National Instruments Recognises Global Achievements in Engineering and Science

Aug. 26, 2008 – National Instruments recognised more than 20 innovative applications developed by engineers and scientists from around the world at the inaugural Graphical System Design Achievement Awards on Aug. 5.

National Instruments Recognises Global Achievements in Engineering and Science

Graphical System Design Achievement Awards Honour Innovative Medical, Robotics and Green Applications


Aug. 26, 2008 – National Instruments recognised more than 20 innovative applications developed by engineers and scientists from around the world at the inaugural Graphical System Design Achievement Awards on Aug. 5. At the award ceremony held during the NIWeek graphical system design conference and exhibition in Austin, Texas, winners from 10 categories were recognised for developing applications that meet complex engineering and science challenges using graphical system design. Additionally, four applications were presented with the Humanitarian of the Year, Green Engineering Application of the Year, Editor’s Choice and Overall Customer Application of the Year awards.

“These awards uniquely capture the exciting possibilities when you connect advanced product technologies and the domain mastery of our users to contribute to science and engineering at the highest levels,” said Dr. James Truchard, President, CEO and Co-founder of National Instruments. “These achievements are a glimpse of how graphical system design is playing an increasingly critical role in meeting modern engineering challenges.”

A panel of technical experts, industry specialists, technical trade publication editors and National Instruments executives selected the award winners from the submissions of 110 authors from 13 countries. The panel determined the winning papers based on several criteria including the technical difficulty involved in developing a solution to the engineering challenge and the benefits achieved from using the application.

The Overall Customer Application of the Year Award was presented to a team of researchers from Kitasato University in Japan for its research using an optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging technique for advanced cancer research. The team developed a prototype medical instrument that uses a high-speed acquisition system with 256 simultaneously sampled channels, making it the fastest OCT system in the world. The high-resolution device, which is an alternative to ionising radiation techniques, will ultimately be used to safely detect cancer in patients faster than current methods.

The Editor’s Choice Award, which was voted on by a panel of editors from more than 20 technical trade publications, was presented by EE Times Editor Nicolas Mokhoff to Nanyang Polytechnic Institute of Singapore, Schmid Engineering and Analog Devices. The winners collaboratively used graphical system design and high-power embedded processors to develop a six-legged, highly functional robotic spider for use in rescue missions.

The Green Engineering Application of the Year winner, Loccioni Group of Italy, was recognised by Truchard for creating a test system that measures the flow rates of diesel engine nozzles. Additionally, the Humanitarian Application of the Year Award was presented by NI Business and Technology Fellow and Co-Founder Jeff Kodosky to Sanarus Medical for the development of a less invasive breast tumor treatment device that dramatically reduces the emotional and physical discomfort for patients undergoing tumor treatment.

To learn more about the Graphical System Design Achievement Awards and view a comprehensive list of this year’s winners, readers can visit www.ni.com/niweek/best.htm

About National Instruments
National Instruments (www.ni.com) 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 4,800 employees and direct operations in nearly 40 countries. For the past nine years, FORTUNE magazine has named NI one of the 100 best companies to work for in America.

For More Information
Contact NI Tel : (01635) 523545  Fax : (01635) 523154  e-mail : info.uk@ni.com  Web:www.ni.com/uk

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