National Instruments VXI-USB, User Manual

Page 1: ...VXI VXI USB User Manual VXI USB User Manual December 2004 371381A 01 ...

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Page 3: ...ood accident actions of third parties or other events outside reasonable control Copyright Under the copyright laws this publication may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form electronic or mechanical including photocopying recording storing in an information retrieval system or translating in whole or in part without the prior written consent of National Instruments Corporation Trademarks N...

Page 4: ...nt of Communications DOC Changes or modifications not expressly approved by NI could void the user s authority to operate the equipment under the FCC Rules Class A Federal Communications Commission This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class A digital device pursuant to part 15 of the FCC Rules These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against ha...

Page 5: ...ter 2 Installation and Configuration Installing the Software 2 1 Installing the NI VXI and NI VISA Software 2 1 Completing the Software Installation 2 2 Configuring the Hardware Optional 2 3 Installing the Hardware 2 4 Installing Your VXI USB Interface Module 2 5 Connecting Cables 2 5 Software Configuration and Verification 2 6 Chapter 3 Developing Your Application NI VXI NI VISA and Related Terms...

Page 6: ...r Manual vi ni com Appendix A Specifications Appendix B Default Settings Appendix C Advanced Hardware Configuration Settings Appendix D Common Questions Appendix E Technical Support and Professional Services Glossary Index ...

Page 7: ...mbol is marked on a product refer to the Safety section in Appendix A Specifications for information about precautions to take bold Bold text denotes items that you must select or click in the software such as menu items and dialog box options Bold text also denotes parameter names italic Italic text denotes variables emphasis a cross reference or an introduction to a key concept This font also de...

Page 8: ...EEE Standard 1014 1987 IEEE Standard for a Versatile Backplane Bus VMEbus ANSI IEEE Standard 1155 1998 IEEE VMEbus Extensions for Instrumentation VXIbus ANSI VITA 1 1994 VME64 Universal Serial Bus Specification Revision 2 0 VXI 6 VXIbus Mainframe Extender Specification Rev 2 0 VXIbus Consortium NI VISA Help NI VXI Help Measurement Automation Explorer Help for NI VISA NI VXI ...

Page 9: ...t contains a National Instruments VXI USB interface module which plugs into your VXI mainframe and links your computer to the VXIbus Your kit includes the NI VXI NI VISA bus interface software which is fully VXIplug play compliant NI VXI NI VISA is the National Instruments implementation of the VISA I O software standard on which all VXIplug play software components are based What You Need to Get ...

Page 10: ...f it is plugged directly into the VXI backplane as an embedded CPU module The VXI USB transparently translates between USB and VXI protocols VXI 3 0 Specification Support The VXI USB has been designed for VXIbus Specification 3 0 and also is compatible with VXIbus Specification 2 0 The VXI USB supports new VXIbus 3 0 features such as 2eVME transfers with a theoretical bandwidth up to 160 Mbytes s ...

Page 11: ...ne is asserted by the VXI USB or another device on the bus VXI Indicates the VXI USB is being accessed as a VXI slave ONLINE Green Indicates the VXI USB is configured by Resman Amber Indicates the VXI USB is not configured by Resman USB Indicates there is USB traffic to from the VXI USB this excludes any traffic to all other downstream USB devices LINK Green Indicates the VXI USB is connected to a...

Page 12: ... various components whether they are VXI GPIB PXI or Serial devices You can also add VME devices to your system easily with MAX and view them on a screen display along with the rest of your system MAX also features various options for running the Resource Manager Resman You can still execute Resman independently to configure your instruments after a power cycle But you can also perform resource ma...

Page 13: ...llows you to choose from standard environments such as Microsoft Visual Basic Visual C and Visual Studio NET to create your application using tools specific for each language With Measurement Studio you can write programs quickly and easily and modify them as your needs change LabWindows CVI is an interactive ANSI C programming environment designed for building virtual instrument applications LabW...

Page 14: ...e To be compliant with VXIplug play specifications a VXI controller must provide the VISA I O driver library standardized by VXIplug play VISA ensures that your controller can run all VXIplug play compatible software now and in the future The NI VISA software in this kit is compatible with the WINNT GWINNT framework With NI VISA installed on your computer you can run any VXIplug play software that...

