Mixed LabView and FPGA-bitfile versions?

[peabody_bass]

I have a large, legacy application that ecompasses LV,LV-RealTime, and LV-FPGA and uses version 8.2.1.  Proposed improvements to the FPGA code will require floating-point numbers, division, triginometric functions, etc (which aren't available in LV-FPGA 8.2.1).

Is it possible to use a more recent version of LV-FPGA and use the resulting compiled bitfile in a LV 8.2.1 application?  Thanks.

-Joe

[GregFreeman]

I am going to *guess* no, because FPGA is installed under a specific LabVIEW directory (except for the compile worker that is installed under the NI Directory), which leads me to believe it is tied to a specific LabVIEW version. But, I may be wrong on this; it's something I have never tried or needed to do.

Are you sure there is no way you can do the math with numbers other than floating point? Floating point is expensive and should be "used with caution" on FPGA. You don't want to run out of room on the FPGA. It would especially suck after you've taken the time to code up a bunch of floating point math, only to find your compile fails.

[crossrulz]

I would also guess no.  But my reasoning is because the format of the bit file was changed going to LV2009.

[peabody_bass]

I suppose that floating-point isn't strictly necessary, but it would be a lot easier.  And the way it would be programmed shouldn't challenge the capacity of the FPGA.  I was just looking for the most painless route.

If the bit-file format was changed starting with LV2009, will LV8.5 and LV8.6 bit-files work in LV8.2.1?  This would be an improvement since 8.2.1 only has integer math, no fixed-point.

[nathand]

The bitfiles might work in mismatched versions, but I wouldn't recommend it.  Is there some reason not to upgrade the entire system, or at least the part that's interacting with the FPGA?  While it might seem less painful to upgrade only the FPGA, that will quickly no longer be the case if you run into inconsistent behavior caused by incompatibilities between FPGA and host versions of LabVIEW.

[peabody_bass]

Thanks for the replies.

The main reason I'm hesitant to upgrade is that several application share the same RT/PXI chassis.  So if the RT-OS is upgraded, each application would need to be upgraded/recompiled.  So it seems like more of a hassel when the overall change is small.