Chapter 1
Introduction
©
National Instruments Corporation
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All models in the PXI-8150B Series are compatible with PC-compatible
software tools, the National Instruments LabVIEW and LabWindows/CVI
application software, and the NI-VISA, NI-488.2M, and NI-DAQ software.
Hardware Description
Benefits of PXI
The PXI-8150B Series PXI/CompactPCI embedded computers are
high-performance CompactPCI-compatible system controllers that are
compatible with the PXI bus specification. PXI defines a compact modular
PC platform for industrial instrumentation. PXI leverages the PCI bus,
which is the de facto standard for today’s desktop computer software and
hardware designs. As a result, PXI users receive all the benefits of PCI
within an architecture that supports mechanical, electrical, and software
features tailored to industrial instrumentation, data acquisition, and
automation applications.
Well-suited for industrial applications, PXI leverages from the
CompactPCI specification, which defines a rugged form factor for PCI that
offers superior mechanical integrity and easy installation and removal of
hardware components. PXI products offer higher and more carefully
defined levels of environmental performance required by the vibration,
shock, temperature, and humidity extremes of industrial environments.
PXI adds mandatory environmental testing and active cooling to the
CompactPCI mechanical specification to ease system integration and
ensure multivendor interoperability.
Additionally, PXI meets the more specific needs of instrumentation users
by adding an integrated trigger bus and reference clock for multiple-board
synchronization, a star trigger bus for very precise timing, and local buses
for side-band communication between adjacent peripherals.
PXI-8150B Series Design
The PXI-8150B Series PXI embedded computers are high-performance
PXI system controllers with all the standard I/O features built in. The
PXI-8150B Series uses state-of-the-art technology and packaging to create
a fully PC-compatible controller for PXI. Due to the unique design and
packaging, these computers have onboard PCI video and are still able to
connect to the PXI bus without the need of a PCI-to-PCI bridge. As a result,
they preserve the full 132 Mbytes/s PCI bandwidth for other PXI boards. In
addition, the PXI-8150B supports masters in all seven available PXI slots.
