You must cable the hardware of each RPS system component together to enable high-speed data transfer between the VSTs in the instrument controller and the NICs of the data storage server.

Connecting the High-Speed Serial Cabling

Gather the following items to connect your RF multi-channel recording system for high-speed serial cabling.

Table 25. High-Speed Data Component Quantities
Data Streams Component Quantity
1 VST: PXIe-5842 1
Stream Translation Module: PXIe-8290 1
zHD-to-zHD Cable: NI part number 788927-01/02 (1 m and 2 m lengths) 2
2 VST: PXIe-5842 2
Stream Translation Module: PXIe-8290 2
zHD-to-zHD Cable: NI part number 788927-01/02 (1 m and 2 m lengths) 4
4 VST: PXIe-5842 4
Stream Translation Module: PXIe-8290 4
zHD-to-zHD Cable: NI part number 788927-01/02 (1 m and 2 m lengths) 8

Connect the Multi-Gigabit Transceiver (MGT) ports on VST(s) to the stream translation module(s) with the zHD-to-zHD cable.

Figure 24. Cabling the VST(s) and the Stream Translation Module(s)

PXIe-8290 cabled to the PXIe-5842.

You must connect each VST to a stream translation module with a zHD cable pair. The following table describes the set of valid connections between these instruments.

Table 26. High-Speed Serial Connection Pairs between the VST(s) and Stream Translation Module
High-Sped Serial Connection Label Stream Translation Module: MGT Port VST: MGT Port
HSS0 8290_00: MGT 0 5842_00: MGT 0
8290_00: MGT 1 5842_00: MGT 1
HSS1 8290_01: MGT 3 5842_01: MGT 0
8290_01: MGT 7 5842_01: MGT 1

Each stream translation module supports up to two simultaneous HSS connections (zHD pairs), and each HSS connection enables both a record and playback data stream simultaneously. However, each stream translation module supports only two simultaneous data streams. Therefore, only three configurations are possible.

Table 27. Valid Streaming Configurations per Stream Translation Module
VST Connected to HSS0 VST Connected to HSS1
Generation and Acquisition Not in use
Not in use Generation and Acquisition
Generation or Acquisition Generation or Acquisition

Connecting the 100 GbE QSFP Cabling

Gather the following items to connect your RF multi-channel recording system for high-speed data transmission.

Table 28. High-Speed Data Component Quantities
Data Streams Component Quantity
1 Stream Translation Module: PXIe-8290 1
Data Storage Server: Dell PowerEdge R7625 1
Dell Networking QSFP28-to-QSFP28 Cable: 617115-01 Refer to the following table.
2 Stream Translation Module: PXIe-8290 2
Data Storage Server: Dell PowerEdge R7625 1
Dell Networking QSFP28-to-QSFP28 Cable: 617115-01 Refer to the following table.
4 Stream Translation Module: PXIe-8290 4
Data Storage Server: Dell PowerEdge R7625 1
Dell Networking QSFP28-to-QSFP28 Cable: 617115-01 Refer to the following table.

Connect the Port 1 and/or Port 2 Multi-Gigabit Transceiver (MGT) terminals on the stream translation module(s) to the data storage server(s) with QSFP28-to-QSFP28 cabling.

Figure 25. Cabling the Stream Translation Module(s) and the Data Storage Server

Available connection ports on PXIe-8290 and data storage server.

Each QSFP cable supports a single data stream. The quantity of connections required depends on how the high-speed serial connections on the stream translation module are being utilized, as listed in the following table.

Table 29. Cable Connections between the Stream Translation Modules and the Data Storage Servers
Stream Translation Module HSS0 Utilization Stream Translation Module HSS1 Utilization QSFP Cable Quantity
Generation and Acquisition Not in use 2
Not in use Generation and Acquisition 2
Generation or Acquisition Generation or Acquisition 2
Generation or Acquisition Not in use 1
Not in use Generation or Acquisition 1

There is no fixed mapping between HSS connection and QSFP port a stream translation module. The path data takes between these physical connectors is defined in the STsc configuration files: STsc.ini and datapaths.ini.

There is also no constraint on which QSFP ports on a stream translation module connect to which QSFP ports on a data storage server. Each QSFP port on a stream translation module may be connected to the same or different data storage server(s). The connections between these components are defined by the RPS configuration files: RPS.ini and connections.ini.

Data can be routed from any ETH connection to or from any NVMe data storage array, with some constraints. These routes are called RPDSsc endpoints and defined in the RPDSsc endpoints configuration file: endpoints.conf.