National Instruments Redesigns CompactRIO

Based on the LabVIEW reconfigurable I/O (RIO) architecture, the new controller helps meet any demanding embedded control and monitoring task without wasting development time and cost.

The new cRIO-9068 controller features: Four times faster performance than previous generations, powered by a 667 MHz dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor and Xilinx Artix-7 FPGA;New Linux-based, real-time OS that provides greater flexibility for both LabVIEW Real-Time and C/C++ application developers;Extended operating temperature range of -40 °C to 70 °C; and consistent LabVIEW programming experience that ensures both new and existing designs take full advantage of updated technology with minimal effort.

“Because so many customers have invested in CompactRIO, we took this redesign extremely seriously,” said David Fuller, vice president of applications and embedded software at National Instruments. “Our R&D teams re-examined every part of the controller’s design and made sweeping improvements while maintaining complete backward code compatibility.”

The controller, programmed with LabVIEW system design software, enables engineers and scientists to use a single, graphical development environment to take advantage of improved hardware performance. LabVIEW 2013 support for the NI Linux Real-Time OS gives developers access to a rich set of community-sourced libraries and applications to augment their control and monitoring systems. LabVIEW 2013 also offers expanded connectivity options including improved web service creation and secure, industry-standard WebDAV browser-based file management.

“Although this controller looks similar to other CompactRIO devices, the technology under the hood is revolutionary,” said Wolfram Koerver, executive director of S.E.A. “With this platform we can provide software technologies to our customers which were almost impossible before or would have required a long development time and high investment.”