RFmx Demod 19.0 Readme

June 2019


This file contains important information about RFmx Demod, including installation instructions, new features, bugs fixes, and known issues.


Overview

New Features

Supported Hardware

System Requirements

Supported Operating Systems

Application Software Support

Installation Instructions

Installed Software

File Locations

Executable

Finding Examples

Accessing the Documentation

Product Security and Critical Updates

Behavior Changes

Bug Fixes

Automating the Installation of NI Products

Using NI Software with Microsoft Windows 10

Using NI Software with Microsoft Windows 8.1

RFmx Demod Drops Support for Windows 7 (64-Bit) and Windows Server 2008 R2 in 2021

Legal Information


Overview

RFmx Demod provides a highly optimized RF measurement experience. Use RFmx Demod to perform demodulation measurements on analog and digital modulation signal formats, including QAM and ASK.


New Features

RFmx Demod 19.0 includes the following new features:


  • Support for LabVIEW 2019 (32-bit and 64-bit)
  • Support for De-embedding S-Parameter External Attenuation Tables
  • Addition of Reference Level Headroom property
  • Support for PXIe-5830 (EAP) and PXIe-5831 (EAP)

RFmx Demod 3.0 includes the following new features:


  • Support for NI PXIe-5820
  • Support for self-calibration in the RFmx Soft Front Panel

RFmx Demod 2.5 includes the following new features:


  • Addition of APIs to perform self-calibration and partial self-calibration
  • Addition of RFmx Debug Configuration Utility to configure debug settings
  • Support for LabVIEW 2018 (32-bit and 64-bit)
  • Support for querying configuration attributes without calling RFmxDemod Commit API

Supported Hardware

The following hardware products are supported in all operating systems listed in the Supported Operating Systems section.


Vector Signal Analyzers

  • PXIe-5663
  • PXIe-5663E
  • PXIe-5665
  • PXIe-5668
  • PXIe-5668 with PXIe-5698

Device-specific information about these modules is included in the NI RF Vector Signal Analyzers Help.


Vector Signal Transceivers

  • PXIe-5644
  • PXIe-5645
  • PXIe-5646
  • PXIe-5840
  • PXIe-5820
  • PXIe-5830 (EAP)
  • PXIe-5831 (EAP)

Device-specific information about these modules is included in the NI RF Vector Signal Transceivers Help.


System Requirements

RFmx Demod has the following requirements:


  • Processor—1 GHz 64-bit (x64) processor
  • 4 GB RAM*
  • A screen resolution of 1,024 x 768
  • Windows 10/8.1/7, with all available critical updates and service packs

*Depending on the amount of data acquired and/or processed, a larger amount of memory may be required.


Supported Operating Systems

RFmx Demod 19.0 supports the following 64-bit operating systems:


  • Windows 10/8.11/7 SP12
  • Windows Server 2012 R21
  • Windows Server 2008 R2 SP12

1 NI software installs VC2015 Runtime and .NET 4.6.2. Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2 require Microsoft updates to support these items. Refer to Microsoft KB2919442 and KB2919355 for more information about how to install these updates.


2 NI software is signed with a SHA-256 certificate. Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 require Microsoft updates to support SHA-256. Refer to Microsoft KB3033929 for more information about how to install this security update.


Note  In 2019, RFmx Demod dropped support for all 32-bit Windows operating systems. RFmx Demod will not install or run on an unsupported OS. Refer to RFmx Demod Drops Support for Windows 7 (64-Bit) and Windows Server 2008 R2 in 2021 for information about future OS support.


Application Software Support

RFmx Demod supports the following application software versions, including service packs. You should install application software, such as LabVIEW, LabWindows/CVI or Microsoft Visual Studio®, before installing RFmx Demod. To add support for application software installed after installing RFmx Demod modify your RFmx Demod installation or launch the RFmx Demod installer again. If you are not using NI application software, refer to Microsoft Visual Studio Support.


Application SoftwareVersions Supported by RFmx Demod
LabVIEW 2016, 2017, 2018 SP1 f4 patch, or 2019
LabWindows™/CVI™ 2013 SP2 or later

Other Required Software

  • NI-RFSA 14.1 or later
  • NI-RFSG 14.0.1 or later

Microsoft Visual Studio Support

If you are using the RFmx Demod .NET Class Library, .NET Framework 4.0 (minimum) is required. The RFmx Demod .NET Class Library can be used with Visual C# or Visual Basic .NET in any Visual Studio version that can target .NET Framework 4.0.


