Create Reliable Stand-Alone Systems

To ensure reliable operation, embedded LabVIEW Real-Time applications

continue to run even if the host PC is interrupted or rebooted. Because

the PXI-8110 RT embedded controller runs in a separate chassis with a

dedicated power supply, the operator can shut down the host computer

entirely without disrupting the real-time program.

For stand-alone operation, you can embed code in the system so

that it starts automatically when the system boots, requiring no human

interaction. Use the LabVIEW Professional Development System and

LabVIEW Real-Time Module to compile your LabVIEW application into

an executable and download it to your PXI-8110 RT controller.

Dual-Boot Option

You can configure NI PXI embedded controllers to boot into Windows or

the real-time OS. NI Measurement & Automation Explorer (MAX) includes

features for installing and configuring PXI embedded controllers as

LabVIEW Real-Time targets. The controllers use a hardware switch or

BIOS setting to boot into the desired OS.

The result is a PXI embedded controller that can run embedded

LabVIEW Real-Time or Windows applications. When the controller is in

real-time mode, you need another Windows computer to develop and

debug the LabVIEW Real-Time code for the PXI controller. To enable a

Windows PXI embedded controller to dual-boot with the real-time OS,

you must purchase the LabVIEW Real-Time embedded deployment

software for the controller.

Extended Temperature and

24/7 Operation Option

The PXI-8110 RT embedded controller is available in two versions to

address different environmental and usage conditions. The primary

difference is that the version for extended temperature and 24/7

operation uses a different hard drive designed for reliability in both

low- and high-temperature extremes and 24/7 operation. The standard

version of the controllers has an operating temperature of 5 to 50 °C and

a storage temperature of -40 to 65 °C. The extended temperature and

24/7 operation version has an operating temperature of 0 to 55 °C and

a storage temperature of -40 to 71 °C.

You can also use the extended temperature and 24/7 operation

version for applications that require continuous operation for up to

24 hours/day, seven days/week because the hard drive is rated for 24/7

operation. The hard drive in the standard version of the controllers is

designed to be powered on for eight hours/day, five days/week.

Additionally, 24/7 operation applications may subject the hard drive to a

high duty cycle (the percentage of the maximum sustained throughput of

the hard drive). The hard drive in the standard version of the controllers

is designed for a 20 percent duty cycle. The hard drives in the extended

temperature and 24/7 operation version and the standard version have a

capacity of 80 GB (minimum) with a SATA interface.

Real-Time Performance Benchmarks

Table 2 contains the PID loop rate benchmark numbers for the

PXI-8110 RT. For a direct comparison, the benchmarks for the PXI-8110

RT embedded controller were artificially restricted to exercise only the

first two CPU cores on the Intel Q9100 quad-core processor. You must

architect real-time applications to create four independent execution

threads by implementing programming strategies such as task

parallelism, data parallelism, and pipelining to fully exercise the four

cores on the PXI-8110 RT embedded controller. For in-depth real-time

2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Quad Real-Time Embedded Controllers for PXI

2

BUY ONLINE at ni.com or CALL 800 813 3693 (U.S.)

CPU

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9100 processor

(2.26 GHz quad core)

800 MHz DDR2 RAM, standard

2 GB (1 x 2 GB)

800 MHz DDR2 RAM, maximum

2 GB (1 x 2 GB)

Hard drive (standard option), minimum

120 GB SATA (7200 rpm)

Hard drive (extended temperature

and 24/7 option), minimum

80 GB SATA (5400 rpm)

Storage, solid state

Extended temperature and

24/7 operation option



10/100/1000BASE-TX (Gigabit) Ethernet



Serial port (RS232)



Parallel port



Hi-Speed USB ports

4

GPIB (IEEE 488) controller



ExpressCard/34 slot



Watchdog/trigger SMB



1

Optional 32 GB solid-state drive can replace the hard drive.

Table 1. NI PXI-8110 RT Features

Loop Rates (kHz)

Benchmark Processing Channels

DAQ I/O

Mode

PXI-8106 RT PXI-8108 RT PXI-8110 RT

Analog I/O

PID

1

Polling

86

136

129

Analog I/O

PID

1

Interrupt

35

50

54

Analog I/O

PID

4

Polling

51

77

75

Analog I/O

PID

4

Interrupt

33

40

41

Analog I/O

PID

16

Polling

26

31

31

Analog I/O

PID

16

Interrupt

16

24

24

Table 2. Maximum loop rates for LabVIEW Real-Time PXI systems are shown. All bench-

marks use the LabVIEW Real-Time Module 8.6.1 with NI-DAQmx 8.6. Benchmarks were

revised to adhere to the architecture recommended by NI for symmetric multiprocessing-

enabled systems. Benchmarks that do not test network performance run on a headless

target without a direct Ethernet connection for maximum performance. Benchmarks

that do test network performance use interrupt-mode Ethernet via a direct connection

National Instruments for additional benchmarks.