National Instruments 781011-03 PXI Digital Waveform Instrument

National Instruments' 781011-03, also known as the PXIe-6547, is a digital waveform generator and analyzer. This device has 32 single-ended digital pins and can interface with user-programmable voltage levels with a resolution of 100 mV. It can sample digital waveforms at up to 100 MHz. It is perfect for testing semiconductor devices, such as microcontrollers, ASICs, DACs, and ADCs.

Because of its sophisticated synchronization capabilities, this instrument can be used to construct integrated mixed-signal test systems. It has per-bank digital timing facilities and offers hardware comparison for bit-error testing. The 781011-03 can handle voltage levels between 1.2 and 3.3V, which are compatible with the majority of logic levels. It can create and analyze digital waveforms at a maximum rate of 200 MHz over its 32 bidirectional channels.

The 781011-03 delivers 400 MB/s of output and 660 MB/s of input streaming rates to and from a host PC or high-speed storage solution such as the NI HDD-8264 3 TB RAID array thanks to its x4 PXI Express architecture. With this capacity, high-definition digital video signals can be streamed for generating or acquiring, as well as high-definition audio, RF baseband devices, LCD panels, television components, and high-definition signals (up to 1080p at 60 Hz). For extended periods, the device can produce terabyte waveforms of distinct, high-bandwidth data, which is advantageous for applications in signal intelligence, communications system design, validation, and verification, as well as RF and baseband recording.

The 781011-03 includes enhanced timing and synchronization capabilities. With subhertz resolution up to 200 MHz, its internal direct digital synthesis (DDS) clock enables accurate data clocking without the need for an external clock. In order to further synchronize with other analog or digital instruments, users can import an external clock or share clocks across the PXI backplane via a SMA connector on the front panel. Based on the Synchronization and Memory Core (SMC), it enables subnanosecond resolution synchronization of numerous SMC-based devices through the use of the NI-TCLK API.

Advanced features of the 781011-03 include data delay capabilities for precise positioning of data relative to the clock edge with a resolution better than 150 ps. The scripting features of NI-HSDIO allow linking and looping multiple waveforms without software lag, supported by 64 Mbits per channel of onboard memory.