Page 15: ...greement Note If you have a previous version of the NI VXI software installed Setup installs the new version over the previous version 3 Select the type of installation from the Installation Options screen Typical setup installs runtime support and NI VISA development support Complete setup installs everything including NI VXI API development support For more information about the NI VXI API refer...

Page 16: ...tes included with this version of NI VXI so that all your devices are properly identified Configuring the Hardware Optional This section contains basic information about configuring your VXI USB hardware Because the default settings for your VXI USB hardware are acceptable for most typical applications this section is optional Refer to Appendix B Default Settings for a complete listing of the hard...

Page 17: ... hardware Your kit contains a VXI USB interface module Caution To guard against electrostatic discharge touch the antistatic plastic packages to a metal part of your computer or chassis before removing the boards from their packages Your computer or chassis should be plugged in but powered off Figure 2 2 shows a system that includes a USB 2 0 equipped computer a VXI USB and USB devices Figure 2 2 ...

Page 18: ... address space This region is reserved for VXI device configuration registers which are used for initializing configuring and interacting with VXI devices The VXI USB also uses this region for this purpose Note Also ensure that no VXI devices in your system are configured for logical address 0 This is the VXI USB logical address which you cannot change Connecting Cables Connect the USB cable to a ...

Page 19: ...chassis You can also configure MAX to run Resman automatically at every computer startup by selecting Tools NI VXI VXI Options and selecting the appropriate checkbox 2 You can also use MAX to interactively configure the National Instruments hardware in your system Use the right click help for information about the various configuration options After you finish configuring the system through MAX ve...

Page 20: ...al Instruments implementation of the VISA I O standard which is a common interface to many types of instruments such as VXI GPIB PXI Serial TCP IP and so on NI VXI is optimized for use through NI VISA and NI recommends using NI VISA to develop all new VXI VME applications The NI VXI API is an optional development environment that is not part of the default NI VXI installation The NI VXI API was de...

Page 21: ...utomatically performs the VXI resource management whenever you run it Note Power cycling resets all devices so you must run Resman to reconfigure your system every time you cycle the power on the chassis MAX presents a graphical display of your entire test and measurement system to help you configure various components When you launch MAX you see all your devices including VXI on the screen You ca...

Page 22: ...ame logical address model name and other data For more information about MAX refer to its online help by selecting the Help Help Topics menu Device Interaction You can interact with your VXI VME devices using the VISA Interactive Control VISAIC utility VISAIC allows you to control your VXI VME devices without using LabVIEW Measurement Studio LabWindows CVI or another programming language You can a...

Page 23: ...he VXI system 0 logical address 0 instrument resource as shown in Figure 3 2 Figure 3 2 Select Your Controller in VISAIC Open the selected resource and navigate to the Register I O tab In this tab you can read registers on your device such as the VXI device configuration registers Execute the viIn operation called In in LabVIEW compatibility mode with the default parameters The Data Value field sh...

Page 24: ...ur VXI system This way you can verify that your VXI controller can access each device in your VXI system successfully You can also access VXI and VME devices configured in A16 A24 or A32 space by opening the VXI MEMACC resource which is VISA s representation of VXI memory For more information about VISAIC operations and commands refer to the online help in the Help menu and the context sensitive h...

Page 25: ... NI VXI API include functions for register level access to VXI instruments and messaging capability to message based devices You can also use either interface to service asynchronous events such as triggers signals and interrupts and also assert them Compatibility with the NI VXI API is included for legacy applications only NI recommends that you write all new VXI VME applications in VISA The best...

Page 26: ...VME64 64 bit data transfer protocol To optimize move performance on virtual memory systems such as the Windows operating system lock the user buffer in memory yourself so the move operation does not need to lock the buffer To optimize move performance on paged memory systems such as the Windows operating system use a contiguous buffer so the move operation does not need to build a scatter gather l...

Page 27: ...ontrollers You can define these symbols using define statements in your source code or using the appropriate option in your compiler typically either D or D If you use define statements they must appear in your code before the line that includes the NI VXI API header nivxi h Compatibility Layer Options Although NI VXI supports multiple VXI controllers through NI VISA the NI VXI API supports only a...

