National Instruments

Company:
National Instruments Corporation

Product Name:
Programmable I/O Modules for PXI Products

Product Type:
Data Acquisition

Altera Products Chosen:
Cyclone^® FPGAs
Quartus^® II Software

Read NI Announces Cyclone FPGA-Based I/O Products
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National Instruments released a family of low-cost industrial digital I/O modules that delivers a high-reliability feature set using Cyclone FPGAs. These features, not all previously available for digital I/O modules on a single PCI module, include watchdog timers, change detection, input filters, and power-up states, all of which are programmable through software without jumpers. 

Each of the modules feature an I/O connector, opto-couplers for isolation, interface to PCI/PXI bus, and an Altera Cyclone FPGA to implement the industrial feature set. Early in the development of the product, incorporating these features on a PCI/PXI board seemed to be a daunting task, faced with tight deadlines, low target cost of the board, and a new development team.

"We wanted to introduce powerful industrial features at the lowest cost in our new digital boards. By using the Altera Cyclone FPGA and Quartus II software tools, we were able to develop in a short time 12 new digital I/O products with superior industrial features and an aggressive price."

Keith Winkeler
Engineering Section Manager for Data Acquisition & Control

“Cyclone FPGAs are impressive, and we are using them to replace standard products and low-end ASICs. The Cyclone family allows us to add functionality and retain flexibility while still keeping our costs to a minimum, and we now have many Cyclone designs completed or in progress.”

Keith Odom
Director of Engineering, Architecture & Technology