May 2020
This file contains important information about the NI WLAN Toolkit, including system requirements, and installation instructions.
Product Security and Critical Updates
Automating the Installation of NI Products
Using NI Software with Microsoft Windows 10
Using NI Software with Microsoft Windows 8.1
NI WLAN Toolkit Drops Support for Windows 7 (64-Bit) and Windows Server 2008 R2 in 2021
The NI WLAN Toolkit gives you direct and fine control over the generation and analysis of IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac and ax signals, as well as 802.11j/p/ah/af waveforms, with industry-leading speed and accuracy. It empowers you to characterize, validate, and test a variety of WLAN connectivity products, such as RF front end components, wireless modules, and user devices.
The following hardware products are supported in all operating systems listed in the Supported Operating Systems section.
Device-specific information about these modules is included in the NI RF Vector Signal Analyzers Help.
Device-specific information about these modules is included in the NI RF Vector Signal Transceivers Help.
NI WLAN Toolkit has the following requirements:
NI WLAN Toolkit 20.0 supports the following 64-bit operating systems:
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, NI WLAN Toolkit dropped support for all 32-bit Windows operating systems. NI WLAN Toolkit will not install or run on an unsupported OS. Refer to NI WLAN Toolkit Drops Support for Windows 7 (64-Bit) and Windows Server 2008 R2 in 2021 for information about future OS support.
Note In 2016, NI WLAN Toolkit dropped support for Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, and installations of Windows 7 without any service packs. You cannot deploy or distribute applications that use NI WLAN Toolkit 20.0 to an unsupported OS. Additionally, after installing NI WLAN Toolkit 20.0, you cannot use any installers built on this computer with any version of LabVIEW, LabWindows™/CVI™, NI TestStand™, or Measurement Studio on an unsupported OS.
For more information about the changes to our OS support for 2016, visit ni.com/r/OSSupport2016.
NI WLAN Toolkit 20.0 supports the following application software versions, including service packs. If you are not using NI application software, refer to Microsoft Visual Studio Support.
| Application Software | Versions Supported by NI WLAN Toolkit |
|---|---|
| LabVIEW | 2017 SP1, 2018 SP1, 2019 SP1, or 2020 |
| LabWindowsâ„¢/CVIâ„¢ | 2013 SP2 and later |
| TestStand | 4.2.0 for TestStand sequences |
NI installs NI WLAN Toolkit using NI Package Manager. If you do not already have NI software installed, NI WLAN Toolkit 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.
Notes
NI WLAN Toolkit VIs are available in LabVIEW from the Functions » RF Communications » WLAN palette.
NI WLAN Toolkit functions are available in LabWindows/CVI from the Library menu.
To launch the WLAN Interactive Example, navigate to the following locations:
WLAN Analysis Interactive ExampleThe documentation set is composed of the following documents.
| Document | Format | Description | Path |
|---|---|---|---|
| NI WLAN Analysis Toolkit Help | HTML/Windows Help |
Information about WLAN Analysis. The help is an HTML version of a traditional user manual that includes the following information:
|
Start»All Programs»National Instruments»WLAN Analysis»WLAN Analysis Toolkit Documentation |
| NI WLAN Generation Toolkit Help | HTML/Windows Help |
Information about WLAN Generation. The help is an HTML version of a traditional user manual that includes the following information:
|
Start»All Programs»National Instruments»WLAN Generation»WLAN Generation Toolkit Documentation |
| NI WLAN Toolkit Readme | HTML (this document) | Information about supported hardware and operating systems, new features, fixed issues, and legal notices. | Start»All Programs»National Instruments»WLAN»NI WLAN Toolkit Readme |
For the most recent revisions of documentation and for newly released documentation, visit ni.com/manuals.
To access all the installed NI WLAN Toolkit examples for LabVIEW and LabWindows/CVI, navigate to the following locations:
WLAN Analysis Interactive ExampleVisit 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.
The following are the behavior changes in WLAN Analysis 18.0 from WLAN Analysis 17.5:
The following are the behavior changes in WLAN Analysis 17.5 from WLAN Analysis 17.0:
The following are the behavior changes in WLAN Analysis 17.0 from WLAN Analysis 16.0:
The following are the behavior changes in WLAN Generation 19.1 from WLAN Generation 19.0:
The following are the behavior changes in WLAN Generation 18.0 from WLAN Generation 17.5:
The following are the behavior changes in WLAN Generation 17.5 from WLAN Generation 17.0:
The following are the known issues in NI WLAN Toolkit.
| ID | Known Issue | Reported Version |
|---|---|---|
| 741171 |
RFSA Fetch Error is observed when there is a transition from multi-record single-instrument to single-record multi-instrument acquisition on PXIe-5840/5830/5831,
if NI-RFSA handles are not closed between transitions. |
18.2 |
The following items are changes in NI WLAN Toolkit 20.0 from NI WLAN Toolkit 19.1.1.