Page 28: ...devices are enabled This means that some interrupts could be lost from devices with higher numbered logical addresses MAX provides an option for users to pick which logical address is enabled first Select Tools NI VXI VXI Options Set Prioritized Signal LA to the logical address of the device that generates the events This prevents possible loss of events from that device Debugging NI Spy and VISAI...

Page 29: ...pplication VXI USB User Manual 3 10 ni com Figure 3 4 NI Spy VISAIC discussed in the Device Interaction section is an excellent platform for quickly testing instruments and learning how to communicate with them Figure 3 5 VISAIC ...

Page 30: ...on Degree 2 Indoor use only Operating Environment Ambient temperature range 0 to 55 C Tested in accordance with IEC 60068 2 1 and IEC 60068 2 2 Relative humidity range 10 to 90 Tested in accordance with IEC 60068 2 56 Storage Environment Ambient temperature range 20 to 70 C Tested in accordance with IEC 60068 2 1 and IEC 60068 2 2 Relative humidity range 5 to 95 Tested in accordance with IEC 60068...

Page 31: ...0 Hz 0 3 grms Nonoperating 5 to 500 Hz 2 4 grms Tested in accordance with IEC 60068 2 64 Nonoperating test profile exceeds the requirements of MIL PRF 28800F Class 3 Power Requirement 5 V excluding downstream USB devices Typical 2 A Maximum 4 A 5 2 V Typical 200 mA Maximum 500 mA 2 V Typical 100 mA Maximum 250 mA Physical Size C size C 1 Dimensions 23 3 43 0 cm 9 2 13 4 in Weight 1 14 kg 2 5 lb I ...

Page 32: ...g standards of safety for electrical equipment for measurement control and laboratory use IEC 61010 1 EN 61010 1 UL 61010 1 CAN CSA C22 2 No 61010 1 Note For UL and other safety certifications refer to the product label or visit ni com certification search by model number or product line and click the appropriate link in the Certification column Electromagnetic Compatibility Emissions EN 55011 Cla...

Page 33: ... model number or product line and click the appropriate link in the Certification column Cleaning If you need to clean the module use a soft nonmetallic brush Make sure that the module is completely dry and free from contaminants before returning it to service VMEbus Capability Codes A64 A32 A24 A16 master VMEbus master A64 A32 A24 and A16 addressing A16 slave VMEbus slave A16 addressing D64 D32 D...

Page 34: ...ized or Round Robin Select arbiter ROR FAIR Release on Request and FAIR bus requester IH 7 1 Interrupt handler for levels 7 1 I 7 1 Interrupt requester for levels 7 1 D32 D16 D08 O Interrupt Handler VMEbus D32 D16 D08 O interrupt handler D32 D16 D08 O Interrupter VMEbus D32 D16 D08 O interrupter ROAK RORA Release on Acknowledge or Register Access interrupter BTO x VMEbus bus timer programmable lim...

Page 35: ...If you need more information about a particular setting or want to try a different configuration refer to Appendix C Advanced Hardware Configuration Settings for your hardware reference and to the MAX online help for your software reference Default Hardware Settings Figure B 1 and Table B 1 show the factory default settings of the user configurable switches on the VXI USB ...

Page 36: ...ix B Default Settings VXI USB User Manual B 2 ni com Figure B 1 VXI USB Default Configuration Settings S3 S4 S5 S6 S2 S1 Y N From Onboard Oscillator From SMB CLK10 In ON OFF ON OFF OUT IN Inverted Noninverted ...

Page 37: ...ion ON terminated S5 SMB CLK10 direction IN receive CLK10 signal S6 SMB CLK10 out polarity Noninverted Table B 2 MAX USB Tab Default Settings Editor Field Default Setting USB block size 64 KB Table B 3 MAX VXI Bus Tab Default Settings Editor Field Default Setting Bus timeout value 500 µs VXI retry generation Enabled Automatic retries Disabled A24 A32 write posting Disabled Transfer limit bytes 256...

Page 38: ...on For the configuration switch locations and default settings see Figure B 1 VXI USB Hardware Default Settings Note Do not attempt an alternate setting unless you are familiar with its purpose In addition do not reconfigure any switches or jumpers not described in this appendix unless directed by National Instruments support Firmware Recovery The VXI USB has an onboard EEPROM and flash memory tha...

