Can NI PXI Platform Really Help In Addressing Key Challenges In Automotive Infotainment Tests?

If there is any sector that has experienced exponential growth in last few years, it is the grand and versatile automotive world. This sector has witnessed highest growth in field of in-vehicle electronics. One of the key genres from the world of electronics as well, the biggest highlight has been gained by infotainment systems here. As a matter of fact, infotainment system have gained a central position with respect to lot many functions and tasks in vehicles. They are not only entertainment providers but also information messengers these days. The thin line of demarcation between drivers’ cell phone and car’s systems seem to be diminishing with the advent of these systems. Along with, there has been overlapping of several imperative components including the driver assist system (ADAS).

However, in wake of consistently evolving abilities, automotive OEMs as well as suppliers are facing a number of challenges in terms of validation of system’s efficiency. In order to combat these problems, companies are now learning how to combine powerful software with NI PXI platform. A fusion of this kind will definitely help in ensuring better efficiency and reliability of such tests especially in context of highly complicated infotainment systems in contemporary automobile world.

Since, infotainment system are moving upwards in terms of functionality and intelligence, they are reaching at such high position in automotive world that was not seen till date. They are now ready to take input from a number of sources and process it and give meaningful useful output for other users. You can take the best examples in terms of Bluetooth connectivity, GPS data in terms of navigational systems, in-vehicle cameras, driver’s mobile phone data handling, CAN or controller area network communication from a number of distributed ECUs, and several others.

Automobile designers have been working with some specific kinds of I/O which includes analog signals and CAN communication system. They were quite comfortable with this format, but increasing demands have compelled them to move out of their comfort zone and work with new things like video data as well as RF signals. It has also led to development of new expertise that can develop those components that can support all new kinds of I/O. The previous versions of software and hardware wouldn’t be able to meet demands of the advanced systems.

Let’s take a small example where a driver is driving, changing temperature, navigating, and streaming music from his playlist simultaneously. To test this combination, the company would need to test the efficiency of infotainment system, Bluetooth connectivity of phones, GPS communication signals, and several others. It is at this point that Ni PXI platform comes in play with its power packed software toolkits along with APIs that can help engineers in performing complicated tasks for various kinds of I/O types in one time. Nations Instruments, at present has more than 500 entities that can help in meeting all kinds of testing and measurement requirements of the client companies.