KEY-04: Virtual Instrumentation throughout the Years: From GPIB to PCI to Multicore & Real-Time

Keynote address by Rahman Jamal (National Instruments, Central Europe)

The success of Virtual Instrumentation began in the laboratories. The focus had been on instrument control. Through GPIB we achieved time improvements for test. Later on, the power of the PC increased and now all analysis and control took place there. Moore’s law helped to increase the power of the entire system. But lately Moore’s law reached its limits as the speed of processors could not increase any further. At this time, multicore systems emerged. Engineers face the challenge to take the full advantage of the performance of such architectures. Graphical system design can help to develop effective test and measurement systems. The same design paradigms can be applied to real-time and embedded systems. This keynote will take us from the past to our present time and on to the future of Virtual Instrumentation.