Page 39: ...er input SMB and is discussed later in this appendix The VXI USB can use two different sources to generate the VXIbus CLK10 signal an onboard oscillator or the external CLK SMB connector Use switch S2 to select between these options The VXI USB uses the onboard oscillator by default The VXI USB can also be configured to drive the external CLK SMB from the VXIbus CLK10 signal Switch S5 controls whe...

Page 40: ... is terminated S4 The VXI USB receives the external CLK10 signal S5 The polarity of the CLK10 signal S6 is irrelevant when the VXI USB receives the external CLK10 signal However it is configured to be noninverted when the CLK10 SMB is used as output Table C 1 Common CLK10 Routing Configurations Description Switches S2 CLK10 Source S4 Terminate S5 Direction S6 Polarity Generate internal CLK10 with ...

Page 41: ...ard oscillator the VXI USB generates from the external CLK SMB connector and drives to the backplane You can choose whether to terminate the signal using S4 Polarity remains irrelevant to these configurations Figure C 3 Receive External CLK SMB and Drive to the Backplane Unterminated S3 S4 S5 S6 ON OFF OUT IN S2 From Onboard Oscillator From SMB CLK10 In S1 Inverted Noninverted S3 S4 S5 S6 ON OFF O...

Page 42: ... S5 to its alternate setting Switch S2 must be in its default position for these configurations Signal termination is not an issue when driving the signal so the position of S4 does not matter The difference between these two configurations is whether to use inverted or noninverted polarity when driving the signal Figure C 5 Drive Inverted External CLK SMB S3 S4 S5 S6 ON OFF OUT IN S2 From Onboard...

Page 43: ... a 50 Ω termination on the external trigger input SMB Figure C 7 shows the setting for a nonterminated trigger input SMB Use the default setting of Figure C 7B to terminate the trigger input SMB Figure C 7 SMB Trigger Input Termination S3 S4 S5 S6 OUT IN S2 From Onboard Oscillator From SMB CLK10 In S1 Inverted Noninverted A Does Not Terminate Trigger Input B Terminate Trigger Input Default S3 S4 S...

Page 44: ...depending on the system and types of devices installed Also if your computer has integrated USB 2 0 you should use one of the integrated ports rather than a USB 2 0 plug in card if possible Integrated USB 2 0 ports typically offer better performance due to their tight coupling with your motherboard and chipset Of course if you have the choice between a USB 2 0 port and a USB 1 x port always use th...

Page 45: ...n if you unplug your USB cable from the host and plug it in again without power cycling either the chassis or the host computer Which NI VXI utility program must I use to configure the VXI USB Use MAX to configure the VXI USB MAX is in the National Instruments program group folder and a shortcut is on your desktop How do I handle VME devices Although there is no way to automatically detect VME dev...

Page 46: ...can use VXIin and VXIout for both VXI and VME Finally if you are using LabVIEW or LabWindows CVI and you have instrument drivers for the devices in your chassis you can use the interactive features of these programs to quickly test the functionality of the devices What do the LEDs on the front of the VXI USB mean The VXI USB has the following front panel LEDs FAILED Indicates the VXI USB is assert...

Page 47: ... board What kind of signal is CLK10 and what kind of signal do I need for an external CLK10 CLK10 is a differential ECL signal on the VXIbus backplane However the oscillator for the VXI USB and the EXT CLK input from the front panel use TTL Therefore supply a TTL level signal for EXT CLK and onboard voltage converters automatically convert the signal to differential ECL What is the accuracy of the...

Page 48: ... every question receives an answer For information about other technical support options in your area visit ni com services or contact your local office at ni com contact Training and Certification Visit ni com training for self paced training eLearning virtual classrooms interactive CDs and Certification program information You also can register for instructor led hands on courses at locations ar...

Page 49: ...ource address modifier One of six signals in the VMEbus specification used by VMEbus masters to indicate the address space in which a data transfer is to take place address space A set of 2n memory locations differentiated from other such sets in VXI VMEbus systems by six addressing lines known as address modifiers n is the number of address lines required to uniquely specify a byte location in a ...

