National Instruments Expands HIL Simulation Platform to Optimize Embedded Control Systems

National Instruments Expands HIL Simulation Platform to Optimize Embedded
Control Systems
Nearly 40 Product Releases Continue Aggressive Growth of NI HIL Simulation
Solutions Portfolio

AUSTIN, Texas, Nov. 3, 2009 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- National Instruments
(Nasdaq: NATI) today announced the expansion of its hardware-in-the-loop (HIL)
simulation platform, which includes numerous products that optimize embedded
system validation. During the past six months alone, NI has released nearly 40
new products targeted at delivering flexible HIL solutions to embedded control
system developers within a variety of industries. The portfolio of NI HIL
simulation tools helps engineers maintain reliability and time-to-market
requirements while reducing costs, even as their products become more complex.

"We continually hear that engineers are struggling with traditional test
systems to meet increasing product complexity and performance requirements
within tight budgets and timelines," said Mike Santori, business and
technology fellow at National Instruments. "These engineers need an HIL
simulation platform that is highly productive out of the box but also open and
flexible to adapt to fast-changing testing demands. The NI HIL simulation
platform provides unprecedented openness and performance for HIL applications.
The platform's highly flexible architecture helps engineers address a wide
range of applications, from those in automotive and aerospace to new fields
such as alternative energy and medical device development."

Recent product releases include NI VeriStand software for real-time testing
and simulation; the NI TestStand 4.2 automated test management environment
including support for Python scripts; a new family of fault insertion units;
NI-XNET high-performance CAN and FlexRay bus interfaces optimized for HIL
applications; ARINC 429, MIL-STD-1553 and AFDX (ARINC 663) military and
aerospace avionics bus interfaces; low-cost and high-performance real-time
processor cards; and several other I/O interfaces. To ensure that applications
can easily scale and meet evolving requirements, the NI HIL simulation
platform supports third-party hardware interfaces and integrates with C, C++,
.NET and Python programming languages. In addition to integrating seamlessly
with the NI LabVIEW graphical system design environment, the platform works
with a variety of modeling environments such as The MathWorks, Inc. Simulink(®
)software; ITI SimulationX; Maplesoft MapleSim; and Gamma Technologies
GT-POWER.

Engineers can increase their system performance and flexibility while reducing
overall costs by taking advantage of the open PXI hardware standard, advanced
multicore technology and graphically programmed FPGA interfaces. Additionally,
the platform's software-defined instrumentation approach makes it possible for
HIL applications created with NI products to scale from low-cost desktop
validation systems to multiprocessor distributed simulators, a benefit that
provides engineers a flexible and cost-effective toolset for all HIL testing
applications.

The platform delivers commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) solutions that offer
alternatives to complex proprietary configurations and bulky, inefficient
traditional simulation systems. In today's challenging economic climate, NI
HIL simulation products are ideal for making projects more efficient and
cost-effective for design engineers in multiple industries, from aerospace,
alternative energy, automotive and consumer electronics to government,
industrial transportation, mechatronics, medical technology and semiconductor
manufacturing.

Readers can visit www.ni.com/hil to learn more about specific NI HIL
simulation platform solutions.

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 no one customer
representing more than 3 percent of revenue and no one industry representing
more than 15 percent of revenue. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, NI has more
than 5,000 employees and direct operations in more than 40 countries. For the
past 10 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.

LabVIEW, National Instruments, NI, ni.com, NI TestStand and NI VeriStand are
trademarks of National Instruments. Other product and company names listed are
trademarks or trade names of their respective companies. Simulink(®) is a
registered trademark of The MathWorks, Inc.

Editor Contact: Hilary Marchbanks, (512) 683-5937
Reader Contact: Ernest Martinez, (800) 258-7022

SOURCE National Instruments

Editors, Hilary Marchbanks, +1-512-683-5937, or Readers, Ernest Martinez,
1-800-258-7022, both of National Instruments