NI provides three software options for programming the PXIe-5832—RFmx, NI-RFSA and NI-RFSG instrument driver software.

Table 2. PXIe-5832 Software Options
Software Option Description Use Case
RFmx

Provides a single-handle instrument driver with built-in measurements.

You can use instrument driver FPGA extensions to customize the device FPGA using precompiled bitfiles.

  • Use RFmx SpecAn to perform spectral measurements.
  • Use RFmx Demod to perform modulation quality measurements, such as EVM.
  • Use RFmx personalities to perform physical layer analysis on supported communications and connectivity signals.
NI-RFSA and NI-RFSG instrument driver

The NI-RFSA and NI-RFSG APIs each provide a fixed API for interacting with your hardware.

NI-RFSA and NI-RFSG provide standard IVI-based functionality needed for most vector signal analyzer and vector signal generator applications.

You can use NI-RFSA and NI-RFSG instrument driver FPGA extensions to customize the device FPGA using precompiled bitfiles.

  • Use NI-RFSA to create custom measurements or applications that require I/Q data.
  • Use NI-RFSG to generate continuous wave (CW) or modulated waveforms.
  • Use NI-RFSA and NI-RFSG with the NI Modulation Toolkit to develop software-defined radio transmitters and receivers.
  • Use NI-RFSG with the NI Modulation Toolkit to create and generate modulated signals to test receivers.