- NI (formerly National Instruments) developed and announced the PXI specification in 1997, then made it an open industry standard in 1998.
- Pickering Interfaces was one of the first modular instrumentation manufacturers to adopt it in 1999.
- So it’s now been 25 years since the British supplier of modular switching and signal simulation solutions for electronic test and verification, offered boards in PXI (PCI eXtensions for Instrumentation) format.
“Celebrating 25 years of PXI support is testament to the longevity of the standard. Pickering is proud to reaffirm its commitment as a long-standing supporter and contributor to the PXI ecosystem. It’s hard to believe that the first three modules we developed for PXI 25 years ago are still available and sold today,” says Keith Moore, founder and CEO of Pickering Interfaces,
Developed as an open standard by Texas-based NI (formerly National Instruments), PXI is defined and managed by the PXI Systems Alliance, an industry consortium of over 60 companies worldwide who promote and maintain the PXI standard, ensuring interoperability in operation. Pickering joined the alliance in 1998 and has been a sponsoring member ever since, actively involved in the development of the PXI platform.
“PXI is now the de facto standard for automatic test systems in almost every industry,” said Mark Wetzel, NI Fellow and Chairman of the Technical Committee and a member of the PXISA Board of Directors. “And continued innovation and collaboration with companies like Pickering Interfaces will ensure that PXI remains the dominant open standard in automatic electronic test for another 25 years!”
200 PXI and PXIe product families
Pickering Interfaces has been designing and manufacturing signal switching solutions for electronic test and verification since 1988. Driven by customer demand, Pickering began developing its first three PXI modules back in 1998. Since then, PXI has become the dominant standard for automated test systems worldwide, equipping test labs and production lines with solutions that reduce costs and space requirements while increasing throughput and maintaining performance. Today, Pickering offers over 200 PXI product families and over 3,500 variants of PXI and PXIe modules available to order.
PXI modules from Pickering Interfaces cover a wide spectrum of applications: RF/microwave, fault insertion, optical switching, sensor simulation, including programmable resistors, strain gauges, battery and thermocouple simulators. These modules are manufactured at Pickering’s two manufacturing sites in the UK and the Czech Republic.
Pickering Interfaces also recently announced the release of the sixth edition of its reference book, “PXImate: A Practical Guide to Using PXI”. The 6th edition of this book is a valuable resource for test and measurement engineers wishing to deepen their knowledge of designing test, measurement and automation systems based on PXI technology.
