Test-equipment and measurement-software supplier National Instruments has revealed its take on the most significant trends in test and measurement for 2009. The trends include increased adoption of software-defined instrumentation (also known as virtual instruments), the increased adoption of parallel processing technologies based on the latest multicore microprocessors, increase in the use of system-level tools for field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), and the expansion of wireless and protocol-aware testing.
According to Eric Starkloff, Vice-President of Product Marketing for Test and Measurement Products at National Instruments, "The challenging world economy is forcing more companies to look at alternatives to their existing test engineering strategies. More engineers than ever before are turning to software-defined instrumentation and the latest commercial technologies to achieve significant performance and flexibility gains while reducing their overall cost of test." For more details on National Instruments' vision of test and measurement requirements in 2009, visit the firm's web site.