Chapter 1
Introduction
©
National Instruments Corporation
1-5
Software accesses the R Series device through the bus interface. The FPGA
connects the bus interface and the fixed I/O to make possible timing,
triggering, processing, and custom I/O measurements using the LabVIEW
FPGA Module.
The FPGA logic provides timing, triggering, processing, and custom I/O
measurements. Each fixed I/O resource used by the application uses a small
portion of the FPGA logic that controls the fixed I/O resource. The bus
interface also uses a small portion of the FPGA logic to provide software
access to the device.
The remaining FPGA logic is available for higher-level functions such as
timing, triggering, and counting. The functions use varied amounts of logic.
You can place useful applications in the FPGA. How much FPGA space
your application requires depends on your need for I/O recovery, I/O, and
logic algorithms.
The FPGA does not retain the VI when the R Series device is powered off,
so you must reload the VI every time you power on the device. You can load
the VI from onboard flash memory or from software over the bus interface.
One advantage to using flash memory is that the VI can start executing
almost immediately after power-up instead of waiting for the computer to
completely boot and load the FPGA VI. Refer to the
LabVIEW Help
for
more information about how to store your VI in flash memory.
Reconfigurable I/O Applications
You can use the LabVIEW FPGA Module to create or acquire new VIs for
your application. The FPGA Module allows you to define custom
functionality for the R Series device using a subset of LabVIEW
functionality. Refer to the R Series examples, located in the
<LabVIEW>\
examples\R Series
directory, for examples of FPGA VIs.
Software Development
You can use LabVIEW with the LabVIEW FPGA Module to program the
NI 781
x
R. To develop real-time applications that control the NI 781
x
R, use
LabVIEW with the LabVIEW Real-Time Module.
LabVIEW FPGA Module
The LabVIEW FPGA Module enables you to use LabVIEW to create VIs
that run on the FPGA of the R Series device. Use the FPGA Module VIs
