© National Instruments
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For information about optimizing your LabVIEW FPGA code for throughput, latency, or
resource utilization, refer to the
High-Performance LabVIEW FPGA Developer’s Guide
.
Auto-loading Bitfiles on Power-up
You can configure the NI-793xR to auto-load a bitfile on power-up, or you can use a startup
executable on the Real-Time controller to load a specific bitfile when the device powers up.
Complete the following steps to auto-load a bitfile on the NI-793xR.
1.
In MAX, expand
Remote Systems
and select your NI-793xR target from the list of
Real-Time targets.
2.
Expand
Devices and Interfaces
and select the NI-793xR FPGA target.
Note
You must select the NI-793xR FPGA target under
Devices and Interfaces
.
Selecting the NI-793xR target directly under
Remote Systems
updates the
Real-Time controller firmware and not the FPGA firmware.
3.
Navigate to your bitfile and select
Open
.
4.
In the
Update Firmware
window, select
Begin Update
. This process may take a few
minutes to complete.
5.
Restart your controller.
In addition to using MAX to auto-load bitfiles for FPGA, you can use the system configuration
API to programmatically set the bitfile that is auto-loaded on power-up.
Interactive Front Panel Communication
Use interactive front panel communication to communicate with an FPGA VI running on an
FPGA target with no additional programming. With interactive front panel communication, the
host computer displays the FPGA VI front panel window and the FPGA target executes the
FPGA VI block diagram.
The LabVIEW front panel window communicates with the FPGA target block diagram through
the controls and indicators. You can communicate with an FPGA target connected directly to
host computer or connected to a remote system over the network. As the FPGA target block
diagram continues to run, the host computer updates values on the FPGA VI front panel window
as often as possible. The execution rate of the FPGA VI is not affected by communication with
the host computer. However, the front panel data you share during interactive front panel
communication is not deterministic.
Use interactive front panel communication between the FPGA target and the host computer to
control and test VIs running on the FPGA target. After downloading and running the FPGA VI,
keep LabVIEW open on the host computer to display and interact with the front panel window
of the FPGA VI.