Hi Luisemmi,
I want to clarify the response further, as this is more than a simple yes/no question. There is one way to setup a cRIO 9082 such that it runs both WES7 and LV Real-Time simultaneously. This solution is the NI Real-Time Hypervisor, which is a solution that currently only ships with the PXI platform.
1. NI can provide a Hypervisor system for the x86 cRIO, but it will have to be Windows XP alongside the RTOS. We don't currently have support for Windows 7 or WES7, and it would require a custom engineering request to get that support. The soonest one can expect WES7 and/or Windows 7 with Hypervisor is 2013 (probably even with the custom engineering request).
2. If you can fit all the deterministic code (and high priority/time critical code) onto the FPGA, then another option would be to go with a standard WES7 installation on the x86 cRIO (no Hypervisor, and no RTOS). The question here really comes down to whether the RTOS is essential.
3. R&D would have to do some work to validate that the hardware setup needed will work properly on a Hypervisor x86 cRIO. More specificlally, R&D will have to test that the modules wanted will properly work with the Hypervisor setup on the cRIO. There may also have to be a special process with factory installation and shipping of this product which may result in an additional charge, or which may result in the having to do some setup out of the box (it's something we'll have to figure out once we verify that the hardware setup will in fact work with Hypervisor on the x86).
4. Are you are okay with the fact that:
a. Setting up a Hypervisor system is complex, and there are some additional nuances for setting it up on an x86 cRIO
b. You would be one of the first to use our Hypervisor software on an x86 RIO. We've done some testing, but you would essentially be a lead user. If you are looking for a seamless and straightforward experience like you've had with a regular cRIO, you need to know that using a Hypervisor x86 cRIO system will be a very different experience (during setup)
c. So far, once a Hypervisor system is setup, we haven't seen any issues, but that said, you whould also be okay with the fact that if the Host OS (Windows XP) crashes, that the only way to get it back up would be to restart RT as well. Again, we haven't had issues with this on any of the deployments (the trickiest part is getting everything properly set up for the first time), but I bring up this caveat as it doesn't apply to traditional cRIO systems in which the host is separate from the RT target.
If there is no good alternative, and you are okay with these caveats, then implementing the NI Real-Time Hypervisor on an x86 cRIO makes sense. Generally, this will make sense only for large deployment cases as there is a big initial burden on getting everything validated, setup, and working properly. Once one system is setup, the initial cost can be defrayed against large deployments. If however it's a much smaller deployment (1-4 units), the work involved in getting NI Real-Time Hypervisor setup on an x86 cRIO may not be worth the effort.
Sanjay C.
Embedded Software Product Manager| National Instruments
Content Cleaner
