National Instruments NI PXIe-8105 User Manual

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National Instruments NI PXIe-8105 User Manual Manual pdf 9 page image

© National Instruments Corporation 1-1 NI PXIe-8105 User Manual1IntroductionThis chapter provides overview information for PXI Express and theNI PXIe-8105 embedded controller.Benefits of PXI ExpressThe PXI (PCI eXtensions for Instrumentation) industry standard, an openspecification governed by the PXI Systems Alliance (PXISA), has quicklygained adoption and grown in prevalence in test, measurement, and controlsystems since its release in 1998. One of the key elements driving the rapidadoption of PXI is its use of PCI in the communication backplane. As thecommercial PC industry has improved the available bus bandwidth byevolving PCI to PCI Express, PXI is now able to meet even moreapplication needs by integrating PCI Express into the PXI standard. Bytaking advantage of PCI Express technology in the backplane, PXI Expressincreases the available PXI bandwidth from up to 132 MB/s to up to 6 GB/sfor a more than 45x improvement in bandwidth.PXI Express maximizes both hardware and software compatibility withPXI modules. PXI Express hybrid slots deliver both PCI and PCI Expresssignaling to accept devices that use PXI communication and triggering orthe newer PXI Express standard. Software compatibility is maintainedbecause PCI Express uses the same OS and driver model as PCI, resultingin complete software compatibility among PCI-based systems, for examplePXI, and PCI Express-based systems such as PXI Express.PXI Express, like PXI, leverages from the CompactPCI specification todefine a rugged, modular form factor that offers superior mechanicalintegrity and easy installation and removal of hardware components.PXI Express products offer higher and more carefully defined levels ofenvironmental performance required by the shock, vibration, temperature,and humidity extremes of industrial environments. Mandatoryenvironmental testing and active cooling is added to the CompactPCImechanical specification to ease system integration and ensure multivendorinteroperability.The demanding timing and synchronization requirements ofinstrumentation systems are met by the integrated features of PXI Express.