This file contains important information about InstrumentStudio 2021, including supported hardware and operating systems, a partial list of bugs fixed, and known issues.
Overview
System Requirements
Supported Operating Systems
Application Software Support
Product Security and Critical Updates
New Features
Supported Hardware
Known Issues
Automating the Installation of NI Products
Using NI Software with Microsoft Windows 10
Legal Information
Overview
InstrumentStudio allows you to generate and acquire measurements from multiple devices within a single application. You can also use InstrumentStudio to monitor and control devices being used in external applications, capture data files, export device configuration to other applications, and more.
System Requirements
InstrumentStudio 2021 has the following requirements:
Pentium 4 G1 equivalent or later (Intel i5 equivalent or higher recommended)
4 GB RAM
10 GB disk space
1024 x 768 screen resolution (1366 x 768 or higher recommended)
Supported Operating Systems
InstrumentStudio 2021 supports the following operating systems:
Windows 10 64-bit
Windows Server 2016 64-bit
Application Software Support
InstrumentStudio 2021 supports the creation of soft front panels with the following device drivers:
Device Driver
Minimum Version Supported by InstrumentStudio 2021
NI-SCOPE
20.7
NI-FGEN
19.1
NI-DMM
18.1
NI-DCPOWER
20.6
NI-RFSG
20.7
Installing Instructions
Download the Instrument Studio 2020 installer from ni.com/downloads. NI software includes NI Package Manager to handle the installation. Refer to the NI Package Manager Manual for more information about installing, removing, and upgrading NI software using NI Package Manager.
Product Security and Critical Updates
Visit ni.com/security to view and subscribe to receive security notifications about NI products. Visit ni.com/critical-updates for information about critical updates from NI.
New FeaturesInstrumentStudio 2021
Added new RFSG Signal Generator panel supporting interactive use and debugging using PXIe-5820, PXIe-5830, PXIe-5831, PXIe-5832, PXIe-5840, and PXIe-5841.
Added support for the PXIe-4135(35W) and PXIe-4137(35W) source measure unit, newly supported in NI-DCPOWER 20.7.
InstrumentStudio 2020
Added support for the PXIe-4139(40W) source measure unit, newly supported in NI-DCPower 20.5.
Added support for multichannel session in the SMU/Power Supply panel, newly supported in NI-DCPower 20.6. Initializing an NI-DCPower session with independent channels allows you to use multiple instruments in the same session. With independent channels, you can configure multiple channels of the same instrument, or of multiple instruments independent of one another within the same session.
Added support for monitoring merged channels in debug mode on the PXIe-4147. Merged channels are newly supported in NI-DCPower 20.6. Merging channels of an NI SMU allows you to use multiple channels in unison to increase the current you can source beyond the normal maximum for a single SMU channel.
InstrumentStudio 2019 SP1
Added support for the PXIe-4147 source measure unit, newly supported in NI-DCPower 20.0.
InstrumentStudio 2019
Added power spectral density measurements to oscilloscope FFT channels.
Multiple NI-SCOPE devices of the same model can now be synchronized in the same oscilloscope panel.
Added support for selecting trigger sources and events from other NI devices in your system.
Added waveform graphing, pulse current, pulse voltage, voltage sequence, and current sequence modes to SMU panels, including automatic hardware synchronization across multiple devices.
Added asymmetric limits and software-protected ranges to SMU/Power Supply panels.
Added NI-DCPower SourceAdapt configuration to SMU panels, useful for transient measurements.
Added channel views to hide idle channels, show power calculations, and condense channel views to the SMU/Power Supply panels.
Added inductance and capacitance measurements along with open and short cable compensation to digital multimeter (DMM) panels.
Added the ability to generate waveforms from binary files to the waveform generator panel.
Added debugging and monitoring support to the waveform generator panel.
Added exporting configuration files from the waveform generator panel for use with the NI-FGEN driver.
Added capability to export device configurations to TestStand for use in test step configuration.
Added ability to use pin maps created in Digital Pattern Editor to group devices and channels by site and use pin names for channel aliases.
InstrumentStudio 2018 SP2
Added support for the PXIe-5163 oscilloscope, newly supported in NI-SCOPE 18.7.
Added CSV file format for data capture.
Added support for exporting instrument events to PXI chassis trigger lines.
Added support for arbitrary waveform generation mode to the Waveform Generator panels.
Added support for frequency list and sweep modes to the Waveform Generator panels.
Added FFT channels, frequency markers, and FFT channel measurements to the Oscilloscope panels.
Added additional 2-channel measurements to the Oscilloscope panels.
