National Instruments (Nasdaq: NATI) today announced the latest version of a module development kit that further simplifies the process for users, OEMs and system integrators to design custom C Series modules for NI CompactRIO and add-on boards for NI Single-Board RIO. With the NI cRIO-9951 Module Development Kit (MDK), customers and third-party resellers can design custom solutions for industrial and embedded applications based on common NI reconfigurable I/O (RIO) architectures and in small form factors. The cRIO-9951 MDK also works with NI LabVIEW 8.6 and includes updated electrical design requirements documentation.

"The CompactRIO Module Development Kit allows us to create complementary modules to serve our customers and build our business," said Wolfram Koerver, program manager for CompactRIO modules at S.E.A. Datentechnik GmbH, a company that provides advanced products and solutions in the field of industrial automation and measuring technology. "The new MDK improves this process and enables us to implement our technology ideas even faster in new products and custom specific solutions."

CompactRIO and NI Single-Board RIO devices, which are part of the NI FPGA-based deployment platform, feature the NI RIO architecture composed of a real-time processor, a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) and integrated I/O connectivity. Using this standard architecture, engineers and scientists can rapidly design and prototype advanced control and embedded devices on hardware such as CompactRIO and quickly deploy their systems on the lower-cost CompactRIO integrated systems or NI Single-Board RIO to reduce development costs. Because engineers and scientists can program all NI RIO technology platforms with LabVIEW, no recoding is needed when transitioning from CompactRIO prototypes to volume deployment with NI Single-Board RIO, which increases system reliability and shortens design development time.

In addition to LabVIEW, engineers and scientists can design custom C Series modules or NI Single-Board RIO breakout boards using NI Multisim and Ultiboard software. NI provides free Multisim design resource templates for schematic capture and SPICE simulation and integrated layout drawings using Ultiboard. The ease of use of Multisim and flexibility of Ultiboard deliver an additional cost-effective solution for designing custom hardware for NI RIO platforms.

The cRIO-9951 MDK also includes a technical design user manual, access to NI technical support during initial module development and connectors from NI cRIO-9952, cRIO-9954 and cRIO-9955 module shells. Readers can visit to view example programs and find additional tutorials on developing custom modules for CompactRIO.

About National Instruments

National Instruments () is transforming the way engineers and scientists design, prototype and deploy systems for measurement, automation and embedded applications. NI empowers customers with off-the-shelf software such as NI LabVIEW and modular cost-effective hardware, and sells to a broad base of more than 25,000 different companies worldwide, with no one customer representing more than 3 percent of revenue and no one industry representing more than 10 percent of revenue. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, NI has more than 5,000 employees and direct operations in more than 40 countries. For the past 10 years, FORTUNE magazine has named NI one of the 100 best companies to work for in America. Readers can obtain investment information from the company's investor relations department by calling (512) 683-5090.