Compact RIO Guide
Compact RIO Guide
Compact RIO Guide
Introduction
National Instruments CompactRIO is a small rugged industrial control and acquisition
system powered by reconfigurable I/O (RIO) FPGA technology for ultrahigh performance
and customization. NI CompactRIO incorporates a real-time processor and reconfigurable
FPGA for reliable stand-alone embedded or distributed applications, and hot-swappable
industrial I/O modules with built-in signal conditioning for direct connection to sensors
and actuators. CompactRIO represents a low-cost architecture with open access to
low-level hardware resources. CompactRIO embedded systems are developed using
high-productivity LabVIEW graphical programming tools for rapid development. With
NI CompactRIO, you can rapidly build embedded control or acquisition systems that rival
the performance and optimization of custom-designed hardware circuitry.
The CompactRIO products include cRIO-9002 and cRIO-9004 real-time controllers with
industrial floating-point processors, the cRIO-910x family of 4 and 8-slot reconfigurable
chassis featuring 1 million or 3 million gate FPGAs, and a wide variety of I/O types, from
80 mV thermocouple inputs to 250 VAC/VDC universal digital inputs. CompactRIO
embedded systems are developed using LabVIEW, the LabVIEW Real-Time Module and
the LabVIEW FPGA Module. There are two configurations for CompactRIO embedded
systems and R Series expansion systems.
The CompactRIO R Series expansion system uses the same hot swappable industrial I/O
modules to provide high-performance signal conditioning and industrial expansion I/O for
PCI or PXI/CompactPCI R Series FPGA devices. The expansion system adds custom
measurement capabilities to applications that include traditional plug-in data acquisition,
vision, motion, and modular instrument devices.
ni.com
I/O Modules
Each CompactRIO I/O module contains built-in signal conditioning and screw terminal,
BNC, or D-Sub connectors. By integrating the connector junction box into the modules, the
CompactRIO system significantly reduces the space requirements and cost of field wiring.
A variety of I/O types are available including 80 mV thermocouple inputs, 10 V
simultaneous sampling analog inputs/outputs, 24 V industrial digital I/O with up to 1 A
current drive, differential/TTL digital inputs with 5 V regulated supply output for encoders,
and 250 Vrms universal digital inputs. Because the modules contain built-in signal
conditioning for extended voltage ranges or industrial signal types, you can usually make
your wiring connections directly from the CompactRIO module to your sensors/actuators.
Visit ni.com/compactrio for the latest information on module availability.
Real-Time Processor
The CompactRIO embedded system features an industrial 200 MHz Pentium class
processor that reliably and deterministically executes your LabVIEW Real-Time
applications. Choose from thousands of built-in LabVIEW functions to build your
multithreaded embedded system for real-time control, analysis, data logging, and
communication. The controller also features a 10/100 Mb/s Ethernet port for programmatic
communication over the network (including e-mail) and built in Web (HTTP) and file
(FTP) servers. Using the remote panel Web server, you can automatically publish the
front-panel graphical user interface of your embedded application for multiclient remote
monitoring or control. The real-time processor also features dual 11 to 30 VDC supply
inputs, a user DIP switch, LED status indicators, a real-time clock, watchdog timers, and
other high-reliability features.
Reconfigurable Chassis
RIO Technology
With NI RIO technology, you define your own custom measurement hardware circuitry
using reconfigurable FPGA chips and LabVIEW graphical development tools. Now you
can take advantage of reconfigurable FPGA technology to automatically synthesize a
highly optimized electrical circuit implementation of your input/output, communication, or
control application.
ni.com
as VHDL. With CompactRIO, you can design your own custom control or acquisition
circuitry in silicon with 25 ns timing/triggering resolution.
