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PDFAs vendors offer lower prices and more flexibility with off-the-shelf embedded system design tools, deciding whether to build a custom solution or buy a ready-made system is becoming increasingly difficult. The Graphical System Design Calculator is a new online tool that you can use to enter specific criteria for your project such as the amount of time until your deadline and the number of people on your team. Think of it as a mortgage calculator for engineers and scientists. You can then compare the financial details between using NI graphical system design tools and traditional custom design tools. The calculator can help you with that difficult “do I build or do I buy?” decision.
Use the Graphical System Design Calculator to decide if you are going to build or buy.
By designing and building a custom solution, you can completely modify the end result and optimize costs, but any design specification changes or oversights can cause lengthy and expensive delays. Alternatively, using an off-the-shelf platform increases the cost of goods sold, while you may pay for extra features that are not necessary for your design. Nevertheless, off-the-shelf systems typically offer a faster validation cycle and, therefore, shorter time to market.
National Instruments graphical system design tools, including NI LabVIEW software and reconfigurable embedded systems such as CompactRIO, have proven technically and financially advantageous for a wide variety of engineers and scientists designing complex embedded monitoring and control applications.
Enter your criteria and calculate your savings
This article first appeared in the Q1 2011 issue of Instrumentation Newsletter.
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