InstrumentStudio 2018 SP1
Added support for the PXIe-5110, PXIe-5111, and PXIe-5113 oscilloscopes, newly supported in NI-SCOPE 18.6
Supported Hardware
The following hardware models are supported in InstrumentStudio 2021:
NI-DCPOWER Devices
PXIe-4112
PXIe-4113
PXIe-4135
PXIe-4135(35W)
PXIe-4136
PXIe-4137
PXIe-4137(35W)
PXIe-4138
PXIe-4139
PXIe-4139(40W)
PXIe-4140
PXIe-4141
PXIe-4142
PXIe-4143
PXIe-4144
PXIe-4145
PXIe-4147
PXIe-4154
PXIe-4162
PXIe-4163
PXI-4110
PXI-4130
PXI-4132
NI-DMM Devices
PXIe-4080
PXIe-4081
PXIe-4082
PXI-4065
PXI-4070
PXI-4071
PXI-4072
PCI-4065
PCIe-4065
USB-4065
PCI-4070
NI-FGEN Devices
PXIe-5413 (1-channel)
PXIe-5413 (2-channel)
PXIe-5423 (1-channel)
PXIe-5423 (2-channel)
PXIe-5433 (1-channel)
PXIe-5433 (2-channel)
PXIe-5442
PXIe-5450
PXIe-5451
PXI-5402
PXI-5404
PXI-5406
PXI-5412
PXI-5421
PXI-5422
PXI-5441
PCI-5402
PCI-5406
PCI-5412
PCI-5421
NI-SCOPE Devices
PXIe-5105
PXIe-5110
PXIe-5111
PXIe-5113
PXIe-5114
PXIe-5122
PXIe-5160 (2-channel)
PXIe-5160 (4-channel)
PXIe-5162 (2-channel)
PXIe-5162 (4-channel)
PXIe-5163
PXIe-5164
PXIe-5170 (4-channel)
PXIe-5170 (8-channel)
PXIe-5171 (8-channel)
PXIe-5172 (4-channel)
PXIe-5172 (8-channel, 325T)
PXIe-5172 (8-channel, 410T)
PXIe-5185
PXIe-5185 (1MΩ)
PXIe-5186
PXIe-5186 (1MΩ)
PXIe-5622
PXIe-5622 (DD)
PXI-5105
PXI-5114
PXI-5122
PXI-5124
PXI-5142
PXI-5152
PXI-5153
PXI-5154
PXI-5922
PCI-5105
PCI-5114
PCI-5122
PCI-5124
PCI-5142
PCI-5152
PCI-5153
PCI-5154
PCI-5922
PCIe-5155
USB-5132
USB-5133
NI-RFSG Devices
PXIe-5820
PXIe-5830
PXIe-5831
PXIe-5832
PXIe-5840
PXIe-5841
Known Issues
You can access the software and documentation known issues list online. Refer to InstrumentStudio 2021 Known Issues on ni.com for an up-to-date list of known issues in InstrumentStudio.
Bug Fixes
You can access a list of issues fixed in InstrumentStudio 2021 online. Visit InstrumentStudio 2021 Bug Fixes for an up-to-date list of fixed issues. This is not an exhaustive list of issues fixed in the current version of InstrumentStudio. If you have a Bug ID, you can search this list to validate that the issue has been fixed. .
Automating the Installation of NI Products
You can automate the installation of most NI products using command-line arguments to suppress some or all of the installer user interface and dialog boxes.
If the NI product you are installing uses Microsoft .NET 4.0, the .NET installer may run before any NI software installs and may require a reboot before the installation of NI software begins. To avoid a .NET reboot, install .NET 4.0 separately before you install NI software.
For more information about automating the installation of NI products, refer to the following KnowledgeBase articles:
For more information about silent installations of individual NI products, refer to KB 4CJDP38M, Customize and Automate Installation of a Single Installer.
For more information about silent installations of NI products in a suite, such as NI Developer Suite, refer to KB 4GGGDQH0, Customize and Automate Installation of a Suited Installer.
To determine what version of NI Installers your product contains, refer to KB 4CJDR18M, Determine Type and Version of My National Instruments Installer.
Using NI Software with Microsoft Windows 10
Microsoft Windows 10 is the latest version of the Windows operating system and features significant changes compared to previous versions. Windows 10 introduces several new capabilities and also combines features from both Windows 7 and Windows 8. For more information about NI support for Windows 10, visit ni.com/windows10.
Legal Information
Copyright
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End-User License Agreements and Third-Party Legal Notices
You can find end-user license agreements (EULAs) and third-party legal notices in the following locations after installation:
Notices are located in the <National Instruments>\_Legal Information and <National Instruments> directories.
EULAs are located in the <National Instruments>\Shared\MDF\Legal\license directory.
Review <National Instruments>\_Legal Information.txt for information on including legal information in installers built with NI products.
U.S. Government Restricted Rights
If you are an agency, department, or other entity of the United States Government ("Government"), the use, duplication, reproduction, release, modification, disclosure or transfer of the technical data included in this manual is governed by the Restricted Rights provisions under Federal Acquisition Regulation 52.227-14 for civilian agencies and Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement Section 252.227-7014 and 252.227-7015 for military agencies.
IVI Foundation Copyright Notice
Content from the IVI specifications reproduced with permission from the IVI Foundation.
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Refer to the NI Trademarks and Logo Guidelines at ni.com/trademarks for information on NI trademarks. Other product and company names mentioned herein are trademarks or trade names of their respective companies.
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Patents
For patents covering the NI products/technology, refer to the appropriate location: Help»Patents in your software, the patents.txt file on your media, or the NI Patent Notice at ni.com/patents.