A few thoughts in Virtualbench

[RDave]

I just thought I'd share a few thoughts on Virtualbench and maybe suggest a few possibilities.

I work at a University and picked up a Virtualbench because it sounds like a neat concept. I think it offers a very accessible on-ramp for students to run "real" tests with. It also has a very linear progression for them to go from knowing next to nothing, to making simple measurements, to making more detailed and useful measurements, to making automated measurements, to designing complicated automated tests with multiple pieces of equipment. Generally speaking I think it will be very useful in my lab and I'm thinking about picking up a couple more. 

I do have a few areas where I think things could be improved. I haven't spent a whole lot of time with it so some of these might require a new model, or an adapter, or could be done through firmware, or maybe even are already there but I'm just not aware of them.

I think the SPI/I2C mastering and analysis is a great feature. I'd love to see this expanded as much as possible. RS-232? USB? I'm not sure what really makes sense here but it seems like there are a lot of possibilities.

It would be nice to be able to generate clock signals with the digital outputs. You might want to test a device that requires more than one clock and it would be nice to be able to generate those to different specifications with the VB.

In line with the last one, if the DIO could generate PWM signals, that would also could be useful. I know this can be done with the signal generator but it's not hard to think of projects where more than one PWM signal is needed.

The main "instrument" that seems to be lacking for me is the power supply. I can think of more than a few situations where you might want to test a device that requires 10-20 W on a 9-12 V rail. 

Another thing that would be nice to be able to do is monitor several voltages over the course of a test. If there was a set of say 5 voltage inputs with fairly modest sampling rates, I think those would be very useful.

A possibility for future functionality or an accessory would be a programmable load. Along with a bit beefier power supply, that could make some battery testing applications a lot easier. 

One last comment (and I might be in the minority here) but I would love to see a "pro" version of the VB at some point. Instead of an instrument that does all the things it does well, a higher end version that does all the same things but better (higher bandwidth Oscope, more memory, higher precision DMM, etc). Even if the size (and price) doubled, I would find it very compelling.

Overall, I think it is a great little package. Well done NI.

[AndyCandy]

Hi RDave,

Thanks for the excellent feedback.  I've brought the information to some of our VirtualBench owners, and expect them to benefit from the insight as well as they consider improvements to the product.

[GrahamG]

Thanks for the feedback and thanks to Andy for pasing it on.

Its great to get feedback on a product such as virtualbench. Its such an exciting product to work on as it breaks a few traditional barriers on what people expect from an instrument and as rather, what do they want from an instrument. We still have commited investment into the product and I'm pleased that things like the SPI and R2C worked out for you.

I'll pass on your thoughts in my next R&D meeting and try and stay in touch as new releases come out.

Out of interest, which university are you and and which department? I'd love to talk to you more about the use case you have and understand in more detail how we could make a better product for you?

Thanks

Graham