Woburn, MA – September 25, 2006. Strategic Test Corporation has announced a new Windows XP Pro 64-bit driver for their Digitizer, AWG, fast Digital I/O and Digital Pattern Generator cards. The driver is compatible with all 150 PCI/PCI-X, PXI and CompactPCI products in the UltraFast™ family.
There are two distinct advantages to 64-bit Windows over 32-bit: 64-bit Windows delivers a higher computation performance significantly benefiting users who perform real-time analysis of measurement data or signal processing.
Additionally, 64-bit Windows supports up to 128 GBytes of PC RAM as compared to 4 GBytes of 32-bit Windows XP. This allows the use of low-cost PC-memory instead of expensive on-board memory for applications requiring streaming of data to or from the PC. This method also enables longer record or replay times, as the maximum amount of signal memory that can be added to the current range of Digitizer or AWG cards from most vendors is 4 GBytes.
For example, with an application requiring a 200 MByte/second acquisition rate using 32-bit Windows XP Pro the maximum measurement time would be 17.5 seconds. On a PC configured with 128 GBytes RAM running 64-bit Windows XP Pro the measurement time would increase to over 6.5 minutes.
The Windows XP Pro x64 driver is supplied at no cost and can be downloaded by existing customers from the company website. The same simple programming concept found in the other Windows and Linux drivers has been employed, allowing customers to upgrade their OS without modifying their application code.
Further information on Windows XP Pro x64 can be found at Microsoft’s website: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/64bit/russel_exploringx64.mspx
Editors Notes
Note 1.
Windows Pro x64 supports up to 4 Gbyte RAM and up to 4 TerraBytes of virtual memory, compared to 32-bit Windows that supports only 4 GigaByte RAM and virtual memory combined.
Note 2.
Streaming is a term used to describe the continuous transfer of data from the measurement device to the host-PC during the measurement. It can also be used to describe data being continuously transferred from the host-PC to the signal generator. While either PC-RAM or hard disk can be used for signal data storage, PC-RAM has the obvious advantage of write/read speed compared to disks.
Not all Digitizer or AWG cards support streaming. Most digitizer and AWG cards on the market operate in a similar manner to traditional instruments. The recorded data is stored to card memory and then off-loaded at the end of the measurement, or the signals are downloaded to the AWG memory prior to generation. This means the measurement or generation time is limited by the available onboard memory.
All of the UltraFast cards provide the additional streaming mode and are able to transfer the data at up to the continuous data transfer limit of the card bus. In the case of the 33 MHz/32-bit PCI, PXI and CompactPCI bus this is approximately 100 Mbytes per second, but for the newer PCI-X 66 MHz / 32-bit PCI bus found in newer PC’s this can reach a data loss free 225 MBytes/s (measured by Strategic Test). Therefore, if the total sampling or generation rate for all active channels on the card is less than the bus limit, the engineer can avoid buying expensive card memory (typically between $8,000 and $12,000 for 4 GBytes depending on product and vendor) and instead use cheaper PC memory, while benefiting for even longer measurement or generation times.
Note 3.
Different Digitizer and AWG cards usually offer a variety of maximum memory options. 64 Mbyte, 128 Mbyte and 512 Mbyte are relatively common, while 1 Gbyte, 2 GByte are available from fewer vendors. The latest generation cards (including those from Strategic Test) can be configured with up to 4 GBytes.
########
About Strategic Test
With a product range of more than 150 high-speed Digitizer, Arbitrary Waveform Generator and high-speed Digital I/O PCI, 3U PXI and 6U CompactPCI cards, Strategic Test Corporation is one of the leading suppliers of high-speed PC-based instruments. The UltraFast cards are designed at the R&D facility in northern Germany and distributed through our offices in Woburn (MA) and Stockholm (Sweden).
The first high-speed measurement card for PC’s was designed in 1989. The UF2 series based on the PCI-X 66 MHz/32-bit PCI bus is the forth generation and sets new standards in onboard memory size, data transfer rates and user flexibility. Strategic Test’s clients include global electronics, semiconductor, defense, telecommunications and medical instrument companies, government funded research labs and universities in five continents.
Caption:
Windows XP Pro x64 driver allows longer signals to be recorded or generated at high-speed.
|
