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|In: Embedded|Last Updated:

National Instruments, the provider of solutions that enable engineers & scientists to solve the world’s greatest engineering challenges, announced the LabVIEW Communications System Design Suite, which combines software defined radio [SDR] hardware with a comprehensive software design flow to help engineers prototype 5G systems.

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Wireless prototyping was previously undertaken by separate design teams using disparate design tools. The LabVIEW Communications environment enables the entire design team to map an idea from algorithm to FPGA using a single high-level representation. This approach empowers designers to focus on innovation instead of implementation, which increases the rate and quality of their prototyping.

According to Jessy Cavazos, industry director for Test & Measurement at Frost & Sullivan

SDR has become the standard for prototyping next-generation wireless systems. The addition of the FPGA to the x86 architecture has expanded the flexibility of the platform but adds the need for specialized skills and tools. LabVIEW Communications leverages existing IP, including algorithms in C and .m, so designers can integrate the right language for the right task all within a single design environment.

LabVIEW Communications is optimized for the SDR platform with a hardware-aware design environment that provides control of physical configuration, hardware constraints & system documentation in a functional software diagram. This adds the flexibility of the hardware to the software, which gives designers access to all components in the SDR platform. Using this deeply integrated solution helps designers achieve optimal performance by eliminating the need to manually map algorithms to different hardware architectures.

According to James Kimery, Director of RF and Communications at NI

LabVIEW Communications includes built-in application frameworks for WiFi & LTE that enable wireless prototypers to focus on innovating specific components of existing standards rather than designing a new algorithm from scratch. For some of the academic & industry researchers in our lead user program, this approach has cut the time to a validated prototype in half.

Shelley Gretlein, director of Software Marketing at NI, added

The number of wireless devices continues to grow exponentially despite the limitations of existing prototype tools. LabVIEW Communications helps bridge the gap between the ongoing rollout of 4G & the to-be-determined 5G standards of the future. As NI continues to innovate its SDR platform of flexible hardware and powerful prototyping software, we will enable the design of next-generation communication systems.

More technical details can be found at NI LabView Communications

About NI LabVIEW

LabVIEW is a graphical programming environment used by millions of engineers and scientists to develop sophisticated measurement, test & control systems using intuitive graphical icons & wires that resemble a flowchart. The unique LabVIEW graphical development environment makes interfacing with any measurement device simple and features interactive assistants, code generation and connectivity to thousands of devices for easy data gathering. Because LabVIEW connects to virtually any measurement device and design tool, you can incorporate new LabVIEW applications into existing systems without risking your application investment.

|In: Accelerator|Last Updated:

TE Connectivity Ltd, a world leader in connectivity, announced the official opening of its TE Wearables Lab in Menlo Park, California. Exclusively focused on wearable technologies across consumer, medical, industrial and defense businesses, the lab serves as a collaboration center for TE’s team of engineers, scientists and its customers throughout the design process.

According to IDC, shipments of wearable devices will exceed 19 million units in 2014, more than tripling last year’s sales. From there, the global market is expected to swell to 111.9 million units in 2018. This growth is a key indicator of the market potential and importance for continued industry innovation.

One of the first products to come out of the TE’s Wearables Lab is a first-of-its-kind, wireless power development kit for wearable devices. For the first time, TE will introduce a solution that addresses the need for miniaturization as well as low power requirements for wearables. Set for broader distribution in early 2015, the kit will include a small 2.5W charger with integrated magnet for attachment to a wearable device, as well as a complete RX coil and electronics for integration.

TE engineers miniaturized the electronic system & the coil to make it possible for wearable designers to quickly prototype their products and develop a customized solution to meet their design requirements.

TE’s Wearables Lab team consists of professionals with extensive skill sets and experiences. These individuals range from electrical and mechanical engineers to materials science experts, pioneering the use of conductive materials including embedding electronic systems in textiles.

The TE’s Wearables Lab is currently being used by a number of start-up and growth stage companies ranging from design to manufacturing and integration companies. TE’s ability to collaborate across the wearables ecosystem is one of its strengths, coupled with breadth of products and technologies. One key customer, Sensoplex, is an expert systems company that designs and supplies high performance sports and wellness wearable products to OEM companies.

In addition to working with customers on custom and existing products, the TE Wearables Lab team is also exploring innovations around wireless power and conductivity across textiles, plastics and other materials. With TE’s unmatched product portfolio, the company expects to be enabling connectivity across tens of millions of wearable devices globally in the next year.

Speaking on the collaboration, Brady Forrest, Vice President, Highway1 [Accelerator focused on helping early seed stage hardware start-ups take ideas from prototype to scalable product] said:

Innovation is part of our DNA. When we met TE and heard their vision for connectivity, things clicked. Together we have a real opportunity to enable a hardware revolution and help the next generation of innovators get off the ground.

For further details on the TE Wearables Lab, please visit TE Wearables Lab