Programming HSDIO

[william]

I am using the PXI tester with LabView 7.0 software. I need to load digital wave forms to the NI-6551 HSDIO board to test a product. The digital wave forms are loaded from the Digital Waveform Editor (graphical waveforms). Is there any example LabView VI to program this NI-6551 HSDIO board?

W. Pao

[Jeremy R.]

W. Pao,

First of all, when you want to program with the NI 6551 devices, you will need to make sure the you have the NI HSDIO driver installed on your computer (with LabVIEW 7.0 support). This will install the API necessary to program the 6551. Once you have this you will be able to find the example programs by going to (in Windows XP) Start>>All Programs>>National Instruments>>NI-HSDIO>>Examples>>LabVIEW 7.0 examples. Once you are in this folder, you will see a library of examples called Dynamic Generation. In there you will find several example programs that will show you how to generate data off of different triggers, clocks, etc. The VI called Read HWS File and Generate.vi will show you how to bring data saved from the Digital Waveform Editor into LabVIEW and generate it with your 6551.

I hope this helps you out.

Best Regards,
Jeremy R.
NI - Applications Engineer

[william]

Thanks Jeremy. We do have the NI-6551 HSDIO board. As a matter of fact I did look the example programs in the NI library that you pointed out. I have a problem with the multiple patterns and how to structure the VI in LabVIEW to load these patterns to test the device. Perhaps you have some examples related to this issue. Thanks again.

W. Pao

[Jeremy R.]

William,

It sounds like your question asking "what do I do if I have more than 1 waveform to generate". The examples you have already seen will still be a good reference to bringing in the data from file. You can combine that with other examples that show how to generate multiple waveforms. One method to generate multiple waveforms is to simply start a session with one waveform and then configure and start a new session programmatically. The direct way of generating multiple waveforms with our HSDIO devices is to use Scripting.

Scripting is a way to load several waveforms onto the on-board memory and then generate those waveforms from a script. Go back to the examples section and choose the library called "Dynamic Generation with Script". Those examples will be adequate to get you going... The example Dynamic Generation with Script.vi will probably be the most relevant, but all of the examples will show you different methods for using scripts. Good luck.

Best Regards,
Jeremy R.
NI - Applications Engineer