August 16, 2005 -- Analog Devices, Inc. (ADI) and National Instruments Corp. have announced availability for the public beta version of the NI LabVIEW Embedded Module for ADI Blackfin Processors, which provides design engineers early access to a seamless, graphical dataflow development paradigm to directly target Blackfin Processors.

"The new LabVIEW Embedded technology provides a development environment that is at the forefront of the industry," said Jerry McGuire, general manager, Convergent Platform and Services Group at Analog Devices. "The NI LabVIEW Embedded Module for Blackfin Processors offers simplified embedded programming for domain experts and a high-level graphical tool for traditional design engineers as well as low-level optimized algorithms, on-chip peripherals and component drivers."

The beta version builds on LabVIEW Embedded technology and includes Blackfin-specific, hand-optimized analysis and signal processing functions; integrated I/O such as audio and video DACs, ADCs and CODECs; as well as on-chip debugging. Engineers can completely design their applications using the intuitive LabVIEW graphical dataflow programming paradigm and integrate legacy C code within their LabVIEW diagrams for extended functionality. The new LabVIEW software reduces time to application by seamlessly integrating with ADI's VisualDSP++ development and debugging environment for real-time, interactive debugging and deployment directly to Blackfin Processors. The NI LabVIEW Embedded Module for ADI Blackfin Processors beta version also provides easy connectivity to the extensive range of NI test and measurement hardware for deploying external stimulation and test methodologies early in the development process.

"Traditionally, engineers have relied on a limited number of experts to program their embedded applications through low-level, text-based programming languages such as assembly and C," said Tim Dehne, NI senior vice president of R&D. "With the release of the NI LabVIEW Embedded Module for ADI Blackfin Processors beta version, National Instruments and Analog Devices are working together to help more engineers and scientists develop embedded applications."

LabVIEW Embedded technology enhances the graphical LabVIEW platform for rapid simulation, design, prototyping, implementing, validating and verifying embedded applications. As a design tool, LabVIEW speeds prototyping development and design implementations through a powerful, high-level graphical programming language. Engineers and scientists now can use LabVIEW for simulation and rapid prototyping on Blackfin itself or the National Instruments CompactRIO embedded control system and subsequently deploy to their custom targets.

With this new LabVIEW module, more engineers and scientists can access ADI's Blackfin Processors - 16/32-bit embedded processors designed specifically to meet the computational demands and power constraints of today's embedded audio, video and communications applications. The Blackfin Processor family combines a 32-bit RISC-like instruction set with 16-bit dual multiply accumulate (MAC) signal processing functionality and ease-of-use attributes found in general-purpose microcontrollers. Dynamic Power Management enables breakthrough power consumption required for many battery-operated applications by allowing the simultaneous adjustment of operating frequency and voltage under application control. Because of their code compatibility, all Blackfin Processors provide portability of design.