1. Software-designed Instrumentation,
the evolution for Wireless testing
Alexsander Loula
Business Development Manager
National Instruments Brazil
ni.com

2. Company overview
 Founded in 1976 and HQ in Austin, TX
• Dr. James Truchard, President, CEO, and
Cofounder
• Jeff Kodosky, NI Business and Technology
Fellow, and Cofounder
 30+ years growth and profitability
• $1.04B revenue in 2012
 6500+ employees; operations in 45+
countries
 FORTUNE’s 100 Best Companies to
Work For list for 12 consecutive years
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3. The motivation…
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4. In a recent past
 Pope election in 2005 / 8 years ago
Source: http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/papst-momente-bilder-zeigen-vergleich-zwischen-2005-und-2013-a-889031.html
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5. Nowadays
 Pope election in 2013
Source: http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/papst-momente-bilder-zeigen-vergleich-zwischen-2005-und-2013-a-889031.html
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6. Evolution in Technology = Evolution in Product
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7. Increasing complexity
802.11abg
802.11n
802.11ad
802.11ac
CDMA
Bluetooth
EDGE
GPS
LTE
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GSM
NFC
RFID
GLONASS
ZigBee
LTE-A
WiMAX

8. Today’s expectations of the perfect wireless test
instrument
image courtesy of Wade Lowdermilk, BAE Systems
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9. Expectation: More functionality
image courtesy of Wade Lowdermilk, BAE Systems
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10. Expectation: Smaller footprint
image courtesy of Wade Lowdermilk, BAE Systems
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11. Expectation: Reduced cost
image courtesy of Wade Lowdermilk, BAE Systems
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12. Expectation: Accelerated delivery
image courtesy of Wade Lowdermilk, BAE Systems
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13. Expectations force a redefinition of instruments
More Functionality
Reduced Cost
Smaller Footprint
Accelerated Delivery
images courtesy of Wade Lowdermilk, BAE Systems
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14. ni.com

15. The Software-designed Approach
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16. RF Software-designed Instrumentation
Basic Block Diagram
VSA
(High Performance
RX FE)
FPGA
(DSP)
VSG
(High Performance
TX FE)
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Bus
CPU
Multicore

17. High Performance RF Front Ends
Example 802.11ac:
• Modulation: 256 QAM OFDM
• BW: 80MHz
• Level: -20 dBm
EVM:
• Specification: ≥ -42 dB
• Measured: -47.67
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18. FPGA Power and Open-source driver
Programmable by the user with high level environment
Open, easily and fully programmable
by the user
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19. The best of both Worlds: CPU & FPGA
FPGA
Performance
(GMACs)
CPU
Performance
(GFLOPs)
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20. Bus Performance
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21. Support for several wireless standards
WLAN
Bluetooth
LTE
802.11
a/b/g/n/ac
(2.1+EDR)
(FDD/TDD)
WCDMA
& HSPA+
CDMA2000
EV-DO
RFID/NFC
ZigBee
GSM/EDGE +
AM/FM/RDS
GNSS
GPS, GLONASS
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WiMAX

22. How institutions are using the
Software-designed Instrumentation
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25. “Overall, this new system was 10 times faster and 3 times less
expensive than the previous solution. The platform also provided
the flexibility needed to adapt to all the different digital and RF
standards.”
- Sylvain Bertrand, ST Ericsson
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26. ni.com
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27. Qualcomm Results for WLAN tests
802.11a + b + g
+ 802.11n
+ 802.11ac
Early 2000 - Traditional
Rack and Stack
2007 - NI PXI RF
Instrumentation
2012 - NI PXI Vector Signal
Transceiver
10X Faster Than
Traditional
200X Faster Than
Traditional
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28. "Using the Software-designed Instrument and the WLAN
Measurement Suite, we improved test speeds by more than 200
times compared to traditional rack-and-stack instruments while
significantly improving test coverage.“
- Doug Johnson, Qualcomm Atheros
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29. ni.com
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30. 5G Research
mmWave
GFDM
Source mmWave: http://www.profheath.org/hot-topics/millimeter-wave-cellular-systems/
Source GFDM: https://mns.ifn.et.tu-dresden.de/Lists/nPublications/Attachments/750/FutureNetworkSummitPaper.pdf
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31. Summary
•
Increasing device complexity requires a flexible and
software adaptable test platform
•
The set of FPGA, CPU and bus technologies is essential
for the Software-designed Instruments
•
High performance RF front ends are key to support the
newest wireless standards
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32. Q&A
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33. Thank You!
NI Brazil
(011) 3149-3149
brasil.ni.com
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