National Instruments’ CompactRIO is a high-performance embedded control and acquisition platform powered by reconfigurable I/O (RIO) technology for applications where size and reliability are crucial. It gives LabVIEW users the ability to define their measurement hardware using reconfigurable FPGA chips and graphical development tools. RIO helps to use them by eliminating the learning curve required to program FPGAs. By graphical programming, virtual instrumentation can be extended to synthesize custom-measurement circuitry. There are two configurations: an embedded system and an R series expansion system. The CompactRIO embedded system features a real-time processor, four or eight-slot reconfigurable chassis containing a user-programmable FPGA and 10 hot swappable I/O modules. Each module includes built-in field wiring connectivity, signal conditioning, conversion circuitry and optional isolation barrier. An R series chassis connects directly to one of the digital ports on the FPGA device. The expansion system adds custom measurement capabilities to applications that include traditional plug-in data acquisition, vision, motion and modular instrumentation. The FPGA circuitry at the heart of the CompactRIO system is a parallel processing reconfigurable computing engine that executes embedded LabVIEW applications deterministically at rates of up to 100 times faster than previously possible. Customers such as MTS, Roush, Goepel, Process Automation and Virginia Tech have already developed CompactRIO embedded systems for machine control, in-vehicle data acquisition, acoustics and vibration analysis and electric motor drive characterization.
EPP EUROPE 449
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