NI Single-Board RIO FAQ

1. How many NI Single-Board RIO products are available?

There are eight NI Single-Board RIO products available. The eight systems are differentiated by processor speed, field-programmable gate array (FPGA) size, amount of memory, and I/O combinations. For more information on which models include specific features, see Table 1. All NI Single-Board RIO products share the NI RIO architecture, which includes a real-time processor, a reconfigurable FPGA, and I/O.

2. What displays are available to work with NI Single-Board RIO?

The existing human machine interface (HMI) line of displays from National Instruments is fully compatible with NI Single-Board RIO.  This includes the TPC-2006 and the TPC-2012 touch panels. If you need a simpler, lower cost display for your embedded system, several serial-based (RS232) displays have been tested with NI Single-Board RIO. This includes simple character LCDs and more complex LCDs up to full color touch-panel interfaces. For instrument drivers and information about the RS232 based displays that have been tested with NI Single-Board RIO, search for "NI Single-Board RIO embedded display" in the NI Developer Zone.

3. How do I add other I/O types to NI Single-Board RIO?

Each NI Single-Board RIO device contains three expansion slots for board-only versions of existing C Series I/O modules. The NI Single-Board RIO Product Selection Guide maintains an updated list of available board-only C Series modules. In addition to using board-only C Series modules, all existing C Series modules available for prototyping with CompactRIO are also compatible with NI Single-Board RIO. The CompactRIO C Series modules are slightly larger than the board-only versions, so they overlap with neighboring slots on NI Single-Board RIO. Therefore, if using any CompactRIO C Series modules with NI Single-Board RIO, only two of the expansion slots may be used. 

Figure 1. NI Single-Board RIO with three board-level C Series expansion I/O modules attached.

Figure 2. NI Single-Board RIO with two C Series expansion I/O modules attached.

4. Where can I get the mechanical drawings for NI Single-Board RIO?

You can find and download mechanical drawings of all NI Single-Board RIO products online. View the mechanical drawings now.

5. What specifications and certifications does NI Single-Board RIO have?

NI Single-Board RIO products have the following specifications and certifications:Visit ni.com/certifications for additional information on certifications and ratings for NI hardware.

NOTE:  Packaged CompactRIO embedded systems from NI offer additional mechanical and safety certifications for industrially rugged and harsh environments.

6. Does National Instruments provide any enclosures for NI Single-Board RIO?

No. National Instruments does not have any enclosures available for NI Single-Board RIO products. NI does offer the CompactRIO industrial and embedded system, which is a packaged version of NI Single-Board RIO. A variety of third-party companies, such as Hoffman, offer enclosures for extreme environments that you can use with any NI products including NI Single-Board RIO.

When choosing or building an enclosure for an NI Single-Board RIO device, you need to consider applicable safety and electromagnetic standards in all countries you intend to sell your end solution.  To assist in that process, National Instruments has created a whitepaper regarding Electromagnetic Compatibility Considerations for NI Single-Board RIO.

7. How do I program NI Single-Board RIO?

NI LabVIEW is the development tool for programming all aspects of your NI Single-Board RIO embedded application. LabVIEW is a graphical programming language where functions are represented as icons, and data “flows” between functions on wires.  Programming NI Single-Board RIO requires the LabVIEW Real-Time Module for creating applications that run on the embedded processor, and the LabVIEW FPGA Module for customizing the hardware personality of the onboard FPGA. The NI Developer Suite with Real-Time and FPGA Deployment Options includes all the minimum software development tools needed for NI Single-Board RIO.

8. Can I program NI Single-Board RIO in C/C++?

No. National Instruments does not currently provide the ability to program NI Single-Board RIO in C or C++. If you have existing code in C, LabVIEW Real-Time does have the ability to call code compiled into shared libraries. A tutorial on using the GNU tool chain for VxWorks to create shared libraries compatible with NI VxWorks targets, including NI Single-Board RIO, is available.

9. How much does NI Single-Board RIO cost?

NI Single-Board RIO is intended for OEM and high-volume quantities. At high volumes, OEM pricing for NI Single-Board RIO is very aggressive. For more specific pricing on any NI Single-Board RIO devices at quantities applicable to your application, contact your local sales engineer or call National Instruments at (800) 531-5066.

10. How can I port code from NI CompactRIO to NI Single-Board RIO?

CompactRIO and NI Single-Board RIO share the same hardware architecture including a real-time processor, a reconfigurable FPGA, and analog and digital I/O. Because of this common architecture, migrating code between CompactRIO and NI Single-Board RIO is easy. In most cases the only change needed to port a CompactRIO application to NI Single-Board RIO is mapping the existing I/O used on the CompactRIO FPGA VI to the I/O now available on NI Single-Board RIO. All other LabVIEW Real-Time and FPGA code is automatically migrated and reused when the existing application is targeted to NI Single-Board RIO in the LabVIEW project. After ensuring the I/O is correctly migrated in the project, the final step is to simply recompile the FPGA VI. LabVIEW automatically handles all other potential changes between CompactRIO and NI Single-Board RIO.

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Figure 3. The NI RIO architecture is shared by a range of National Instruments hardware, including CompactRIO and NI Single-Board RIO. With the common RIO architecture, engineers and scientist can choose hardware that best meets the requirements of a specific application while reusing existing code and experience, saving time and money.

For additional information on the ability to rapidly prototype embedded devices using CompactRIO and then deploying those devices in high volumes using NI Single-Board RIO, read this white paper.

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Reader Comments | Submit a comment »

LabWindows/CVI support?
Can Labwindows/CVI be used with the Single-Board RIO?
- Sep 16, 2008

No info on RS232 displays
The article on the exciting new single-board RIO (FAQ) states: "search for NI Single-Board RIO embedded displays in the NI Developer Zone" for information on RS232 displays and drivers. I did various searches and could not find any information on alternatives to the NI HMI devices. I'd really prefer something that doesn't require an entire additional computer running windows CE. Please point me to this information if possible. Thank you for the help. Sean
- Aug 7, 2008

100 Quanity?
Hopefully we can get smaller quantities in the future.
- Bill Johnson. bjohn@yahoo.com - Aug 2, 2008