AUSTIN, TX -- Panasonic engineers are using National Instruments hardware and software to automate testing of new PC boards, the company announced.

Panasonic has combined NI PXI modular hardware instrumentation with NI LabVIEW graphical development software and NI TestStand test management software to create a streamlined automated test system that has decreased the cost of system development and maintenance. the companies said in a press release. The combination of NI hardware and software permits Panasonic to integrate multiple measurement functions into a single PXI test system that reduces physical footprint by more than 50% and significantly decreases power consumption, they said.

"With our previous system, we had separate individuals managing program development and hardware development," said Naoki Okumura, factory planning team manager at Panasonic. "Because our new NI test system is based on the user-friendly graphical programming language of LabVIEW, we no longer require our engineers to have specialized knowledge in program development because our hardware experts now can handle most programming tasks. Additionally, when a corporate customer requires a specification change to the laptops, we can efficiently modify our test system because of the flexibility of LabVIEW and PXI."

Panasonic uses the integrated PXI to test its Toughbook laptops, among others.

• Prev
• Next