To use the .NET API, you must install the .NET class libraries or the .NET wrapper in addition to the NI device driver. For information about versions of the .NET Framework and the drivers each supports, as well as the download location of the installer files, refer to National Instruments .NET Driver Support.


Installation Instructions

NI installs RFmx Demod using NI Package Manager. If you do not already have NI software installed, RFmx Demod installs NI Package Manager to handle the installation of your NI software. Visit ni.com/info and enter the Info Code NIPMDownload to download NI Package Manager. Refer to the NI Package Manager Manual for more information about installing, removing, and upgrading NI software using NI Package Manager.


Installed Software

Installed Software

  • <NIDocDir> is an alias for the following National Instruments file folder location: Users\Public\Public Documents\National Instruments
  • <MSTUDIOVS2010DIR> is an alias for the following National Instruments file folder location:
    • Program Files (x86)\National Instruments\MeasurementStudioVS2010
  • <NIDir> is an alias for the following National Instruments file folder location:
    •  Program Files (x86)\National Instruments 
  • <SYSDIR> is an alias for the following file folder location:
    • Windows\SysWOW64 for 32-bit programs and windows\system32 for 64-bit programs

File Locations

Item Installed Location
Version Compatibility Checker <NIDir>\RFmx\niRFmxCompatibility_Checker.exe
Debug Configuration Utility <NIDir>\RFmx\niRFmxDebugConfigurationUtility.exe
DLLs <SYSDIR>
Header files

<NIDir>\Shared\ExternalCompilerSupport\C\include


Import Library files (64-bit)
  • 32-bit: <NIDir>\Shared\ExternalCompilerSupport\C\lib32\msvc
  • 64-bit: <NIDir>\Shared\ExternalCompilerSupport\C\lib64\msvc
C, .NET
Examples <NIDocDir>\NI-RFmx\Demod\Examples
LabVIEW
Examples <NIDir>\LabVIEW <version>\examples\RFmx\Demod
.NET Class Libraries
Assemblies <MSTUDIOVS2010DIR>\DotNET\Assemblies\Current\NationalInstruments.RFmx.DemodMX.Fx40.dll
<MSTUDIOVS2010DIR>\DotNET\Assemblies\Current\NationalInstruments.RFmx.InstrMX.Fx40.dll
<MSTUDIOVS2010DIR>\DotNET\Assemblies\Current\NationalInstruments.Common.dll

Executable

Select Start»All Programs»National Instruments»RFmx Demod»RFmx Demod Measurement Interactive Panel to launch the RFmx Demod Measurement Interactive Panel.


Finding Examples

Select Help»Find Examples from LabVIEW or LabWindows/CVI to launch the NI Example Finder and navigate to Hardware Input and Output»Modular Instruments»NI-RFmx»Demod. You can also select the Search tab to search all installed examples by keyword.


You can access all the installed RFmx Demod examples at Start»All Programs»National Instruments»RFmx Demod»RFmx Demod Examples.


Accessing the Documentation

Documentation for RFmx Demod is located at Start»All Programs»National Instruments»RFmx Demod»RFmx Demod Documentation. The documentation set is composed of the following documents.


Document Format Description
RFmx Demod Help HTML/Windows Help Contains primary help content for RFmx Demod. This help file is an HTML version of a traditional user manual that includes the following information:
  • An introduction to RFmx Demod
  • How to get started with application development
  • A complete reference for all RFmx Demod programming functions and VIs
RFmx Demod 19.0 Readme HTML (this document) Contains information about supported hardware and operating systems, new features, fixed issues, and legal notices.

For the most recent revisions of documentation and for newly released documentation, visit ni.com/manuals.


Accessing VIs

RFmx Demod palette VIs are available from the Functions»Measurement I/O»NI-RFmx»Demod palette.


Product Security and Critical Updates

Visit ni.com/security to view and subscribe to receive security notifications about National Instruments products. Visit ni.com/critical-updates for information about critical updates from National Instruments.


Behavior Changes

The following items are the behavior changes in RFmx Demod 19.0 from RFmx Demod 3.0.


  • Dropped support for LabVIEW 2015
  • Deprecated the Recommended I/Q Measurement Bandwidth property in RFInstr

The following items are the behavior changes in RFmx Demod 2.3.1 from RFmx Demod 2.3.


  • Changed the default value of the IQ Power Edge Source property to ""(empty string)
  • The alias 'default@Demod' for the default signal name is accepted as a valid signal name in a selector string parameter
  • LabVIEW built binaries using RFmx versions older than 2.2 are no longer supported

Bug Fixes

The following items are the IDs and titles of a subset of issues fixed in RFmx Demod. This is not an exhaustive list of issues fixed in the current version of the RFmx Demod. If you have a CAR ID, you can search this list to validate that the issue has been fixed.


