AUSTIN, TX -- National Instruments has released its annual look at test and measurement technology and methodology trends.

The 2012 Automated Test Outlook report details trends affecting numerous industries including consumer electronics, automotive, semiconductor, aerospace and defense, medical devices and communications. With insight from the report, engineers and managers can take advantage of the latest strategies and best practices for optimizing any test organization.

Among the forecasts: “Open,” user-programmable FPGAs on measurement hardware, which offer many advantages over processor-only systems. Because of their immense computational capabilities, FPGAs can deliver higher test throughput and greater test coverage, which reduces test time and capital expenditures. The low latency of FPGA measurements also provides the ability to implement tests that are not possible on a microprocessor alone. Their inherent parallelism offers true multisite test, even more so than with multicore processors. FPGAs can play a key role in real-time test hardware sequencing and DUT control, the report says.

The 2012 report is organized into five categories: Business Strategy, Architectures, Computing, Software and I/O. It discusses the following major trends:

• Optimizing Test Organizations. Organizations are elevating test engineering to a strategic asset to gain a competitive edge over the competition.
• Measurements and Simulation in the Design Flow. Combining sophisticated models with real-world measurements improves product quality and reduces development time.
• PCI Express External Interfaces. The high-speed, low-latency bus internal to the PC is empowering new system topologies with external interface enhancements.
• Proliferation of Mobile Devices. The fact of a "smartphone in every pocket and a tablet in every bag" is changing how test systems are being controlled and monitored.
• Portable Measurement Algorithms. New tools are making it possible for measurement IP to be developed once and then deployed to a wide array of disparate processing elements.

The 2012 Automated Test Outlook is based on input from academic and industry research, user forums and surveys, business intelligence and customer advisory board reviews. With this data as its foundation, the report delivers a broad representation of the next generation of trends for meeting the business and technical challenges in test and measurement.

The Automated Test Outlook is part of the NI Test Leadership Council, which National Instruments created to share the best practices collected from working with thousands of global customers across multiple industries. The NI Test Leadership Council facilitates peer discussions among the leaders in test to provide both business and technical insight. Test Leadership Council activities include leadership summits, facilitated peer networking and technology exchanges.

To view the 2012 Automated Test Outlook, readers can visit www.ni.com/ato.