National Instruments Simplifies Advanced Control With CompactRIO System

When programming with the LabVIEW 8.6 graphical system design platform and the FPGA within National Instruments PACs such as the cRIO-9073, engineers can quickly implement custom analogue and digital control and acquisition loops along with high-speed signal processing algorithms to meet advanced control application challenges easily at a low cost.

The cRIO-9073 supports the scan mode programming features in the newly released LabVIEW Real-Time Module 8.6, which simplifies the programming of this FPGA-based CompactRIO system. Using the new scan mode features, engineers can choose between accessing each I/O module within the CompactRIO system directly in LabVIEW Real-Time or using FPGA programming in the LabVIEW FPGA Module for maximum flexibility and performance. With these scan mode features, engineers can now use new test panels and I/O forcing functionality to get up and running quickly, perform advanced debugging and monitor system performance. For applications requiring custom and ultrahigh-speed control and signal processing, engineers can use the LabVIEW FPGA Module to quickly program the FPGA within the CompactRIO system. The LabVIEW FPGA Module features hundreds of graphical functions for implementing control, custom timing and signal processing algorithms on all NI FPGA hardware.

The cRIO-9073 integrates a 266 MHz industrial real-time processor with a reconfigurable 2M gate FPGA and features eight slots for NI C Series I/O modules. Engineers can choose from more than 60 NI and third-party C Series I/O modules to connect with a variety of analogue, digital, communications and motion I/O for interfacing with industrial sensors and actuators within their applications. For rugged applications, the CompactRIO system offers a -20 to 55 °C operating temperature range along with a 19 to 30 VDC power supply input range. It also includes 64 MB of DRAM for embedded operations and 128 MB of nonvolatile storage for data logging.

Based on graphical system design principles, CompactRIO is a high-performance embedded control and acquisition platform for advanced applications where small size, low cost and reliability are crucial. CompactRIO is powered by National Instruments LabVIEW FPGA and LabVIEW Real-Time technologies that give users the ability to design, develop and deploy custom embedded systems for a variety of industries such as automotive, mil/aero, industrial and machine control and embedded systems prototyping. The CompactRIO programmable automation controller (PAC) delivers unprecedented control acquisition capabilities in a compact, rugged package. For more information on CompactRIO, readers can visit www.ni.com/compactrio.