer, co-developed by National Instruments and Tektronix, delivers a new level of performance in the small-form-factor, low-power PXI platform. Tektronix technology provides the trusted measurement fidelity of Tektronix oscilloscopes.  The digital back end uses NI synchronization and memory core (SMC) technology to deliver high-data throughput at rates greater than 700 MB/s.

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A Simulation-Based Flow for Broadband GaN Power Amplifier Design

This application note demonstrates a simulation-based methodology for broadband power amplifier (PA) design using load-line, load-pull, and real-frequency synthesis techniques. The design highlighted in this application note is a Class F amplifier created using the Qorvo 30 W gallium nitride (GaN) high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) T2G6003028-FL.

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5 RF Transmitter Measurements Every Engineer Should Know

RF transmitters are an essential part of modern communications. Designed and assembled from core RF components, RF transmitters have many different forms and applications. We often think of RF transmitters in wireless communications, but the concept applies equally to wired applications such as cable television.

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LabVIEW FPGA and Software-Designed RF Instrumentation

National Instruments is leading the way in providing more open and flexible measurement devices based on field-programmable gate array (FPGA) technology. Learn how you can use NI LabVIEW FPGA to design and customize your RF instrumentation, and discover the advantages software-designed instrumentation can provide in your test systems.

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NI RF & Microwave Reference Poster

Request your free copy of the NI RF and microwave poster, a comprehensive reference chart of the latest wireless standards, conversion tables, and formulas.

Order to receive your full color poster by mail.

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Best-in-Class WLAN Measurements

The modern breed of test engineers is already using intuitive new technologies to reduce space and decrease test and development time all in a reduced budget. National Instruments is helping test engineers address these challenges with user-programmable FPGA-based instrumentation. Learn more about the benefits of using an open field-programmable gate array (FPGA) for 802.11ac testing specifically.

 

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What Is a Vector Signal Transceiver (VST)?

Software-defined RF test system architectures have become increasingly popular over the past several decades. Almost every commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) automated RF test system today uses application software to communicate through a bus interface to the instrument. As RF applications become more complex, engineers are continuously challenged with the dilemma of increasing functionality without increasing test times, and ultimately test cost. While improvements in test measurement algorithms, bus speeds, and CPU speeds have reduced test times, further improvements are necessary to address the continued increase in the complexity of RF test applications.

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Redefining RF and Microwave Instrumentation

National Instruments has redefined the traditional approach by combining PXI hardware and NI LabVIEW system design software, leveraging commercial technologies such as multicore microprocessors, user-programmable FPGAs, PCI Express hardware, and system design software to meet the flexibility and scalability demand for future high-frequency test and measurement applications.

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Head to Head: NI PXIe-5665 Versus Traditional Boxed Instruments

This paper discusses the setup details for the demo shown in this video Head to Head: NI 5665 vs. Traditional Boxed Instruments. The demo compares the performance and speed of the NI PXIe-5665 with the Agilent PXA. Rather than comparing the datasheet specifications of both instruments, this video compares the two instruments while performing real- world test scenarios.

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Strategies for Signals Intelligence from Antennas to Analysis

Signals intelligence describes a broad range of applications ranging from communications jamming to identification of interference or pirating signals. While this paper discusses many of the specific needs for each application, it primarily focuses on the techniques required to analyze intermittent or "bursty" RF signals.

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