Since PXI entered the instrumentation marketplace, its cost-competitiveness has made it very attractive in several end applications. In the future, one of the most significant applications will certainly be manufacturing automation. Because MEN is already a significant provider of PXI solutions for manufacturing automation, as well as many other applications, we expect to continue introducing PXI products for this application. Our research indicates that manufacturing automation is currently the largest market segment for PXI technology. The interest in PXI that we are seeing among our customers bears this out. Our PXI products have been integrated into several manufacturing automation systems. One such system involved a manufacturing test bench for large diesel engines. A MEN 6U single-board-computer (SBC) with several M-Modules for I/O fit the bill for this system. Another manufacturing automation application involved a semiconductor production test system. In this application another MEN 6U SBC was used and M-Modules again provided the I/O. Perhaps the most interesting PXI application for MEN has been in automotive test. We expect that automotive test will be a particularly strong area for MEN's PXI technology in the years to come. One example of PXI in automotive test was an advanced vehicle diagnostic system we recently were involved in. This application had a MEN 6U SBC at its core. The system was able to sample the rotational speeds, as well as collect analog, digital, and audio information from the engine, timing/auxiliary belt or chain drive, clutch, transmission, and drivetrain. Our DSP-based M-Modules provided the system's high-speed data processing capabilities. One theme that runs throughout the applications I've described is the use of M-Modules for I/O. Because of the cost-sensitivity of many PXI applications, our customers are realizing that M-Modules provide the right combination of I/O, configuration flexibility, and cost to meet the needs of PXI systems. This will certainly continue as PXI makes its way into additional market segments and applications.
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