The following items are changes in RFmx Demod 3.0 from RFmx Demod 2.5


ID Fixed Issue
706047 Fixed an occasional crash which might occur on closing LabVIEW 2017 IDE or LabVIEW 2017 built applications that use RFmx.
719203 Fixed an issue where a timeout error was thrown when the digital trigger was configured when Using breakpoints in C/C++/.NET application was selected in the PXIe-5840.

The following items are changes in RFmx Demod 2.5 from RFmx Demod 2.4.


ID Fixed Issue
644169 Fixed an issue to enhance the CFO estimation for QAM.
699425 Fixed an issue to align the Quadrature skew definition with RFmx Waveform Creator.

The following items are changes in RFmx Demod 2.4 from RFmx Demod 2.3.1.


ID Fixed Issue
656549 Fixed an issue with EVM measurements resulted from the IQ imbalance application to half-sine filtered OQPSK signal.
656458 Fixed an issue with impairments estimation of OQPSK modulated signal.
640495 Fixed an issue where switching between measurements from an RFmx cellular personality to Demod resulted in higher EVM on 5668R.
641411 Fixed an issue with running DDEM measurement with Auto Level.

Automating the Installation of NI Products

You can automate the installation of most NI products using command-line arguments to suppress some or all of the installer user interface and dialog boxes.


If the NI product you are installing uses Microsoft .NET 4.0, the .NET installer may run before any NI software installs and may require a reboot before the installation of NI software begins. To avoid a .NET reboot, install .NET 4.0 separately before you install NI software.


For more information about automating the installation of NI products, refer to the following KnowledgeBase articles:


Using NI Software with Microsoft Windows 10

Microsoft Windows 10 is the latest version of the Windows operating system and features significant changes compared to previous versions. Windows 10 introduces several new capabilities and also combines features from both Windows 7 and Windows 8. For more information about NI support for Windows 10, visit ni.com/windows10.


Using NI Software with Microsoft Windows 8.1

When you install NI software on Microsoft Windows 8.1, you will notice a few additional tiles in the Apps view, including shortcuts to NI application software products such as NI LabVIEW, Measurement & Automation Explorer (NI MAX), and NI Launcher. For more information about NI support for Windows 8.1, visit ni.com/windows8.


RFmx Demod Drops Support for Windows 7 (64-Bit) and Windows Server 2008 R2 in 2021

RFmx Demod will drop support for Windows 7 (64-bit) and Windows Server 2008 R2 starting in 2021. Versions of this product that ship after May 1, 2021, may not install or execute correctly on these operating systems. For detailed information about NI operating system support, visit ni.com/r/win32bitsupport.


For detailed information about NI application software product life cycles, visit ni.com/info and enter one of the following Info Codes:


Product Info Code
LabVIEWlifecycle
LabWindows/CVIcvi_lifecycle
Measurement Studiomstudiolifecycle
TestStandtslcp
DIAdemddlcp
SignalExpressselcp
VeriStandnivslifecycle

Legal Information

Copyright


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End-User License Agreements and Third-Party Legal Notices


You can find end-user license agreements (EULAs) and third-party legal notices in the following locations after installation:


  • Notices are located in the <National Instruments>\_Legal Information and <National Instruments> directories.
  • EULAs are located in the <National Instruments>\Shared\MDF\Legal\license directory.
  • Review <National Instruments>\_Legal Information.txt for information on including legal information in installers built with NI products.

U.S. Government Restricted Rights


If you are an agency, department, or other entity of the United States Government ("Government"), the use, duplication, reproduction, release, modification, disclosure or transfer of the technical data included in this manual is governed by the Restricted Rights provisions under Federal Acquisition Regulation 52.227-14 for civilian agencies and Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement Section 252.227-7014 and 252.227-7015 for military agencies.


IVI Foundation Copyright Notice


Content from the IVI specifications reproduced with permission from the IVI Foundation.


The IVI Foundation and its member companies make no warranty of any kind with regard to this material, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. The IVI Foundation and its member companies shall not be liable for errors contained herein or for incidental or consequential damages in connection with the furnishing, performance, or use of this material.


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Refer to the NI Trademarks and Logo Guidelines at ni.com/trademarks for information on NI trademarks. Other product and company names mentioned herein are trademarks or trade names of their respective companies.


Patents


For patents covering the NI products/technology, refer to the appropriate location: Help»Patents in your software, the patents.txt file on your media, or the NI Patent Notice at ni.com/patents.


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