AIT Collaborates with National Instruments on New PXI Test, Simulation Modules

May 9, 2011 – Omaha, NE

Avionics Interface Technologies (AIT) announced today that it has recently signed a long term product purchase agreement with National Instruments (NI) for their new generation of MIL-STD-1553 and ARINC 429 avionics bus test and simulation modules. NI has also tested and validated AIT’s new PXI-C1553 and PXI-C429 modules to ensure compliance with the PXI platform.

The PXI-C1553 module is a 3U PXI Hybrid Slot-compatible instrument designed to support simulation, testing, monitoring and analysis of MIL-STD-1553 A/B data buses. The module is capable of simultaneously simulating a MIL-STD-1553 Bus Controller (BC), up to 31 Remote Terminals (RT), and a Chronological Bus Monitor (BM) on each channel. Single, dual and quad channel options are available. It also provides support for PXI triggering and internal time-tag clock to the PXI 10 MHz clock. The PXI-C1553 provides full error injection and detection capabilities in support of AS4112/AS4111 testing.

The PXI-C429 module is also a 3U PXI Hybrid Slot-compatible instrument for simulation, testing, monitoring and analysis of ARINC 429 data channels. This module provides up to 32 fully programmable ARINC 429 channels (as inputs or outputs), supports PXI Triggering, and can synchronize its internal clock to the PXI 10 MHz system clock. The PXI-C429 also provides full error injection and detection capabilities.

An ARINC 664 product is under development and will be released soon.

“We selected AIT’s products because of the excellent integration of their hardware with our PXI platform, and because their software driver passed our stringent requirements for our Compatible with LabVIEW and NI Product Partner programs,” said Noah Reding, Product Manager at NI. “We are excited to help engineers achieve significant efficiency gains with the integration of NI LabVIEW, PXI, and AIT's avionics interface modules.”

All of AIT’s test and simulation boards come with an advanced Software Development Kit (SDK) with high-level support for NI LabVIEW graphical system design software and the LabVIEW Real-Time Module. LabVIEW is a graphical programming environment used by engineers and scientists worldwide to develop sophisticated measurement, test, and control systems using intuitive graphical icons and wires that resemble a flowchart. It offers unrivaled integration with thousands of hardware devices and provides hundreds of built-in libraries for advanced analysis and data visualization – all for creating virtual instrumentation. The LabVIEW platform is scalable across multiple targets and operating systems.

The NI LabVIEW Real-Time Module is a complete solution for creating reliable, stand-alone embedded systems with a graphical programming approach. As an add-on to the LabVIEW development environment, the LabVIEW Real-Time Module helps programmers develop and debug graphical applications that can be downloaded to and executed on embedded hardware devices such as NI CompactRIO, NI Single-Board RIO, PXI instrumentation, vision systems, or even third-party PCs.

Programming graphically in LabVIEW can greatly improve programming efficiency; the LabVIEW Real-Time Module enables the creation of stand-alone systems that run for extended periods of time. The LabVIEW Real-Time Module also features Real-Time Operating System (RTOS) software that runs on NI embedded hardware devices and select third-party PCs. The PXI-C1553 and PXI-C429 boards are supported by AIT’s industry-leading Software Development Kit and Flight Simulyzer GUI software. Both cards use an innovative FPGA-based hardware architecture with an embedded processor, scalable memory, IRIG-B time code generator/processor and full-function device driver support.

About AIT
Avionics Interface Technologies (AIT) is a leading designer and manufacturer of high-performance flight modules, test and simulation modules, embedded solutions, data bus analyzers and support systems. With over ten years experience in the avionics industry, the company has supported all major DOD top tier suppliers as well as the Air Force, Navy, Army, Marines, and NASA directly. Their technically superior products offer both custom and commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) user software and a flexible hardware architecture based on the use of FPGAs with embedded Power PC Processors for onboard specific application programming. AIT has four office locations in the US; it is headquartered in Omaha, NE, with additional offices for design and production based in Dayton, Ohio, near Wright Patterson AFB and sales offices near Boston and Phoenix.

About National Instruments
National Instruments (www.ni.com) is transforming the way engineers and scientists design, prototype and deploy systems for measurement, automation and embedded applications. NI empowers customers with off-the-shelf software such as NI LabVIEW and modular cost-effective hardware, and sells to a broad base of more than 30,000 different companies worldwide, with its largest customer representing approximately four percent of revenue in 2010 and no one industry representing more than 15 percent of revenue. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, NI has approximately 5,500 employees and direct operations in more than 40 countries. For the past 12 years, FORTUNE magazine has named NI one of the 100 best companies to work for in America. Readers can obtain investment information from the company’s investor relations department by calling (512) 683-5090, e-mailing nati@ni.com or visiting www.ni.com/nati.

CompactRIO, LabVIEW, National Instruments, NI and ni.com are trademarks of National Instruments. Other product and company names listed are trademarks or trade names of their respective companies.