Performance
Using LabVIEW FPGA software and reconfigurable hardware technology, you can create
ultrahigh performance control and acquisition systems with CompactRIO. The FPGA
circuitry is a parallel processing reconfigurable computing engine that executes your
LabVIEW application in silicon circuitry on a chip. You can design your own custom
control or acquisition circuitry in silicon with 25 ns timing/triggering resolution. LabVIEW
FPGA features built-in functions for analog closed-loop PID control, fifth-order FIR filters,
1D look-up tables, linear interpolation, zero-crossing detection, and direct digital synthesis
of sine waves.
Using the embedded RIO FPGA hardware, you can implement multiloop analog PID
control systems at loop rates exceeding 100 kS/s. Digital control systems can be
implemented at loop rates up to 1 MS/s, and it is possible to evaluate multiple rungs of
Boolean logic using single-cycle while loops at 40 MHz (25 ns). Due to the parallel nature
of the RIO core, adding additional computation does not necessarily reduce the speed of the
FPGA application.
CompactRIO is designed for applications in harsh environments and small places. Size,
weight, and I/O channel density are critical design requirements in many such embedded
applications. By taking advantage of the extreme performance and small size of FPGA
devices, CompactRIO is able to deliver unprecedented control and acquisition capabilities
in a compact, rugged package. A 4-slot reconfigurable embedded system measures
179.6 by 88.1 by 88.1 mm (7.07 by 3.47 by 3.47 in.) and weighs just 1.58 kg (3.47 lb).
An 8-slot system filled with 32-channel I/O modules delivers a mass channel density of
9.7 g/ch (0.34 oz/ch), and a volumetric channel density of 8.2 cm3/ch (0.50 in.3/ch).
Dimensions (4-slot)
Dimensions (8-slot)
ni.com
each device, refer to the operating instructions manual. Visit ni.com/hardref.nsf for
more information. 40 to 70 C (40 to 158 F) operating temperature
50 g shock rating
In this configuration, a CompactRIO expansion chassis connects to the digital port on a PCI
or PXI R Series FPGA device. The R Series device can be installed in any desktop or PXI
computer system running Windows or one of the LabVIEW Real-Time OSs. The RIO
FPGA resides on the R Series device while CompactRIO converts a single digital port on
the R Series device into a high performance expansion I/O and signal conditioning system.
The Windows host CPU or PXI RT controller provides high-performance processing for
analog control, analysis, or hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulations. The R Series RIO
device and CompactRIO chassis provide high-speed signal conditioned input, output,
communication, and control capabilities and offer unprecedented flexibility and
optimization.
The cRIO-9151 4-slot R Series expansion chassis connects directly to a PXI or PCI R Series
device such as the PXI-7831R, PXI-7811R, or PCI-7831R. In this configuration, the FPGA
resides on the R Series device and the CompactRIO I/O modules provides industrial I/O,
isolation, and signal conditioning. With the PXI-7831R or PCI-7831R, you can connect up
to two R Series Expansion Chassis for a maximum of eight I/O modules per R Series
device. With the PXI-7811R, you can connect up to four R Series expansion chassis for a
maximum of 16 I/O modules per R Series device.
ni.com
Processor
Ram (maximum)
PXI-8145 RT
PXI-8175 RT
PXI-8176 RT
PXI-8186 RT
PXI-8187 RT
RIO FPGA core application for input, output, communication, and control
Normal-priority loop for embedded data logging, remote panel Web interface, and
Ethernet/serial communication
Networked host PC for remote graphical user interface, historical data logging, and
postprocessing
Depending on your application requirements, you may decide to implement one or all of
these application components.
