AUSTIN, TX /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- National Instruments (NASDAQ:NATI) announced the availability of more than 100 C Series plug-in modules from National Instruments and third-party companies. With more than 50 modules from NI, 50 third-party modules and a multitude of chassis available, there are numerous configuration options to address a wide variety of measurement and embedded control needs. Engineers and scientists can insert NI C Series modules into any of the C Series family of chassis including NI CompactDAQ, NI CompactRIO and the NI R Series expansion chassis to create a variety of mixed measurement systems. Additionally, they can use the third-party modules in any of the field-programmable gate array (FPGA)-based chassis, including all NI CompactRIO and R Series expansion chassis.
"Reaching 100 C Series modules is a big milestone and a powerful testament to the popularity and flexibility of the C Series platform," said John Hanks, vice president of industrial and embedded product lines at National Instruments. "With the NI and third-party modules, customers are building sophisticated systems in record time compared to traditional methods."
NI CompactRIO features the NI reconfigurable I/O (RIO) architecture, which is composed of a real-time processor, an FPGA and integrated I/O connectivity. Using this standard architecture, engineers and scientists can rapidly design and prototype advanced control and embedded devices on hardware such as CompactRIO and quickly deploy their systems on the lower-cost CompactRIO integrated systems or NI Single-Board RIO hardware to reduce development costs. In addition to CompactRIO, engineers and scientists can use NI and third-party C Series modules with the NI 9144 EtherCAT slave chassis for high-performance deterministic distributed I/O over EtherCAT. Integrators and third-party resellers also can design their own custom C Series modules for CompactRIO and add-on boards for NI Single-Board RIO with the NI cRIO-9951 Module Development Kit (MDK).
NI CompactDAQ USB chassis provides the plug-and-play simplicity of USB to sensor and electrical measurements on the benchtop, in the field and on the production line. By combining more than 50 NI C Series modules with NI signal streaming technology, the NI CompactDAQ platform delivers high-speed data and ease of use in a flexible, mixed-measurement system. The NI CompactDAQ chassis connects to any device or computer running a full Windows OS and can hold up to eight NI C Series modules.
Engineers and scientists can use all C Series modules with NI LabVIEW software, a graphical programming environment that uses intuitive graphical icons and wires that resemble a flowchart to develop sophisticated measurement, test and control systems. NI LabVIEW offers integration with thousands of hardware devices, provides hundreds of built-in libraries for advanced analysis and data visualization and is scalable across multiple targets and OSs.
About National Instruments
National Instruments is transforming the way engineers and scientists design, prototype and deploy systems for measurement, automation and embedded applications. NI empowers customers with off-the-shelf software such as NI LabVIEW and modular cost-effective hardware, and sells to a broad base of more than 30,000 different companies worldwide, with no one customer representing more than 3 percent of revenue and no one industry representing more than 15 percent of revenue. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, NI has more than 5,000 employees and direct operations in more than 40 countries. For the past 11 years, FORTUNE magazine has named NI one of the 100 best companies to work for in America.