Archived: NI-RFSA Soft Front Panel 2.9 Known Issues

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Overview



This document contains the NI-RFSA Soft Front Panel (SFP) 2.9 known issues that were discovered before and since the release of the NI-RFSA SFP 2.9. Not every issue known to NI appears on this list; it is intended to show the most severe and common issues that can be encountered.

Each issue appears as a row in the table and includes the following fields:
  • Issue ID - The number in at the top of each of the cells in the first column. When you report an issue to NI, you may be given this ID, you can also find IDs posted by NI on the discussion forums or in Knowledge Base articles. "N/A" indicates that there is no ID assigned to the issue.
  • Issue Title (in italics) - Describes the issue in one sentence or less.
  • Problem Description - A few sentences which describe the problem in further detail. The brief description given does not necessarily describe the problem in full detail, and it is expected that you may want more information on an issue. If you would like more information on an issue, contact NI and reference the ID number given in the document.
  • Workaround - Possible ways to work around the problem. The workarounds that appear in the document are not always tested by NI and are not guaranteed to resolve the issue. If a workaround refers you to the NI KnowledgeBase, visit www.ni.com/kb/ and enter the KnowledgeBase number in the search field to locate the specific document.
  • Reported Version - The earliest version of the NI-RFSA SFP in which the issue was reported. If you discover the issue appears in an earlier version of the NI-RFSA SFP than is reported in this field, report the discrepancy to NI to have the field updated.
  • Resolved Version - Version in which the issue was resolved or was no longer applicable. "N/A" indicates that the issue has not been resolved.
  • Date Added - The date the issue was added to the document (not the reported date).

Known Issues by Severity

445202Setting the clock setting to Clk In using the SFP causes an error.
346518A delay occurs if you use the mouse to move over a marker when there are many points on the graph.
368610Warning continues to display after you decrease the power level at the input.
339218Acquisition does not begin immediately after you clear a PLL lock error.
448046The soft front panel does not display custom aliases created for hardware in MAX for VST devices.
453860Automatic VBW Value is not updated when SFP is debugging a session until RBW is changed.
449009The NI-RFSA SFP retains an error even after correcting the External Digital Trigger Source error in certain cases.
413889A signal is displayed at Center Frequency even though no signal is present at the input.
442518Clicking Preset does not reopen the previous session when SFP Session Access is enabled.
346251Unsupported property or attribute error for the Contiguous Multirecord property or the NIRFSA_ATTR_CONTIGUOUS_MULTIRECORD attribute in NI-RFSA Soft Front Panel or missing extended error information
467770When using a vector signal transceiver device, changing the reference clock source from PXI_CLK to OnBoardClk requires a ten second delay for stability.
IDKnown Issue
445202
Setting the clock setting to Clk In using the SFP causes an error.
Opening the NI-RFSA SFP for a device and changing the clock setting to Clk In causes an LO error and PLL phase lock failure.

Workaround: N/A

Reported Version: 2.9  Resolved Version: N/A  Added: 03/24/2014
346518

A delay occurs if you use the mouse to move a marker when there are many points on the graph.

In Spectrum mode, with a large span-RBW ratio, or in Zero Span mode with a large RBW or acquisition time, when you enable a marker and move it using the mouse, events queue up, and there is a delay until NI-RFSA processes all the events. You may also experience a delay when clicking the arrow keys.

Workaround: Change the marker position by entering a new marker value using the keypad instead of the mouse or arrow keys.

Reported Version: 2.5.5  Resolved Version: N/A  Added: 11/16/2012
368610

Warning continues to display after you decrease the power level at the input.

When the reference level of the NI-RFSA SFP is set below the power level of the signal being generated, the SFP displays a warning. If you decrease the power level at the input, you continue to receive the warning until you change the reference level.

Workaround: Click the Clear button.

Reported Version: 2.6  Resolved Version: N/A  Added: 11/16/2012
339218

Acquisition does not begin immediately after you clear a PLL lock error.

When the NI-RFSA SFP is set to use an external Reference Clock that is not connected, a PLL lock error occurs. After you connect the clock and the device locks to the clock, the error clears, but no data displays until you change a setting in the soft front panel.

Workaround: Change a setting in the soft front panel or click the Restart button, after the PLL lock error clears.

Reported Version: 2.6  Resolved Version: N/A  Added: 11/16/2012
448046

The Soft Front Panel does not display custom aliases created for hardware in MAX for VST devices.

For VST devices, the SFP only displays the "driver name," for example "RIO0." If the user configured an alias for the device in MAX, such as "my5645R," it is not displayed.