Page 50: ...c operations needed for successful use of the computer s hardware resources block mode transfer An uninterrupted transfer of data elements in which the master sources only the first address at the beginning of the cycle The slave is then responsible for incrementing the address on subsequent transfers so that the next element is transferred to or from the proper storage location A VME data transfe...

Page 51: ...l one or more Servants configuration registers A set of registers through which the system can identify a module device type model manufacturer address space and memory requirements To support automatic system and memory configuration the VXI specification requires that all VXIbus devices have a set of such registers D Data Transfer Bus DTB one of four buses on the VMEbus backplane The DTB is used...

Page 52: ...ired VXI interface capabilities built in EMC electromagnetic compliance EMI electromagnetic interference external trigger A voltage pulse from an external source that triggers an event F fair requester A VXIbus device that will not arbitrate for the VXIbus after releasing it until it detects the bus request signal inactive This ensures that all requesting devices will be granted use of the bus fir...

Page 53: ...s designed to control a specific instrument or family of instruments and any necessary related files for LabWindows CVI or LabVIEW interrupt A means for a device to request service from another device a computer signal indicating that the CPU should suspend its current task to service a designated activity interrupt handler A VMEbus functional module that detects interrupt requests generated by in...

Page 54: ...nd communication protocols These devices are able to use Word Serial Protocol to communicate with one another through communication registers MODID Module ID lines used in VXI to geographically locate boards and to dynamically configure boards MTBF Mean Time Between Failure MXI 3 A PCI Master Slave system implementing the PCI to PCI Bridge register set It couples two physically separate PCI buses ...

Page 55: ...s are typically controlled by message based devices via device dependent register reads and writes Resman The name of the National Instruments Resource Manager in NI VXI bus interface software See Resource Manager Resource Manager A message based Commander located at Logical Address 0 which provides configuration management services such as address map configuration Commander and Servant mappings ...

Page 56: ... that is used by a device to indicate an internal failure A failed device asserts this line In VXI a device that fails also clears its PASSed bit in its Status register T trigger Either TTL or ECL lines used for intermodule communication TTL Transistor Transistor Logic U USB Universal Serial Bus a serial bus for connecting computers to keyboards printers and other peripheral devices V V volts VIC ...

Page 57: ... Installing such a device into any other slot can damage the device the VMEbus VXIbus backplane or both VXIbus VMEbus Extensions for Instrumentation W W watts Word Serial Protocol The simplest required communication protocol supported by message based devices in a VXIbus system It utilizes the A16 communication registers to transfer data using a simple polling handshake method write posting A mech...

Page 58: ...g software installation 2 2 configuration 2 1 3 2 advanced hardware settings C 1 advanced options C 1 firmware recovery C 1 options 1 4 VXI USB default configuration settings figure B 2 connecting cables 2 5 conventions used in the manual vii D debugging 3 9 default configuration settings B 1 default settings hardware B 1 software B 3 developing applications 3 1 device interaction 3 3 device tab d...

Page 59: ... support and services E 1 NI VISA 1 4 3 1 examples table 3 7 installation 2 1 NI VXI 1 4 3 1 compatibility layer 3 1 examples table 3 7 installation 2 1 utility programs using to configure VXI USB D 2 using to perform startup Resource Manager operations D 2 NI VXI API 3 1 compatibility layer options 3 8 compiler symbols 3 8 notes 3 8 O optimizing large VXIbus transfers 3 7 overview of VXI USB kit ...

Page 60: ... D 1 USB system figure 2 4 user configurable settings C 1 V VISAIC 3 10 selecting controller in figure 3 4 successful viIn access in Register I O tab figure 3 5 VISAIC figure 3 10 VME devices handling D 2 VMEbus capability codes A 4 VXI 3 0 specification support 1 2 VXI bus tab default settings table B 3 VXI programming for 3 5 VXIbus transfers optimizing 3 7 VXIbus CLK10 routing C 2 VXI USB advan...

Page 61: ...Index VXI USB User Manual I 4 ni com kit overview 1 2 software configuration and verification 2 6 installation 2 1 specifications A 1 W Web resources E 1 ...