| Bug ID | Fixed Issue |
|---|---|
| 215933 | Fixed an issue with MAC FCS computation when MPDU length is less than 32 bits. |
| 950386 | Fixed an issue related to exporting of decoded bits in soft front panel for 802.11ax and 802.11ac standards. |
| 944443 | Fixed an issue where spectral flatness margin results were incorrect for 802.11ax 80 MHz with HE-LTF size as 2x and CFR Interpolation disabled. |
| 975301 | Fixed an issue related to displaying of results in soft front panel when switched between Spectral and IQ measurements. |
The following items are changes in NI WLAN Toolkit 19.1.1 from NI WLAN Toolkit 19.1.
| Bug ID | Fixed Issue |
|---|---|
| 259525 | Fixed an issue where the user was unable to disable Common Clock Source control in the WLAN Analysis Soft Front Panel. |
The following items are changes in NI WLAN Toolkit 19.1 from NI WLAN Toolkit 19.0.
| Bug ID | Fixed Issue |
|---|---|
| 738829 | Fixed an issue where the number of midambles computation was incorrect at midamble boundaries. |
| 737441 | Fixed an issue where the Transmit Power class is not selectable for 802.11p in Analysis Soft front Panel. |
| 736490 | Fixed an issue where the spectral flatness margin results were incorrect for 802.11ax 80MHz with HE-LTF size as 2x and CFR Interpolation Disabled. |
| 720531 | Fixed an issue where the SCO correction was incorrect for 26 RU in 802.11ax Trigger based PPDU. |
The following items are changes in NI WLAN Toolkit 18.0 from NI WLAN Toolkit 17.5.
| Bug ID | Fixed Issue |
|---|---|
| 707639 | Fixed an issue where the carrier frequency leakage results were incorrect for 802.11ax extended range SU and/or when the HE-LTF Size is 2x or 1x. |
| 457302 | Fixed an issue where error in the estimates of Tx IQ impariments were more for higher timing skew in 802.11 ax 40M SU PPDU. |
The following items are changes in NI WLAN Toolkit 20.0 from NI WLAN Toolkit 19.1.1.
| Bug ID | Fixed Issue |
|---|---|
| 215928 | Fixed an issue related to generation in 802.11ax MU PPDU 160 MHz when the first 80 MHz segment was completely punctured. |
| 215933 | Fixed an issue with MAC FCS computation when MPDU length is less than 32 bits. |
The following items are changes in NI WLAN Toolkit 19.1.1 from NI WLAN Toolkit 19.1.
| Bug ID | Fixed Issue |
|---|---|
| 215924 | Fixed an issue where the value of the LO Frequency Offset in the WLAN Generation Soft Front Panel did not match with the value of the LO Frequency Offset in the Analysis when the LO Frequency Offset Mode is set to Auto in the PXIe-5840 device. |
The following items are changes in NI WLAN Toolkit 19.1 from NI WLAN Toolkit 19.0.
| Bug ID | Fixed Issue |
|---|---|
| 738836 | Fixed an issue where L-SIG length was incorrect for 802.11ax waveform with midamble. |
| 722796 | Fixed an issue where the waveforms were being power scaled incorrectly in multi-user Trigger based PPDU generation. |
The following items are changes in NI WLAN Toolkit 19.0 from NI WLAN Toolkit 18.0.
| Bug ID | Fixed Issue |
|---|---|
| 730357 | Fixed an issue where the toolkit is unable to generate 802.11ax MU PPDU when the number of HE-SIG-B symbols exceeds 16. |
The following items are changes in NI WLAN Toolkit 18.0 from NI WLAN Toolkit 17.5.
| Bug ID | Fixed Issue |
|---|---|
| 710003 | Fixed an issue where in multiframe generation of 802.11j or 802.11p standard, always fixed headroom of 12 dB is applied for the frames other than the first frame. |
| 703693 | Fixed an issue where the Tx Beamforming bit in the HE-SIG-B user info of the center 26 RU in 80 MHz/160 MHz was always set to 1. |
| 701203 | Fixed an issue where the number of data symbols value returned was incorrect for the standards 802.11b and 802.11g. |
| 701134 | Fixed an issue where the nominal packet padding in 802.11ax was 0 for 106 RU with DCM. |
| 700404 | Fixed an issue where the average power computation for headroom computation in ER SU PPDU with STBC was incorrect. |
| 641901 | Fixed an issue where AWGN applied was incorrect for 802.11ax MU users with power boost factor. |
| 517534 | Fixed an issue where windowing applied to the last OFDM symbol was improper in 802.11ac. |
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 4.6.2, 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 4.6.2 separately before you install NI software.
For more information about automating the installation of NI products, refer to Automating an Installer in the NI Package Manager manual.
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.
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.
NI WLAN Toolkit 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.
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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:
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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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