64bit Vista expands scope of instrument cards

Edited by the Electronicstalk editorial team Apr 17, 2007

Windows Vista 64 and 32bit drivers are compatible with all 150 PCI, PXI and CompactPCI cards in the UltraFast series.

Strategic Test Corp has released Windows Vista 64 and 32bit drivers for its range of digitiser, AWG, fast digital I/O and digital pattern generator cards.

The drivers are compatible with all 150 PCI, PXI and CompactPCI cards in the UltraFast series.

The Windows Vista drivers are 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.

There are two distinct advantages to 64bit Windows over 32bit.

64bit Windows delivers higher computation performance, significantly benefiting users who perform real-time analysis of measurement data or signal processing.

64bit Windows also supports up to 128Gbyte of PC RAM as compared with 4Gbytes of 32bit Windows XP.

This allows the use of low-cost PC memory instead of expensive onboard 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 digitiser or AWG cards from most vendors is 4Gbyte.

For example, an application requiring a 200Mbyte/s acquisition rate using 32bit Windows, the maximum measurement time would be 17.5s.

On a PC configured with 128Gbyte RAM running 64bit Windows the measurement time would increase to over 6.5min.