- Pickering Interfaces, a provider of modular switching and signal simulation solutions for electronic test and verification, announces the availability of hardware and software simulation tools.
- These tools allow test engineers to begin writing and verifying code for their test program, freeing them from any supply chain constraints.
The software and hardware tools can simulate all of Pickering’s PXI and LXI switching products and most of its PXI simulation products. They are intended to support rapid code development independent of the test application’s hardware.
“With Pickering’s simulation tools, engineers can begin evaluating hardware or testing code immediately. They can use these tools to easily select the most optimal Pickering products for their test application. Then, as soon as the hardware arrives, they are ready to deploy their test system,” said Noman Hussain, vice president of software at Pickering Interfaces.
These simulation tools aim to:
- Mitigate supply chain risk: Applications can be designed and developed without physical hardware. This allows test teams to start working on a test system immediately, while waiting for the hardware to be delivered.
- Accelerate the traditional waterfall development process and perform multiple development steps at once.
- Debug code without physical hardware, pre-qualify equipment, and test software code early in the development process. Switching routes that previously could not be verified and debugged later when the hardware was available can now be verified before the hardware arrives. Simulating switch modules before using physical components also minimizes the risk of damaging expensive test system hardware during the verification phase.
PXI simulation software is now part of the standard Pickering PXI driver installation, while LXI simulation software is a stand-alone Windows application that can emulate Pickering’s switching and simulation products in a virtual environment. Engineers can use both PXI and LXI software simulations to interact with their test programs.
The LXI simulation tool (Model 60-901) is a plug-and-play device. By simply connecting the power and Ethernet cords, downloading and installing the free Pickering drivers and then selecting the appropriate modules to test from Pickering, engineers can run a simulation and then easily reprogram the tool to simulate different modules. These features provide access to thousands of modules in just a few clicks.
