Pickering Interfaces Launches Remote Gateway Software for Remote Control of PXI Test Systems
gRPC-based solution enables cross-platform access to Pickering PXI and PXIe hardware while preserving existing driver investments
Pickering Interfaces, a provider of modular signal switching and simulation solutions for electronic test and verification, has introduced Pickering Remote Gateway. The new gRPC-based software enables engineers to control Pickering PXI/PXIe products remotely from applications running on separate computers, across multiple operating systems and programming languages.
Pickering Remote Gateway allows test hardware to remain close to the device under test or in a central lab rack while engineers run their applications from network-connected workstations. It supports automated validation, production test and distributed development, helping teams access shared test resources without requiring every application to run on the controller connected to the chassis.
“Test teams increasingly work across different locations, operating systems and programming languages, but they still need access to the same physical hardware,” said Alexander Jaiboy, Software Manager at Pickering Interfaces. “Pickering Remote Gateway gives engineers more freedom to work with their existing PXI systems, keeping hardware where it is needed while allowing test applications to run remotely.”
The software exposes Pickering driver APIs through a gRPC Device Server running on the host PC or embedded controller. Remote requests are passed to the local drivers, preserving existing hardware and driver investments. Only the host system requires Pickering drivers; client systems do not need the full Pickering driver stack installed.
Pickering provides servers for Windows and Linux, together with Protocol Buffers (.proto) files that define the remote interface. Engineers can use these files to generate client code for environments that support gRPC and Protocol Buffers, including Python, C#, Go and Java. This gives teams greater freedom to use their preferred development tools and integrate instrument control into mixed software environments.
Built on the open-source gRPC framework and HTTP/2 transport, Pickering Remote Gateway brings a modern service-based interface to PXI test systems. Test routines, user interfaces, analytics and orchestration can run separately from the instrument-control host, supporting distributed architectures and integration with cloud-hosted applications and automated development pipelines.
All products supported by the Pickering PXI driver are supported by the gateway. Pickering modules can remain within mixed-vendor chassis configurations, with the gateway providing remote access to the supported Pickering hardware.
The server software, Protocol Buffers files and user manual are available through the Pickering download site. For further information, go here.
