National Instruments (Nasdaq: NATI) has announced the release of the NI Sound and Vibration Measurement Suite Version 5.0, the new interactive sound and vibration analysis software that includes the NI Sound and Vibration Assistant. The Sound and Vibration Measurement Suite 5.0 is the most comprehensive National Instruments collection of analysis and signal processing tools for noise, vibration, harshness (NVH); machine condition monitoring; and audio test applications.

The new Sound and Vibration Assistant is interactive software for quickly acquiring, analysing and logging acoustic and vibration measurements. With a configuration-based, flexible measurement library and open-analysis capability, the Sound and Vibration Assistant is designed for quick data capture through a unique software-based measurement approach to create customised applications. The Sound and Vibration Assistant is designed to simplify the process of acquiring and analysing noise and vibration signals by offering a drag-and-drop, interactive analysis and acquisition environment and rapid measurement configuration. The new software now offers a way to continually interact with varying data analysis settings while logging data to disk for more analysis later. For example, engineers can vary the weighing and bandwidth of an octave spectrum while recording sound-level data or adjust the window applied to a power spectrum while recording overall vibration readings. The Sound and Vibration Assistant extends analysis functions and routines with Universal File Format (UFF58) file I/O support. Engineers can acquire data from National Instruments 24-bit dynamic signal acquisition (DSA) devices, including the low-cost, four-channel NI USB-9233 module, and then share it easily between other common sound and vibration analysis applications including modal analysis software.

The Sound and Vibration Measurement Suite 5.0 also extends the analysis functionality of NI LabVIEW with LabVIEW analysis VIs for performing audio measurements, fractional-octave analysis, frequency analysis and order tracking for automotive, military/aerospace and mechanical and structural design applications. Sound- and vibration-level trending is now available through time-domain analysis and ANSI and IEC fractional-octave analysis, while frequency response, power-in-band and distortion trending are available through frequency-domain analysis. Engineers can more quickly and efficiently begin sound and vibration applications with more than 50 ready-to-run examples from Sound and Vibration Measurement Suite 5.0 while using the suite for hardware I/O, including the generation and acquisition of signals from a variety of devices as well as filtering, windowing and averaging incoming signals.

The Sound and Vibration Measurement Suite 5.0 works with LabVIEW and Dynamic Signal Acquisition (DSA) products and provides advanced analysis capabilities for measurement tests using integrated acquisition and analysis.