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National Instruments
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Introduction
This chapter provides overview information for PXI and the NI PXI-8820
embedded controller.
Benefits of PXI
The PXI (PCI eXtensions for Instrumentation) industry standard, an open
specification governed by the PXI Systems Alliance (PXISA), defines a
compact modular PC platform for test, measurement, and control systems.
Since PXI leverages the PCI bus, PXI users receive all the benefits of PCI
within an architecture that supports mechanical, electrical, and software
features tailored to industrial instrumentation, data acquisition, industrial
automation, and control 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.
