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Benefits of MXI-Express RIO for Applications
MXI-Express RIO delivers numerous benefits to many different applications. These benefits include high-channel-count streaming, system flexibility, and more. Read on for details about these benefits.
High-Channel-Count Streaming
The MXI-Express bus is essentially a x1 PCI Express link (250 MB/s theoretical), which provides the ability to stream data at high rates both upstream and downstream. Each MXI-Express RIO chassis has eight or 14 slots, up to six chassis can be daisy chained together, and up to eight chains can be connected to the same controller, providing over 600 slots of NI C Series I/O.
System Flexibility
MXI-Express RIO is compatible with a variety of different controller options. Pair a MXI-Express RIO chassis with multicore NI CompactRIO for a rugged system that meets extended temperature, shock, and vibration standards. Use MXI-Express RIO with a PXI controller to provide C Series expansion I/O in a PXI-based system with a powerful multicore processor and the choice of Windows or real-time operating systems. Pair MXI-Express RIO with an industrial controller or an NI Embedded Vision System for a compact, rugged system with vision or motion I/O needs. Or connect the MXI-Express RIO to a desktop PC or laptop with a MXI-Express interface for a flexible I/O extension to your development environment for testing and prototyping.
Customizable Mixed I/O
The C Series platform provides flexible, signal conditioned I/O. Each module contains its own signal conditioning and terminal block for efficient connectivity to signals close to their source. With a choice of over 100 modules, the C Series platform provides the ability to mix and match I/O in a standard chassis for flexible mixed I/O systems.
Intensive Deterministic Processing
Equipped with an onboard Virtex-5 LX50, LX85, or LX110 field-programmable gate array (FPGA), the MXI-Express RIO is well suited for applications that require intensive deterministic calculations. With these high-performance FPGA options, you can offload processing from the controller, implement system critical functionality, and customize I/O interfaces in hardware.
Applications
Some typical applications that have these requirements include the following:
Rapid Control Prototyping (RCP)
- Controller is simulated and plant is real
- Used to implement a real-time control system that can handle all the tasks commonly managed by an engine control unit (ECU):
- Engine position sensing
- Injection and ignition actuation
- Interfacing with sensors to implement control and diagnostic strategies
- Development of new advanced control algorithms
Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) Testing
- Plant is real and controller is simulated
- Similar to RCP but instead of simulating the controller for a real system, you are testing the controller that resulted from the rapid control prototyping process by simulating its environment:
- Engine position waveforms
- Injection and ignition simulated data
- Variable sensor and control feedback
Sound and Vibration
- High-frequency measurements requiring fast sample rates
- Arrays of sensors for characterization of waves and distributed phenomenon necessitate high channel counts. Analysis of signals is computationally intensive (fast Fourier transform (FFT), fractional-octave analysis, frequency analysis, transient analysis, and order tracking).
Big Physics
- Graphical system design gives research institutions the ability to deliver scientific results in shorter time at lower overall risk and cost. MXI-Express RIO supports this statement with a flexible, powerful reconfigurable I/O (RIO) system that can meet the high channel counts seen in big physics applications.
- Large machines for creating test conditions and conducting experiments require complex and demanding control.
National Labs and Institutional Research
- Flexible systems required for changing applications
- Large scale and complex testing
POV LED Propeller Demo
NI CompactRIO has been used in a number of rugged applications from skydiving, being thrown of 8-story buildings, and has even been blown up in some applications. In this quick demonstration, see how the ruggedness, expandability, and flexible nature of CompactRIO can be used in high performance applications such as those found in machine design.
Download the code used in this demo
Next Steps
Browse MXI-Express RIO products
Learn more about MXI-Express RIO
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