10
ni.com
FPGA device I/O for analog input/output, digital input/output, and I/O property
nodes/methods
Parallel processing with while loop, sequence, case, for loop, and other execution
control structures
Loop timer/counter with 40 MHz FPGA time base (25 ns tick, s, or ms resolution)
Boolean logic, comparison, numeric math, saturation arithmetic functions, and bitwise
data manipulation functions
11
Nonlinear system and discrete linear control functions including PID and fifth-order
FIR filter
Floating-point PID, set point profiling, gain scheduling, and rate limiter functions
Fuzzy logic control, continuous and discrete linear systems, and nonlinear systems, and
2D look-up table functions
SMTP E-mail, TCP/IP, UDP, IrDA, DataSocket, and VISA RS232 serial
programmatic server/client communication (including 802.11 wireless Ethernet)
Binary and text file I/O for embedded data logging and retrieval
12
Web browser remote panel graphical user interface plug-in for remote
control/monitoring (Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, Solaris)
Application Examples
Because of its low cost, reliability, and suitability for high-volume embedded measurement
and control applications, CompactRIO can be adapted to solve the needs of a wide variety
of industries and applications. Examples include heavy industrial machine control,
in-vehicle data acquisition, machine condition monitoring, and rapid control prototyping
(RCP):
Batch control
Discrete control
Motion control
CompactRIO is designed for advanced developers who will use LabVIEW graphical
development tools to adapt the reconfigurable hardware for a wide variety of industries and
applications. Customers such as MTS, Roush, Gpel, Process Automation and Virginia
Tech have already successfully developed CompactRIO embedded systems for heavy
machine control, in-vehicle data acquisition, acoustics and vibration analysis and electric
motor drive characterization.
Customer Successes
Automated Test Systems
Using RIO technology we reduced our development time by 50 percent, lowered our
systems cost by $40,000$150,000, and, best of all, enabled our customer to reuse 9095
percent of the platform for future applications.
Daren Williamson
AmFax Limited
13
Transportation Research
In the quick-changing world of high-tech R&D, RIO technology provides us with a
tremendous advantage. Not only does RIO provide significant cost and time savings
compared to full custom solutions, but an even bigger benefit to our industry is that the
reconfigurability allows us to make rapid changes in response to redefinition of test plans
and project goals.
Corey Jaskolski
Hydro Technologies
14
ni.com
make changes to our application in LabVIEW, we can reconfigure our system in a matter
of days....not weeks.
Joel Gorsegner, Development Engineer
Roush Industries, Inc.
15
Type of Controller
Standard real-time
Premium real-time
Windows PXI
NI PXI-8186, PXI-1031
Windows desktop
Windows desktop
Certified desktop PC
(Dell Optiplex, model GX270)
Table 2. Step 2. Select a REconfigurable Embedded Chassis or R Series Device and Expansion Chassis.
Type of Chassis
Standard real-time
Premium real-time
Windows PXI
Windows desktop
PCI-7831R and
cRIO-9151 expansion chassis
Desktop real-time
(RTX)
PCI-7831R and
cRIO-9151 expansion chassis
16
ni.com
Module
Channels
Special Features
cRIO-9211
IEPE2 (5 V)
cRIO-9233
Small voltage
(80 mV)
cRIO-9211
cRIO-9215
cRIO-9201
High voltage
(60 V)
cRIO-9221
Medium voltage
(10 V)
cRIO-9263
24 V sinking
cRIO-9421
cRIO-9423
250 AC/DC
universal
cRIO-9435
Differential or
TTL
cRIO-9411
1 s, 5 to 24 V, single-ended TTL or
differential, regulated 5 V supply output
cRIO-9472
cRIO-9474
Form A (SPST)
cRIO-9481
Counter/timer
(24 V)
cRIO-9423
Counter/timer
(TTL)
cRIO-9411
1 s, 5 to 24 V, single-ended TTL or
differential, regulated 5 V supply output
Quadrature
encoder
(differential)
cRIO-9411
1 s, 5 to 24 V, single-ended TTL or
differential, regulated 5 V supply output
PWM (5 to 30 V)
cRIO-9474
Counter, Pulse
Relay
Output
Digital
Output
Analog Input
Thermocouple
Analog
Output
Signal
Digital Input
Type of
Signal
Medium voltage
(10 V)
24 V sourcing
17
Aug04
342480A-01
*342480A-01*
11500 North Mopac Expressway Austin, TX 78759-3504 USA
Tel: (512) 683-0100 Fax: (512) 794-8411 Email: info@ni.com