NI Releases Automated Test Outlook Report

National Instruments (NI) has released the 2017 Automated Test Outlook report. This report covers key technologies and software-centric platforms for next-generation test devices. According to NI, he report is divided into sections and the following trends:

• Reconfigurable Instrumentation: Test systems are reconfigured for many reasons – from adapting to new test requirements to accommodating instrument substitutions during calibration and repair cycles.
• Optimizing Test Organizations: Transforming a test organization into a strategic asset requires commitment to a long-term phased approach from creating standard test platforms to building a data infrastructure to improving decision making.
• Software-Centric Ecosystems: The software-centric nature of technology can transform the capability of automated test systems to help drive increased levels of productivity and collaboration.
• Managed Test Systems: As Moore’s Law continues to influence the performance of test systems, new data and communication technologies help test managers optimize their test systems to lower the cost of test.
• Driven by Necessity: Safety regulations and software are pushing hardware-in-the-loop testing to the forefront of transportation manufacturing in an increasingly software-driven world.

“The first era of modern instrumentation was led by General Radio and the vacuum tube; the second era was led by Hewlett-Packard and the transistor; today in the third era, National Instruments and software lead the way,” said James Truchard, co-founder and chairman of the board at NI. “We use the phrase ‘the software is the instrument’ to describe this trend. Our user-defined approach to the design of instrumentation systems for test and measurement puts engineers and scientists in the driver’s seat in innovating next-generation products, unlike traditional instruments, which were designed with last year’s needs in mind. In other words, they were designed looking in the rearview mirror.”

For more information, visit National Instruments.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.