InstrumentStudio has been developed to improve the live, interactive use model for modular instruments and makes debugging while running tests more intuitive. Engineers in the aerospace, automotive and semiconductor industries are expected to benefit from a more effective workflow for test system development.
InstrumentStudio is an evolution of the concept of single-instrument soft front panels and taken that into a unified, multi-instrument environment, so engineers can capture screenshots and measurement results in one view from their suite of instruments. It can save project-level configurations for specific devices under test that can be repurposed later or shared with colleagues. That efficiency is seen as key for testing high-mix devices and provides convenient test repeatability for the engineer or technician.
Test engineers often waste valuable time correlating measurements between similar tests that ultimately use different hardware. And in production test, engineers who need to debug on the manufacturing floor may invest in separate hardware either for monitoring their tests or debugging their automated test equipment.
InstrumentStudio is intended to address these challenges by exporting configuration files to programming environments that reproduce settings, thereby simplifying measurement correlation. In addition, test engineers can monitor PXI instrument behaviour by running InstrumentStudio while test sequences execute in parallel, streamlining the debug process. As a result of these seamless interactions with programming environments and test sequences, InstrumentStudio is set to become an important part of a comprehensive software workflow and will help engineers maximise their investment in PXI instrumentation.
InstrumentStudio is the latest addition to NI’s software-centric platform. With LabVIEW engineering system design software at its core and TestStand test management software handling overall execution, this workflow helps to improve productivity in test and validation labs across many industries.
Each piece of the workflow is also interoperable with third-party software to maximize code/IP reuse and draws on the LabVIEW Tools Network ecosystem of add-ons and tools for more application-specific requirements.
InstrumentStudio is included with the purchase of an NI PXI instrument.