News and New Products

National Instruments targets high-volume applications

By Warren Webb, Technical Editor -- EDN, 11/29/2007

Integrating hardware that includes an embedded real-time processor and a reconfigurable FPGA, National Instruments’ new cRIO-9072 and cRIO-9074 CompactRIO systems target high-volume industrial applications. The systems extend NI’s FPGA-based deployment platforms that share common hardware architecture and I/O modules. Using this standard architecture and LabView FPGA and Real-Time tools, engineers can design and prototype industrial-monitoring-and-control-machines with PXI, PC, or standard CompactRIO hardware and then move to the cRIO-907x CompactRIO systems to reduce deployment costs. Because engineers can reuse the same LabView code during prototyping and deployment, they can shorten time to market and increase machine reliability.

To reduce costs, the cRIO-907x integrates the processor and the FPGA chip on the same PCB (printed circuit board). The cRIO-9072 system combines an industrial, 266-MHz real-time processor; 64 Mbytes of DRAM; 128 Mbytes of nonvolatile storage; and an eight-slot chassis with a reconfigurable, 1 million-gate FPGA chip. Prices start at $1999. The cRIO-9074 contains a 400-MHz real-time processor, 128 Mbytes of DRAM, 256 Mbytes of nonvolatile storage, and an eight-slot chassis with a 3 million-gate FPGA chip. Prices start at $2999.