Workaround: Remember to use the driver name when referencing the device in a debug situation, especially when working with C or NI LabWindows/CVI.

Reported Version: 2.9  Resolved Version: N/A  Added: 03/24/2014
453860

The SFP does not update the Automatic VBW value when the SFP is debugging a session, until RBW is changed.

When VBW is set to automatic, the value of VBW is calculated based on RBW set and the coupling ratio of VBW/RBW. When connecting the RFSA SFP to an open session using the SFP Session Access feature, if VBW is changed to automatic and the value of VBW is set to 100 kHz when RBW is shown as 800 kHz. Coupling by default is 1, so values should match. Upon changing the value of RBW, the VBW changes appropriately.

Workaround: N/A

Reported Version: 2.9  Resolved Version: N/A  Added: 03/25/2014
449009

The NI-RFSA SFP retains an error even after correcting the External Digital Trigger Source error in certain cases.

When the NI-RFSA SFP is set to use an external digital trigger source that is not supported by the device, an error occurs. After you select a supported trigger source, the same error persists.

Workaround: After selecting a supported trigger source, save the NI-RFSA SFP configuration, click Preset, then reload the NI-RFSA SFP configuration. Alternately, after selecting a supported trigger source, switch to zero span, and then switch back to last span.

Reported Version: 2.9  Resolved Version: N/A  Added: 03/25/2014
413889

A signal is displayed at Center Frequency even though no signal is present at the input.

This behavior only applies to the VST devices (NI 5644R/5645R/5646R). Configuring the Reference Trigger as a type other than None can display a signal at the center frequency even though no signal is present at the input.

Workaround: Set the Reference Trigger type to None to remove the signal not present at the input.

Reported Version: 2.9  Resolved Version: N/A  Added: 03/25/2014
442518

Clicking Preset does not reopen the previous session when SFP Session Access is enabled.

If SFP Session Access is enabled for a device and the session is closed in the SFP, the SFP returns an error on clicking Preset.

Workaround: Click the SFP Control (Local) button to re-open the debug session.

Reported Version: 2.9  Resolved Version: N/A  Added: 03/25/2014
346251

Unsupported property or attribute error for the Contiguous Multirecord property or the NIRFSA_ATTR_CONTIGUOUS_MULTIRECORD attribute in NI-RFSA Soft Front Panel or missing extended error information.

When using the NI PXI-5661 through the NI-RFSA Soft Panel, invalid configurations may produce an error message that reports that the Contiguous Multirecord property or the NIRFSA_ATTR_CONTIGUOUS_MULTIRECORD attribute is not supported. After the error condition is reported, the NI-RFSA Soft Front Panel acquisition stops. At this point, the value change that caused the error can be changed to another invalid setting and back to the original to receive the correct error message. Correcting the invalid setting allows the acquisition to continue.

Workaround: When using the NI-RFSA Soft Front Panel, revert the changes that caused the error and re-apply those same changes to get the correct error message. For LabVIEW and C clients of NI-RFSA, place the niRFSA Commit VI or the niRFSA_Commit function after configuration changes that come before a fetch. This causes the correct error report to be produced. For C NI-RFSA clients, calls to niRFSA_GetError after a fetch call may still report an unsupported attribute error when the return code from fetch is VI_SUCCESS.

Reported Version: 2.5.5  Resolved Version: N/A  Added: 03/25/2014
467770

When using a vector signal transceiver device, changing the reference clock source from PXI_CLK to OnBoardClk requires a ten second delay for stability.
When using a vector signal transceiver device (NI 5644R/5645R/5646R), changing the reference clock source from PXI_CLK to OnBoardClk requires the hardware to disable and then re-enable the onboard reference clock. Disabling and re-enabling the onboard reference clock is necessary to provide the PXIClk route enough isolation from the onboard clock. After being re-enabled, the clock requires ten seconds to reach stability.

Workaround: N/A.

Reported Version: 2.7  Resolved Version: N/A  Added: 05/12/2014

Glossary of Terms

 

  • Bug ID - When an issue is reported to NI, you may be given this ID or find it on ni.com.  You may also find IDs posted by NI on the discussion forums or in KnowledgeBase articles.
  • Legacy ID – An older issue ID that refers to the same issue.  You may instead find this issue ID in older known issues documents.
  • Description - A few sentences which describe the problem. The brief description given does not necessarily describe the problem in full detail.
  • Workaround - Possible ways to work around the problem.
  • Reported Version - The earliest version in which the issue was reported.
  • Resolved Version - Version in which the issue was resolved or was no longer applicable. "N/A" indicates that the issue has not been resolved.
  • Date Added - The date the issue was added to the document (not the reported date).